Binding
Choose from saddle stitching, perfect binding, thread sewing, wire-o binding or loop stitching. We have the capacity and capability to finish a vast range of shape and size variations.
Saddle Stitching
Most booklets, magazines, catalogues and many other printed documents are bound using saddle stitching.
Wire staples hold the pages together. A machine drives them through its backbone fold to the centrefold, where they clench. A saddle-stitched printed piece lies almost flat when opened, a convenience for readers.
However, saddle stitching involves certain mechanical requirements. A saddle-stitched document must be at least eight pages long and increase in length in four-page increments. Saddle stitching is a good choice for binding documents of up to 64-80 pages. Documents involving more pages or heavy material may demand some other type of binding.
Perfect Binding
Perfect binding is well suited for use with books, thick magazines, annual reports, technical manuals, and catalogues. From a minimum thickness of approximately 3mm, it works well with a wide range of document thickness and trim sizes.
To produce a perfect-bound document, the folded signatures are gathered together in page sequence, clamped together, and placed in a machine that slices about 3mm off their left edges. Then roughers mill the newly sliced sheet edges to prepare them for gluing. Finally, the edges receive an adhesive application and adhere to a backing.
Although text pages printed on 170gsm material can be perfect bound, we do not recommend using material heavier than 150gsm as the document is liable to fall apart.
Thread Sewn
Mainly used in book production requiring more durability than perfect binding.
Printed sheets are folded into signatures which are collated and sewn by machine. Adhesive is then applied to the spine and the cover is drawn on.
Loop Stitching
A method of saddle stitching whereby the stitch is formed into a semi-circular loop that sticks out beyond the spine of the publication. These loops slip over the rings of a binder, serving as an alternative to hole punching.
Wire-o Binding
Typically used to bind reference books, reports, proposals, and calendars. They are durable, but do not permit printing on the document spine or the insertion of new pages.
A Wire-O binding holds the covers and pages of a document firmly in place by a double-loop wire inserted through holes drilled in their left edges.
All of the document’s pages lie flat when opened, can turn easily through 360 degrees.
Spiral Binding
Spiral bindings cost somewhat more than Wire-o. They may be made of either plastic or wire and allow the printed document to lie flat and to double over, useful characteristics for documents such as technical manuals, notebooks, and calendars.
One cannot add pages to documents once they are spiral bound. Also, rough handling may crush the spirals.
Case Binding
A book bound with a stiff, hard cover that is covered by fabric or other material. In case binding, most often used in book production, a minimum of 60 printed sheets are folded into 16 or 32-page signatures, which are collated and sewn by machine.
The sewn edges are coated with glue. Then a strip of gauze adheres to the document’s spine. Finally, the book and its covers are placed in a casing-in machine, which pastes the endpapers and fits the cover.
Tags: book printing, booklet printing, catalog printing
