At the Finish Line: Binding Your Documents

At The Finish Line: Binding Your Documents

fter your manual, right-angle folder during folding, or on other. An example is a sheet measuring directory, booklet, a scoring machine. Scoring breaks the 11x17 inches folded in half to 8-1/2 x A catalog, magazine, fibers in the paper uniformly and 11 inches, then folded again to 5-1/2 x newsletter, program, cookbook or creates an embossed ridge on the inside 8-1/2 inches. other document has been printed, of the cover. This helps the cover copied, imaged, lasered, ink jetted or accommodate the sheets in the booklet Collating or Gathering: Single sheets are reproduced by any other means, it is without putting a strain on the fold. collated; folded sheets are gathered. time to consider how to put all those Collating can be done by hand or pages together into an attractive and Folding: There are two kinds of folds: machine. Gathering can be done by durable product. You may be surprised parallel and right angle. As the name hand or on a booklet-making machine. to learn how many options you have implies, in a parallel fold, all folds are Stitching: The simplest way to bind a for binding – the name given to the parallel to each other. Trifolding a document is saddle stitching. Saddle process of gathering and securing all brochure is an example of a parallel stitching looks like stapling. It requires those pages. fold. A right angle fold is two or more folds that are at right angles to each that the pages of the document be

Pamphlet binding Pamphlet binding is a general term that refers to binding booklets, catalogs, magazines and similar products. It is distinguished from bookbinding.

There are five steps to pamphlet binding: scoring, folding, collating or gathering, stitching, cutting and trimming. Not every printed product requires all five steps. A printed brochure, for example, requires only trimming to size and folding, while a catalog may go through all five steps.

Scoring: A score is a crease made in the document cover to facilitate folding. Scoring may be done on press when the cover is being printed, on a printed in printer spreads or signatures, Bookbinding Plasticoil for plastic coil and Wire-O folded, gathered over the saddle of a The three most common ways to bind for spiral wire. stitching machine, then stapled books are edition binding (sometimes (stitched), usually in two locations. called hardcover or case binding); All three of these binding methods perfect binding; and mechanical have the same requirements. The Saddle stitching is a fast, inexpensive binding. printed, single sheets are collated, way to bind documents. It is easy to jogged, and punched to create a series bind in a cover, and saddle stitched Edition binding: Edition binding of holes with a defined shape and in a documents will lie flat when opened. produces the hardcover books we predetermined pattern. Then the The two drawbacks are the lack of a associate with permanence. The binding device – plastic comb, plastic spine (on which the title of the bookblocks of page signatures can be coil or spiral wire – is inserted into the document could be printed) and the bound either by sewing or adhesive holes and closed. Mechanical binding number of sheets of paper that can be binding. Because edition binding requires that an allowance be made in accommodated by the stitcher. requires specialized equipment, we do the gutter (the inner margin) of the not offer edition binding as a service. document to allow for the punched Cutting and Trimming: Guillotine cutters holes. are used for face trimming – taking a Perfect binding: Used most often for soft single cut on the right hand edge of the cover books and some magazines that The advantages of mechanical binding printed product where it opens. Face have too many pages for saddle are that pages will lie flat. In addition, trimming puts a smooth edge on the stitching, in perfect binding the sheets plastic coil and spiral wire allow the document. Trimming is usually done are held together by a flexible adhesive. document to be folded completely with three knives in a single cycle and Signatures are gathered, then the edge back on itself. Like saddle stitching, trims all three edges of the document that will receive the adhesive is mechanical binding makes it easy to simultaneously. roughened by grinding off add a cover. Plastic coil and spiral wire approximately 3/16”. This exposes the binding do not have a spine, but We are able to perform all five paper fibers so they can be bound into plastic combs can be imprinted binding operations. the adhesive. Covers for perfect bound (though it is not economical to do this books are a single sheet that wraps except in very large quantities). around the entire book, just like hardbound books. Other mechanical binding options include Velobind (snap-in plastic The limitations of a perfect bound strips; good for 25 or fewer pages); book is that it may not lie flat and it thermal bind (a cover fitted with a hot must be a minimum thickness glue strip on the spine; mimics perfect (usually 1/8th inch). bind); and tape binding (a strip of wide paper tape applied during Mechanical binding is a catchall term copying by a Docutech copier; allows for an alternative to saddle document to lie flat). stitching. There are three different kinds of mechanical binds: plastic Your choice of which binding system comb, plastic coil and spiral wire. to use will depend on the nature of Sometimes in the print shop we your document and how it will be refer to these by their used. We will be happy to advise you; manufacturer’s names – call us and we will discuss your options. GBC (General Binding This is an example of a plastic Corporation) for plastic comb; coil or spiral wire binding. 2 A Bit of History

