Tamerica DuraBind 242 14" Legal Plastic Comb Binding Machine

Staff Review

Tamerica Tashin Durabind 242 Comb Binding Machine Review

Positioning itself as a low-cost entry level manual comb binding system, the Tamerica Tashin Durabind 242 looks like a great choice for smaller organizations and light to medium use. In this short report, we will take a closer look at the Durabind 242 and give you a list of what we consider to be this machine's strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths:

1. We feel that the Durabind 242 offers low volume users a high quality comb binding system and at a great price to boot. The machine can bind documents that are legal sized. It features a comb opener of fourteen inches, and gives the user the ability to punch twenty four holes.
2. The 242 includes a feature that not many other machines at this price point do, and that is fully disengageable dies. This means that with the Durabind 242, you can bind documents with shorter binding edges without ending up with incomplete holes at the ends. There is also a depth of margin control that allows you to adjust how far from the edge you want your holes to be punched. These two features alone rate the 242 as an impressively versatile machine.
3. The inclusion of a separate handle for the opener means that you can place the 242 against the wall, saving valuable counter space. Another great result of this handle placement is that very few components are in motion during the punching and binding process, thus enhancing the longevity of the machine.
4. We found the manual punch to be a pretty strong one, perfectly capable of punching fifteen to twenty pages at a time, or two plastic covers with no problem. This makes the 242 a nice choice for small runs and light production schedules.
5. The two year warranty that the 242 comes with is nice. The all metal construction makes this machine appear to us to be extremely durable. However, that we think it pretty unlikely that you will ever have to use it.
6. The punching dies that come with the 242 are hollow-ground and self sharpening. This makes it extremely unlikely that you will ever have to replace them for the life of the machine. That is a good thing since replacing the dies on a manual comb binding system is a real pain.

Weaknesses:

1. The manual punch of the 242 is of high quality. However, you may find that it limits your productivity to some extent. It is probably not the best choice for high volume jobs as the process of manually punching each document can get tiring and tedious. Manual punching systems also present a risk for injuries resulting from repetitive motion.
2. We've found that, unfortunately, it can be difficult to find much variety in available supplies for legal size plastic comb binding. For the most part, for instance, you can find the plastic combs in black fairly readily, but other colors are more difficult to come by. This limits you creativity in creating the documents you envision. If you are looking to bind legal sized documents and are looking for colorful binding elements you will probably need to consider spiral coil instead of comb binding.