MyBinding Knowledge Base
What happened to Bind-It Binding machines and supplies?
For years, the Bind-It Corporation made some of the best binding machines on the market. Based out of New York, Bind-It was responsible for designing most of the modern thermal binding equipment that is in use today. Additionally, most of the thermal binding covers and hard cover cases were made by Bind-it. Over the past year, however, the Bind-It name has disappeared. This has left many customers asking, “What Happened to Bind-It?”
The simple answer to this question is that the Bind-It Corporation was purchased in 2007 by the Coverbind Corporation of Wilmington, North Carolina. After the purchase, Coverbind proceeded to eliminate the Bind-It name and absorb the Bind-It infrastructure. All of the Bind-It employees in New York were let go and Coverbind proceeded to move the heavy production equipment to North Carolina. Almost overnight, the Bind-It name disappeared. But what happened to all the equipment and covers?
When the Coverbind Corporation bought Bind-It, they also bought the rights to their binding equipment and all existing inventory. This placed the fate of the Perfect Bind II, Covermate 700 and the Bind-It Hard Cover Crimper in the hands of Coverbind. Unfortunately, their decision was to sell off the existing inventory of machines and then to discontinue production of all of these models. Within months almost all the existing inventory was gone and the machines were no longer available for purchase. Some of the items were replaced by Coverbind equipment while others had not replacement such as the Bind-It Hard Cover Crimper.
Many of the thermal covers and hard cover cases that Bind-it had been producing were also discontinued. The entire line of Bind-It thermal photobook hard cases was discontinued along with the “goofless” utility covers and all thermal covers that had clear fronts. For various reasons, Coverbind chose to discontinue all of these products. Unfortunately, this left a lot of existing Bind-It customers in a tough place.
Luckily, former employees of the Bind-It corporation were able to organize a new company to help produce some of this discontinued product. This new organization is called Probind and is based out of Kansas. As of the end of 2007 they are fully operational for the production of thermal covers and hard cover cases. In 2008 they plan on releasing a new line of thermal binding machines including a hard cover crimper.
For the moment, the Bind-It name along with all their thermal binding equipment is gone from the marketplace. The Coverbind acquisition has for the most part been a huge disappointment. As time goes on we can continue to expect new equipment and supplies from a new company called Probind.
< Over the years, a number of customers have asked me whether they can use twin loop wire with their plastic comb binding machine. These customers often don’t want to have to buy a brand new machine but like the look and feel of twin loop wire binding. However, the answer to their question isn’t as simple as it seems. You see, they actually do make twin loop wire that is designed to work with the plastic comb binding hole pattern. With that said, if you want to use these wires you are going to need a way to close the wires. What is Spiral-O Wire? Let me explain a little bit more…There is a product that we carry called Spiral-O Wire. This wire has 19 loops and is designed to work with the hole pattern from a plastic comb binding machine. Spiral-O Wire is sometimes called Wire Combs or Ibico Wire and was originally designed for use with some of the older Ibico binding machines. A number of the older Ibico plastic comb binding machines also included a twin loop wire closer on the front of them to allow users to use both plastic combs and wire. This 19 loop wire was designed for this purpose. What Equipment is Needed? As the Ibico brand has been phased out by GBC and all of the older Ibico plastic binding machines have been replaced with new models, they no longer have the twin loop wire closer on the front of them. This presents a problem in trying to use these spiral-o wires since you can’t use the wires without a way to close them. One of the only options left is to purchase a Twin Loop wire closer. However, since twin loop wire closers are not incredibly cheap this option usually only appeals to users who have larger electric plastic comb binding machines. Otherwise, it is often advisable to simply buy a low end 3:1 pitch twin loop wire binding machine (the supplies are cheaper). This being said, if you have one of the older Ibico binding machines that has a wire closer included you are in luck. The Spiral-O binding supplies that we carry will work perfectly with your machine and you will be able to use both plastic combs and wire depending on your needs. These Spiral-O binding supplies are available in Black, Silver, White, Blue and Red and in sizes up to 1″ in diameter. If you aren’t sure what type of wire binding supplies that you need to work with your machine simply give us a call. Our trained sales representatives will be glad to help you find the correct supplies for use with your machine.(Read More)
