Are there easier ways to bind a document with coil binding?

If you regularly bind your documents with coils, you are probably wondering if there is anything you could be doing to create an easier coil binding experience. It turns out that there are ways to speed up your productivity and make the process a lot smoother. Here are three tips for easier coil binding:

• Consider using pre-punched paper. Punching holes in your document is definitely the most time-consuming part of the binding process. Using pre-punched paper will help you save a lot of time and you can use it in whatever printer or copier you have. Just make sure that it has the correct hole pattern. Coil binding uses a 44-hole pattern if you’re using letter-sized paper.
• Curve the spine of the document. Binding thick documents with coils can be tricky. After all, your document is essentially a giant block of paper while the coil is a plastic spiral. You should consider curving the spine of the document to make coil insertion easier. If your binding machine has a spine forming channel, take advantage of it. You could also use a plastic binding sleeve. A sleeve looks like a binder and you can just slide your document into one and it will automatically curve the spine for you.
• Watch how you hold your coil crimpers. Finally, you need to crimp both ends of the coil every time you bind a book. You can do this with crimping pliers. They look very similar to a regular pair of pliers and they’re used to trim and fold in the ends of the coil. When using your crimpers, make sure you hold them so that the red dot on them is facing up. If you don’t see the red dot, you could end up simply clipping the coil instead of crimping it. This can cause the coil to spin out of the document and you will then need to re-bind it.