The term stitching comes from the soon came to be called a saddle. To the people at the Sheriden first machines that were used to And because the term stitching was Company, magazines produced bind books in this way. The binding already in vogue, the whole process on their new machine with the device was originally operated by became known as saddle stitching. flat, square feel seemed much hand, by one person, and was called better than a stapled binding. It a stitcher. The machine was The term perfect binding originated was great, they thought. They approximately five feet tall and it as a marketing tool of the Sheriden finally decided it was so good could staple on either a flat or Company, a manufacturer that they would call the machine the angled surface. The angled surface specialized in binding equipment. Sheriden Perfect Binder. And came in handy when a printed As the company was preparing to thus was launched an industry product had already been folded and introduce a new machine that term that is with us today. had to be opened up to accept the could produce a magazine or staples. The angled device over catalog with a square backbone, which the folded pages were placed they had to decide what to call it.

Backbone: The back of a bound folding and cutting, the pages will Shingling: In image assembly and book connecting the covers; also appear in the proper sequence. layouts, the center or gutter margin called the spine. that is adjusted according to the Jogging: To align sheets of paper position of the page in the signature Collating: The gathering of sheets in a compact pile. Orients each and the bulk of the paper. and signatures. sheet the same way. Saddle Stitching: To bind a Face Trim: To trim a book or Plasticoil: Trade name for booklet by wiring it through the other bound document on the right plastic coil mechanical binding. middle fold of the sheets. hand edge. Used to produce a Printer Spread: The layout of smooth, finished edge. Signature: In bindery, the name pages in a book or other document given to a printed sheet after it has Gathering: Assembling folded so that pages will be in correct been folded. signatures in proper sequence. order after gathering and binding. Wire-O: A trade name for spiral Imposition: In image assembly, Reader Spread: The layout of wire mechanical binding. the positioning of pages on a pages in a book or other document signature so that after printing, in reading order.

3 Protect the Cover

he cover of your document Coat it. Covers that are being offset that the title page shows through is a very important part of printed can have a coating of and serves to identify the T the finished product. varnish added after the colors have publication. This technique Covers tend to scuff and wear, been put down. Also consider increases the range of stocks you especially when reproduced on a lamination. can consider for the cover since it copier or laser printer. Consider won’t have to feed through a copier, Overlay it. Ask us to bind in a clear some of these ways to safeguard laser printer or press. plastic sheet over your cover to your cover: protect it. The sheet will normally Print it. A cover printed on an only be necessary over the front offset press will be more resistant to cover where the most protection is wear than a copied cover, and you required. may be able to use a wider range of Die cut it. Instead of printing on the cover stocks than can be fed cover, have us die cut a window so through a copier or laser printer.

Q. I often After a few days A. You are observing the effect of plasticizers – package my against the vinyl, the the materials that make plastic flexible – rising to the surface of manuals in 3-ring toner from the cover the vinyl. When this happens, the plasticizers soften the toner and binders, the kind sticks to the vinyl. cause it to adhere to the vinyl. that have a clear This also happens The effect is more or less prominent depending on how vinyl sleeve on the where the title page much plasticizer is on the surface of the vinyl and how the toner front of the binder touches the vinyl on was fused originally. Unfortunately, there is no action into which I can slip the inside front cover you can take to completely avoid this happening. a cover printed on of the binder. a color copier. Why is this occurring?

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