Tips and Tricks for Binding Thick Documents With Color Coil Binding

If you have ever attempted to bind a book using large sized color coil binding (larger than 30mm) you will understand just how frustrating the process can be. For smaller sized book binding you can easily use your coil binding inserter to quickly spin the coil binding onto your document. However, inserting coil binding on large books is a slow manual process that can be tedious and painful. In order to make the process a little bit easier and to save a lot of time, here are some tips for binding large documents with color coil binding:

1. Make sure to form the spine of your book to match the curve of the coil binding you are inserting - If you simply line up the holes of the book and attempt to insert the coil binding onto the book you will find that the curvature of the coil binding will make in nearly impossible to insert the coil binding. However, by curving the spine of the book you should be able to insert the coil binding more easily. Most coil binding inserters have a small curved section on the top of them to help you get the appropriate curve on your documents. However, if you are planning on doing a lot of larger book bindings with color coil binding you might consider investing in the Rhin-O-Tuff HD4101 EZ coil book binding former. The HD4101 allows you to form the spine of the book and holds it in place while you insert the coil binding.
   
2. Consider using an oversized oval hole pattern - As the diameter of color coil binding increases, the thickness of the coil filament also increases. Inserting the larger coil binding through standard sized holes often proves difficult. Using an oversized oval punch pattern provides larger holes making coil binding inserting considerably easier.
   
3. Put away your coil binding inserter - After trying to use your electric coil binding inserter to spin larger sizes of coil bindings onto a few documents you will soon discover that it doesn’t work very well. Inserting large sized coil binding onto books is actually faster if you simply insert the coil binding by hand.
   
4. Try using a different pitch of coil binding - Using a different pitch of coil binding with fewer holes is another option that is available to make binding documents with large diameters of coil binding a little bit easier. Many printers who bind a lot of larger documents with coil binding use a 2.5 HPI .400 pitch coil binding. This coil binding can be used with a 2:1 pitch square hole wire die but is much easier to insert since the coil binding is a little bit more rigid and it has considerably fewer spirals to insert. This type of coil binding is also available in sizes up to 2-1/4” (56mm) where regular 4:1 pitch coil binding is only available in sizes up to 2” (50mm).

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Written by Jeff McRitchie
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