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MBM Bookletmaker Jr. Semi-Automatic Bookletmaker
This is not your average semi-automatic weapon. The MBM Bookletmaker Jr. has a deadly combination of features combined with a nice price. If you’re often making booklets 40 pages or less in your office and you’re looking for a quick way to process in-house rather than outsourcing, this little guy is for you.
How is it Used?
The Bookletmaker Jr. Semi-Automatic Bookletmaker is an entry-level machine with space saving, compact design. The automatic paper centering, dual staple heads and fold rollers add to the speed of use, helping you crank out up to 250 sets an hour. It takes standard sizes (8 1/2″ x 11″ to 11″ x 17″) and you don’t have to go to the shooting range to practice.?
And How Much Does it Cost
The MBM Bookletmaker Jr. Semi-Automatic Bookletmaker is $809 at Lloyd’s. We’ll throw in free shipping and a gift with your purchase.
MBM Autobook Automatic Bookletmaker
I think this machine is where Stephen King got his start. Yeah, I think before it went to the big publisher, his first manuscript was stitched together on MBM’s Autobook Bookletmaker. Then again, I could be wrong.
How is it Used?
The Autobook Automatic Bookletmaker is very easy to use. It will put two staples at a time in your choice of five positions. Its capacity is 15 pages at a time, 8 1/4″ x 10″ to 12″ x 17″ to create booklets that are up to 60 pages (depending on the stock you’re using). You’ll run those pretty quick with the automatic setup and paper centering. The setup includes 6 pre-set booklet sizes and 6 programmable. Plus, color coded fold stops and LED readout add to the ease of this machine. The Autobook Bookletmaker does everything but act as a literary agent.
And How Much Does it Cost
The MBM Autobook Automatic Bookletmaker is $1,169 at Lloyd’s. We’ll throw in free shipping and a gift with your purchase.
Formax FD 170 Tabletop Booklet Maker
The Formax FD 170 Tabletop Booklet Maker is a work of art. Its sleek compact design will blend into any office setting, but its versatility and function will make it stand out. You’ll be looking for excuses to make another booklet or pamphlet just for the pleasure of using this powerful little machine.
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How is it Used?
The Formax FD 170 folds up to 15 sheets, creating 60-page double-sided booklets, at speeds of up to 800 booklets per hour. There’s no guesswork as the unique photo-activated eye starts your job and a resettable counter keeps track of your progress. The Formax FD 170 Booklet Maker will fold only or give your documents a polished look with saddle stapling. The Formax accomodates standard 8.5: x 11″ or 11″ x 17″ sheets with the push of a button and catches mistakes with a fault detection system.
And How Much Does it Cost?
The Formax FD 170 Booklet Maker costs $2,995 at Lloyd’s and qualifies for free shipping and a free gift.
Why Perfect Binding May Be the Perfect Print Finishing Option
It’s hard to beat perfect binding for a look and feel of completeness and professionalism. It just seems to say, the content in here is important.
Perfect binding is also very versatile in terms of what can be bound. You can bind in two-page signatures, which allows you to produce the best page count for your situation and also permits inserts. (A “signature” is a group of pages that are folded together in groups. You bind several signatures, rather than binding separate sheets.) In fact, perfect binding can accommodate almost any kind of insert — fold-outs, response cards, tear-away envelopes, magna-strip tip-ons, sticker pages, and many other kinds.
But even with its advantages, as Adam Trull of Acme Printing recently pointed out , perfect binding isn’t without its challenges, whether you contract out the job or do it on your own bindery equipment.
One challenge is cross-overs — images that straddle the gutter between adjacent pages. Cross-overs don’t necessarily preclude the use of perfect binding, but there several details to be addressed in order to get properly aligned cross-over images in your perfect-bound book. Before committing to perfect binding, you should make sure your pre-press professionals and printing team have experience setting up and producing perfect-bound books with cross-overs.
Another factor is spine strength, which is usually measured by a machine that holds the book open and pulls on a center page until it separates from the spine or tears. The industry standard is 2.5 pounds per linear inch. Spine strength is a more important consideration for oblong books because they tend to lie flatter, thus putting more strain on the spine and making it weaker.
Obviously, your choice of glue will affect the perfect-bound book’s spine strength. EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) is most often used for books that will be read casually. PUR (polyurethane reactive glue) is stronger, but it costs more and requires 24 hours to dry. In either case, it’s a good idea to keep ink and varnishes out of the glue area so the glue gets a better grip on the paper fibers.
If you need to produce perfect-bound documents frequently and in various quantities, you should consider purchasing your own bindery equipment so you can produce a variety of perfect-bound documents on-demand.
One example is the DFG Digi Express perfect binding machine, which is fast and very easy to use. You can get one from Lloyd’s of Indiana for less than $6,500.
UNIBIND XU-138 Binding Machine
If you’re looking for portability, a small footprint and a lot of power in a binding machine, then the Unibind XU-138 could be a good fit for your office. It weighs just 5 pounds, but it can handle up to 340 pages or 8 separate documents at once.
How is it Used?
The Unibind uses a heat seal method with a metal spine in order to bind the pages together. This method even allows you to reheat a document, release the bind and add new pages or remove old ones in the event of an edit.
The XU-138 is designed specifically for low-volume, in-office use and it’s great for small businesses or copy shops that are doing a minimal amount of in-house binding.
And How Much Does it Cost?
The UNIBIND XU-138 Binding Machine costs $399 at Lloyd’s and comes with a 1-year warranty. You can opt to purchase an extended warranty from Lloyd’s of Indiana for 15% of the purchase price for a 2-year warranty or 20% of the purchase price for 3 years.