Fastback Powis Stitcher - PPSTITCHER

Staff Review

Reviewing the Powis Parker Fastback Photobook Stitcher

The Powis Stitcher was released by Powis Parker Inc. as part of their studio photobook binding system. The studio photobook system offers a complete solution that allows small photographers, retail locations and image labs to quickly and easily produce photobooks on demand. However, binding photo books with high gloss printed papers can often cause a lot of problems. To solve these problems, the Powis Stitcher was introduced. This review will take a quick look the features / capabilities, limitations and construction of the Powis stitcher.

Features:

The Powis stitcher is not a true stitching machine in the sense that it does not actually uses spool wire. Instead, it is actually a modified heavy duty electric stapler. It is rated for stapling between three and thirty pages. However, the actual number of pages that you are able to staple is going to greatly depend on the type of paper that you are using. With twenty pound copy paper you could staple far more than thirty pages. However, with thick photopapers even thirty pages may be a stretch.

The Powis stitcher offers a few great features that you don't find on a standard heavy duty electric stapler. It includes a heavy duty metal book table. This specialty book table is ideal for use with landscape oriented documents. It also has convenient markings to help you know where to place the staples when binding photobooks and hard cover documents with your Fastback studio photobook system.

Depending on the type of paper that you are using and the number of sheets that you are binding, the staples may not cinch completely flat with this system. There is a setting to adjust the force with which the stapler operates. However, for best results, the staples need to be crimped closed. The Fastback Stitcher includes a pair of special crimping pliers that are designed to cinch the staples so that they are tight and completely flat. This helps to ensure that the quality of the bind for your photobooks is superior.

Limitations:

The primary limitation of the Powis stitcher is its binding capacity. Unfortunately, the stapler is simply limited in the number of sheets that it can penetrate. However, if you use the premium staples provided by Fastback you should be able to increase the capacity of the stapler by about twenty percent over the performance you would get from standard staples.

A heavier duty electric stapler might be able to completely cinch the staples even when dealing with heavy photo papers. However, the powis stitcher cannot and thus the crimping pliers are necessary. If you don't use the crimping pliers, it is possible that your pages will be loose in your bound book or that the staples may not be completely hidden. This is a somewhat time consuming step in binding documents with the studio photobook system but it is a necessary one.

Construction:

The Powis Parker Fastback stitcher is extremely well built. It has a heavy duty metal book table and has plastic housing around the stapling head. The stapling unit is actually produced by Rapid (one of the highest quality electric stapler manufacturers on the market). With this in mind, I have no real concerns about the construction of this machine.

Recommendation:

The powis stitcher is an integral part of the Fastback studio photobook binding system. It allows you to bind photo books with any type of glossy paper, even heavy duty papers that won't work in most perfect bind or thermal binding systems. The staples produced by this machine are completely hidden from sight and produce some of the highest quality on demand hard covers that I have seen anywhere.

Tips For Using the Powis Parker S51 Photobook Stitcher

The Powis Parker S51 Fastback Photobook Stitcher is a unique commercial duty electric stapler specifically designed for photobook binding. The S51 is extremely easy to use and it provides the ability to use hard-to-bind coated papers for binding photobooks. This article will discuss a few tips to help you get the most out of your Fastback stitcher and will give procedures for troubleshooting the machine if it were to become jammed.

Tips for Binding with The S51

1. All paper has a grain – it is a result of the fibers that make up the paper. The grain of the paper should run parallel to the binding edge of the document. If the grain runs parallel to the long side of the sheet, the paper is “grain long”. When the grain runs parallel to the short side of the paper, it is “grain short”. A sheet of paper will naturally flex more easily along the direction of its grain. Most copy papers are grain long, so you should not have any problems with the bind. Grain long paper will give you the best bind. Occasionally you may find papers that are grain short, so we recommend you test unfamiliar papers before binding large numbers of documents.

2. How many sheets of paper the Powis Stitcher can bind depends on the weight and the surface density of the paper. Always run a test sample before proceeding. The stitcher may have a hard time producing a flat cinch when penetrating heavier more dense papers. That is why the fastback studio photobook system comes with a pair of crimping pliers to flatten the staples on the spine of your book block. When using the stitcher as part of the Fastback studio photobook system, you will need to penetrate both the pages and the photobook binding strip. This makes the S51 best suited for smaller photobooks with fewer pages.

Removing Jammed Staples

If press the foot pedal on the S51 stitcher without pages in the binding throat, you may end up with a jammed staple. You might even end up with a staple jam during regular operation. However, lucky for you it isn’t very hard to remove a staple jam.

1. Turn off power.
2. Lift the sight-shield.
3. Depress the magazine release on the front of the insert stapler and pull out the magazine (Figure 11).
4. Remove jammed staple(s). Difficult jams may require needle-nosed pliers to remove. Be careful not to damage the Stitcher when removing jams with pliers or similar tools.
5. Push in the magazine to the locked position.
6. Lower the sight-shield.
7. Turn power on.

If the S51 Stitcher Will Not Operate

If you go to use your Powis Stitcher and discover that it doesn’t work, there are a few things that you might want to check. Thy these things…

1. Check that the unit is receiving current, and that the switch is on (the pilot light comes on).
2. Check that the sight-shield is down. If the sight-shield is up the unit will not operate. This is a safety feature.
3. Check that the foot pedal is properly plugged into the unit.
4. Check that the impact force is set to 9.