MyBinding Knowledge Base
Can we print and bind our own Yearbooks for our school?
More and more schools are looking to save money due to ever increasing budget cuts. Unfortunately, some of the things that get cut are the very things that make school enjoyable for students such as art classes, sports, and even yearbooks. However, you can still commemorate the school year by binding your own customized yearbooks with a thermal binding machine. Doing so can help you save money and it can get the kids involved in a project they’ll remember forever. Here’s the lowdown on how you can bind your own yearbooks:
- The first thing you’ll need to do is design, lay out, and print your yearbook. Your school’s yearbook committee can do this. It’s a great way for students to explore their interests such as photography, writing, and graphic design. When the book has been laid out, print the documents on a high-quality printer. You might want to use glossy stock to make them look more professional.
- At this point, you need to select your thermal binding covers. It’s important to use supplies that are the right size since using a cover that is too small will cause pages to fall out of the yearbook. Measure the thickness of the book with a ruler and choose a cover that will comfortably accommodate all the pages.
- Now that you’ve printed your yearbooks and have selected your thermal binding covers, you can begin to think about customizing the covers. You can add windows to them and/or have them foil-stamped which will make them look fantastic. You could also have the covers printed with artwork during a four-color printing process. Just keep in mind that customization can be expensive and it can take a while. You might have to wait as long as 3 months to get your customized supplies.
- After you’ve rounded up your printed documents and covers, you can start binding your yearbooks. Thermal binding is very easy to do. Just insert the yearbook pages into a binding cover, place the cover in the thermal binding machine, and remove the yearbook after it’s been bound. This only takes a couple of minutes. You should then place the book in a crimper to secure the binding. Note: if you used a Unibind machine, you can skip this last step.
That’s all you need to do to produce your own customized yearbooks. Doing so will help you save a lot of money and give the students a memento that they’ll treasure for years to come.
< 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)
