MyBinding Knowledge Base
What should I look for in a Whiteboard?
In case you haven’t noticed, the plain old cheap whiteboard is quickly becoming a thing of the past. If you have found yourself in the market for a whiteboard for your office, you may have discovered that there are many features and options out there. You can choose features such as web and PDA interactivity, premium surfaces that don’t ghost, and high-quality frames. It is enough to make your head spin just trying to figure it out. In the following article, we will try and help to guide you through some of the features that are currently available in whiteboard surfaces. Hopefully, this article will help you in choosing a whiteboard surface that be the best for the needs of your office.
- Erase-ability: Depending on how frequently your whiteboard is going to be used, you will definitely want to pay some attention to how clean the board erases. For light, low-profile use, such as in break rooms or factory floors, melamine is an acceptable surface. Melamine is the least expensive marker board surface. However, it will require the use of cleaners on a fairly regular basis for best performance. If you are looking for a whiteboard that will be used more frequently, it is recommended that you purchase a board with a porcelain writing surface. Porcelain boards erase cleaner and require much less cleaning. At the top end, there are surfaces such as Quartet’s Magnetic Total Erase system that not only erases completely, it features a magnetic surface for added flexibility for your presentations.
- Durability: Again, the consideration here is how frequently and under what conditions your whiteboard will be used. Many of the lower-end surfaces such as melamine can scratch and dent easily with even moderate use. If you are going to be using the board frequently, or are going to be moving the whiteboard around much, you really should invest in a higher quality surface such as porcelain. There are some boards on the market that guarantee that their surfaces will never dent, scratch, stain, or ghost, and you may be wise to seek them out. Especially if durability is a concern.
- Special features: As we mentioned above, magnetic surfaces can increase the scope of your presentations. There are also higher end boards that feature grid patterns that make writing in a straight line and drawing graphs or diagrams much easier. The grids are very subtle and are usually not visible or distracting for your audience.
- Interactivity: At the forefront of whiteboard surfaces is the interactive marker board. One example of this type of board is the Quartet Idea Share Computerized Whiteboard. It features a gray porcelain surface and fully integrated electronic imaging technology. This type of board really pushes the envelope when it comes to collaboration and flexibility. You can use an interactive marker board to host web-based meetings, print, share, or save data to a computer or even connect your board to certain kinds of PDAs.
- Brand. There are a few great whiteboard manufacturers such as Balt Best-Rite, Ghent, and Quartet. Each of these companies make boards in a wide variety of sizes with both porcelain and melamine surfaces. Choosing a board made by one of the manufacturers is a way to ensure you’re getting a high-quality product you’ll love.
- Price. Price is also something you should think about. You need to choose a whiteboard that won’t cost too much while also having the features and quality you need. Resist the urge to get the cheapest board out there. You’ll find that it lacks the quality you deserve and have to replace it after a while. So save money from the get-go by getting the most durable, high-quality board you can afford. That way you won’t need to replace it as quickly, if at all.
- Warranty. Finally, you should choose a board that has a warranty you feel comfortable with, just in case something unexpected happens. For instance, some of Quartet’s higher-end boards come with an incredible 50-year guarantee so you can buy a product like that with a lot of confidence
< 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)
