Welcome to MyBinding video. This is a look at Akiles' DuoMac 531, a 5:1 coil and 3:1 twin loop wire binding machine. Two different binding styles in one machine adds for convenience and flexibility. It's heavy duty and built to be used a lot and for a long time.
Let's begin with a demonstration on binding with 5:1 spiral coil. Using some scrap paper, let's set the side margin control; this knob allows for all punches to be consistent throughout your project. The long lever arm makes the punch. Now you can see if your holes are just the way you need them. This 5:1 set up has five different disengageable dies to be used with the most common paper sizes. Simply pull the pin and there is no punch there. On the side of the machine is a depth of margin control knob. This allows you to make thinner or thicker margins depending upon the size project you're making.
When everything is set in place, you can make your punches. Let's begin with the covers. If you start face up, make sure all the project is face up. The long arm brings down and makes the punch. And the punch capacity of the 531 is 20 sheets of 20lb paper per lift.
When your project is all punched, assemble it together. It's time to bind. Now, use the spiral coil, 5:1 pitch, put it on the end, and wind it all the way through. You can do it by hand or use a separate coil inserter machine. Finish off the ends of your book with coil crimping pliers, clipping it nice and tight at the end.
There you go, a great looking spiral bound book with the DuoMac 531. Now let's make a book with a wire binding side of things. Again we start with scrap paper and use the side margin control knob to set our settings. We make our punch, look at our holes, and see if there's any adjustments we need to make, like pulling out any of the disengageable die pins so there are no half or mis-punched holes. All of the pins for the 3:1 wire binding are disengageable, allowing you to use virtually any size sheet of paper. This punching die set also has depth of margin control, so you can use thinner or thicker margins depending upon the thickness of your document.
With our settings in place, let's begin with the covers. If we start face up, we do the whole project face up. Punch through in small batches of up to 20 sheets of 20lb paper or less.
And now it's time to bind. Place that wire bind on the fence that's on the front of the machine with the small teeth face up. Then, a trick in wire binding is to take the back page and flip it over to the front page. That way the seam of the bind is hidden between the back cover and the back page. Then drape your project over the teeth of the spine, thread them all the way through, and pull it up and out. The wheel on the right hand side you spin and adjust the wire closer to the size wire that you're using. Place it in with the open side face down and close it up. With the wire closer set at the right size, it will close just enough to close it but no more. Turn your book inside out, you can see that seam is hidden in the inside back cover, and you're all set. All the chips go into the punched chip tray below.
That is the DuoMac 531 by Akiles. For more demos, reviews, and how-tos, check out MyBinding.com.
