Choosing the Right Binding Style for Your Office

Are you looking for the right binding style for your company or organization's document finishing needs? If you are, you'll be pleased to know that there are some great methods available. Here are four of the most popular methods:

1. By far, plastic comb binding is the most popular bookbinding method and it's been used for almost half a century. This method is inexpensive, easy, and with the right machine and supplies, you can quickly crank out your documents. Work bound with plastic combs can contain up to 425 pages (depending on the comb's diameter) and lay flat when open for easy reading and photocopying. Plastic combs are available in several colors including black, white, and blue. The combs can be imprinted with your company's name, etc. If you need a cost-effective binding method, using plastic combs is the way to go.
   
2. Color coil or spiral binding is another popular method and it's used for marketing materials, reports, and more. When you bind with coils, you insert the coil through holes punched in your document. This can be done either manually or with an inserter. One of the best things about coil binding is that the coils come in more than 50 different colors. Thus, it's really easy to find supplies that will complement your work. Also, everything you bind with these supplies can be easily mailed since the coils will stay in shape. These supplies can be used to bind work that's up to 440 pages long. The one drawback to this method is that it can be tricky to bind longer documents. However, the more you do it, the easier it will get.
   
3. Twin-loop wire binding is a great method to use if you need your documents to look professional and sophisticated. Wires come in a handful of colors such as silver and bronze. Two different hole patterns are used and the one you should utilize depends on the size of wire you're using. Spines ranging in diameter from 3/16” to 9/16” use a 3:1 hole pattern (i.e. three holes punched per inch) and can bind items containing 110 pages or less. The other wires use a 2:1 pattern and are 5/8” to 1-1/2” thick. These supplies are for documents containing between 125 and 250 pages. The one drawback to this method is that the wires can be crushed in the mail. Be sure to consider this if you're going to need to send your work to someone.
   
4. Finally, we have thermal binding which is perfect for documents requiring a highly polished look. If you have a thermal binding machine all you need to do to bind your documents is place the pages in either a hardback or paperback cover and stick the book in the machine. The heat inside the device will cause the adhesive to melt a bit, securing the pages. Thermal binding covers can be used with documents containing up to 500 pages. The covers can be customized so they're perfect for yearbooks, anthologies, and anything else requiring a polished look. Keep in mind that this bookbinding method is more expensive that the other methods listed in this article. However, the results are usually worth the cost.

These are four binding methods you should consider for your company or organization's documents. Check them out today so you can make your work look as professional as possible.

If you have any other questions or comments about this article please feel free to
email us at sales@mybinding.com or call us at 1-800-944-4573

Written by Jeff McRitchie
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