Six Tips for Binding Documents With Spiral Coil

Spiral coil binding – more often referred to as simply “coil binding” – is a very popular document finishing method. When you bind a document with a coil, your work will look great and you will be able to turn the pages a full 360 degrees. However, coil binding can be a bit tricky. Here are six tips to help you out:

1. Generally speaking, spiral coils require a 4:1 pitch hole pattern. (That means there are four holes punched per inch of paper.) If you're using letter-sized paper, you will probably end up punching 43 or 44 holes in your paper which is to be expected. Other pitch patterns that you might come across are 5:1 and 3:1 although they tend to be pretty rare and most coil binding machine can't produce these patterns.
2. Although you may want to use oversized covers when using a coil binding machine, you won't be able to. That's because they are too large for your device and you won't be able to produce the right hole pattern for them. So make sure you stick to covers that are the same size as your document.
3. It's important to note that most coil binding machines don't have disengageable punching dies. Due to this, you probably won't be able to produce different hole patterns with your device. If you really want or need to produce different hole patterns, make sure you choose a machine with disengageable dies. You can also try another binding method, such as thermal binding.
4. After punching holes in your document, you will need to insert the coil. You can do this by hand if you want or you can use an electric coil inserter. If you do use a coil inserter, you will need to spin the coil through the first few holes manually before using the machine.
5. Once you've inserted the coil, you will need to crimp the ends of it. This will prevent the coil from coming out of your document. To do this, grab your crimping pliers and make sure that the red dot on them is facing up. Hold your document with the coil facing you and crimp one end of it. Turn the document over and crimp the other side. That's all there is to it.
6. Binding documents that are more than 1” thick can be tricky. If you binding machine has a spine former, you can use it to curve the spine of your document for easier insertion. (You can also use a binding sleeve.) You will need to insert the coil by hand since most coil inserters won't work with thick documents.

Coil binding is a terrific document finishing method and it will make your work look great. Hopefully these tips while help you out the next time you need to bind your work. Happy binding!

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Written by Jeff McRitchie
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