What Features should I look for when buying a Coil Binding Machine?

Coil Binding has become one of the most popular binding styles. The flexibility along with the large assortment of colors make it a favorite binding style for all types of organizations. Perhaps you have seen coil binding somewhere in the workplace and are considering a Coil Binding Machine for your company. Pro-Binding.Com offers the finest Coil Binding Machines on the market. Here are a few things that you need to know before you rush out and buy a coil binding machine.

When choosing a new Coil Binding Machine, here are several tips to pick a good quality system.

  1. Smaller size coils are a breeze to work with, but larger coils can be difficult. If you are going to be binding larger books, make sure the machine you buy has the new oval hole shape. It makes coil binding much easier. All of our Renz machines and our Akiles machines with the Plus in the name have the oval hole pattern.
  2. Almost all Coil Binding Machines on the market are designed for a 4:1 pitch Coil Binding Supplies. This simply means that the hole pattern has 4 holes per inch. Other hole patterns are available, but you’ll be better off with the standard 4:1 pitch hole pattern unless you have a compelling reason to use a different pattern.
  3. Plastic coil is available in 12″ and 36″ lengths. This makes it a great choice for binding large size documents. If you are planning on using coil to bind large size documents you will need to make sure that you coil binding machine has an open throat and preferably fully disengageable dies. All the Renz 360 models have an open throat.
  4. Standard coil binding supplies come in 12” lengths for 11” documents. The extra length is cut off during the coil crimping process. If you plan on binding documents that are shorter or longer than 11”, you want to give yourself at least a half inch and preferably an inch to make sure that you have enough coil to cut off during the crimping process. If you need 36″ coils, please give us a call.
  5. Most of our coil machines have a set of rollers on the front or the top of them for inserting the coil in your document. These rollers are used to help spin the coil through the holes on the edge of the document. Manual binding machines that do not have these rollers require you to spin the coil onto the book by hand. For short runs, this shouldn’t be a problem. However, for higher volume applications, spinning the coil onto the book could become very tedious. For this reason, it is usually best to buy a machine that has a coil inserter or buy a standalone Coil Inserter to go along with your punch. We have several “stand alone” coil inserters in our Modular Finishing Machines section.
  6. Finally, in order to make sure that the coil doesn’t spin back off your documents after they are bound, you will need to crimp the ends of the coil. Many of our machines have a built in crimping device, but most rely on a special pair of crimping pliers. The pliers cut the excess coil and bend the end in one shot. The bend at the end of the coil prevents it from spinning off the book. Using the pliers has a short learning curve and takes a little practice. There is a red dot on the pliers. Make sure it is face up.

Where is the best place to get a Coil Binding Machine?

With over 30 years of experience matching the right binding machine, Pro-Binding will help you choose the best machine for your specific application. Feel free to give us a call at (866) 789-4330. Our Customer Service Team will get you off on the right foot! Pro-Binding also carries the finest Coil Binding Supplies. Our coils are Made in the USA and will give you a prefect bind every time!