When speaking to customers who are interested in a hot knife binding system I am often asked to explain the difference between GBC Velobind and GBC SureBind binding machine systems. The binding machine systems look nearly identical and are priced similarly. Both binding systems are made by General Binding Corporation (GBC for Short). However, both binding systems were not always made by GBC.

A number of years ago, VeloBind and GBC were competitors in the binding machine industry. GBC was the leader in the binding industry and was responsible for binding supplies and products such as twin loop wire binding and plastic comb binding. However, GBC found that they were beginning to lose some of their loyal customers to a new binding system called Velobind. This new system used a hot knife technology to securely rivet documents together with a permanent small binding strip.

Surebind was GBC’s response to the Velobind product. Velobind and Surebind work in the same way but used a different hole pattern than the VeloBind product. Both binding systems use an 11 pin binding strip. However, GBC designed the SureBind binding machine system to be compatible with the 19 Hole GBC CombBind hole pattern. The binding machines look the same, however the holes are in different positions and the strips look a little bit different. The Velobind strips have 11 equally spaced pins of equal length while the Surebind strips have one longer prong and the pins aren’t equally spaced.

Several years later, GBC acquired the Velobind brand and now they make both the Velobind and SureBind binding machine Systems. However, there are several considerations when choosing between the two binding machine systems:

1. Since there are considerably more Velobind binding machine Systems on the market, the SureBind system is actually more secure as a binding system. In order to edit a document bound with either VeloBind or SureBind, an individual would need to debind the document (cut off the binding strip) and then use the VeloBind or SureBind binding machine to rebind the document.
   
2. Velobind strips are available in more colors and sizes than SureBind strips. If you are interested in colored binding strips or binding large documents it is best to first check to see if the strips you are going to want are going to be available.
   
3. For individuals who are looking to save time and subject their punch to less wear pre-punched paper and covers are available for the Velobind binding machine systems. Unfortunately, pre-punched items are not widely available at this time for the SureBind binding machine system.

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
©2006 www.MyBinding.com