Rhin-O-Tuff HD7700 Vertical Feed Deluxe Heavy Duty Punch

Overview:

• The Rhin-O-Tuff HD7700 is one of the largest and most durable binding punches available on the market. This punch is specifically designed for high volume users such as binderies, printers, copy shops, in-plant print shops, and large organizations.
• The HD7700 offers the ability to quickly change punching patterns by simply sliding out one die and sliding in the new one.
• This machine is known for its rugged industrial construction. It's been designed for high-volume production environments where productivity is essential. In fact, it offers the largest punching capacity of any modular binding punch.
• On top of all of that, the HD7700 offers a number of features that are simply not offered on many other modular binding systems.

Features/ Strengths:

• One of the big strengths of the HD7700 is its enormous punching capacity. Although Rhin-O-Tuff doesn't publish exact punching capacities for all of the different hole patterns, they state that it can punch an average of 45 sheets of paper across all punching patterns. Depending on the hole pattern that you are using this number will vary quite a bit. Some hole patterns such as Velobind and 3-hole will be able to handle as many as 55 sheets of paper. However, with punching a pattern with a larger number of holes, such as coil binding, it would be best to punch 40 sheets at a time.
• Most organizations that buy a machine like this are looking for the ability to change punching patterns quickly and easily. The Rhin-O-Tuff HD7700 uses a patented die lock system to hold the dies in place. All you need to do in order to change punching patterns is to release the two die lock levers and slide the die out of the machine. You can then slide the new die set into the machine and lock it in place. Rhin-O-Tuff makes 12 standard and 14 custom dies for this machine. This means that the HD7700 can produce almost any binding hole pattern that you would ever need.
• The punching throat on the Rhin-O-Tuff HD-7700 is 14” wide as are the punching dies. This makes handling legal-sized documents a lot easier. Many other modular binding punches on the market don't offer legal-sized punching dies for many of the hole patterns produced by their machines.
• The machine is durably constructed. It has a very heavy-duty metal case and it uses high-quality steel punching units and internal components. These parts are designed to remain strong even in high-volume punching environments. Rhin-O-Tuff and its parent company Performance Design Inc. back the construction of this unit up with a one-year warranty on the parts for this machine while similar modular binding punches from other manufacturers only feature a 90-day warranty.
• In addition to all of these strengths, the HD7700 also comes with a number of other great features including: a manual reverse backup to help clear potential paper jams, an extra-large chip tray, an LED diagnostic display, and the choice of three different punching activators.
• This version of the HD7700 has a vertical punching throat. Some users prefer this style of throat as it allows them to use gravity to help align their pages in the punch. This design also allows users to bolt or set their finishing equipment on the top of the punch. Users who don't like a vertical binding punch should consider the HD7700 Horizontal which offers all the same features as this machine but allows for horizontal punching.

Limitations/Weaknesses:

• Much of the hype around the HD7700 surrounds its ability to punch large amounts of paper at a time. However, just because a machine can punch more paper doesn't mean that you should use it to do that. In my tests with this machine, punching more than 20 to 30 sheets at a time greatly reduced the quality of the punching produced by the machine. Users should be aware that punching large quantities of pages at once can “weld” the pages together, making it more difficult to turn the pages in a bound document.
• One of the features that Rhin-O-Tuff promotes in their literature is the design of their die lock system. However, this is one of the things that I like least about this system. I found that even when I locked the die into place on this machine that there was a little bit of play in the punching mechanism. This machine uses a steel retainer clip to hold the punching pins in place, which needs to be moved out of the way when disengaging a die.
• The HD7700 is designed for industrial punching applications. This machine fits in well inside a production area or workshop; however, it can look a little bit out of place in an office environment.

Recommendation:

• There is no doubt that the Rhin-O-Tuff HD7700 offers a great set of features. In fact, it has a number of features that other modular binding punches simply do not offer. This machine can punch more sheets and it has more die set options than any other binding punch on the market. It also offers legal-sized punching. It's a terrific choice for any organization looking for a heavy-duty modular punch.