Specifications And Guidelines



We are pleased to provide to our customers specifications and guidelines for our perfect binding equipment. Following these guidelines will insure you receive a quality job upon return and your customers will receive what they envisioned and will return with confidence on all future jobs.

We have 2 Muller Martini perfect binders with Kobus 3-knife inline trimmers. Both binders have 18 pocket collators. Trim sizes range from 3.5 x 5.5 to 12 x 14. The minimum sig size we can run through the binder is 4.25 x 6.25. Maximum sig size we can run through binder is 12.25 x 14.25. Minimum thickness is .125, in some cases we can bind down to .08, please consult us. The maximum thickness is 2” including cover.

We do not have folding equipment, so it is important to watch the perforation on the spine of the sigs not to go to deep, thus causing the perforation to split apart in the collating process. We are able to bind digitally printed books, collated single sheets.

Books
If you adhere to these guidelines, we can deliver a high-quality product for you.

Standard gutter grind is 1/8”, if you need to change please consult us to make sure it won’t cause problems. The ideal trim would be ¼” trims on top, face and bottom. However, we can trim 1/8” if necessary. Any trim exceeding ¾” may be subject to additional charges.

Our equipment is set for 3/16” side glue. It is normal for us to score the covers in line with a hinge score. Some heavier cover stocks exceeding .013 caliper may require you to matrix score before coming to us. The maximum cover caliper we can run is .015. Grain direction of both inside pages and cover should be parallel with binding edge of book. We know that in some cases covers need to print wrong grain. We do our best to make these work and look their best, some stocks are more forgiving than others.

It is important that when planning cover printing you allow for a glue trap on both top and bottom. Glue trap is where the cover extends 1/8” beyond the untrimmed sigs, both top and bottom. There will be an extra charge for no glue trap. We would need to set up our glue cut off cams to prevent adhesive from smearing on the spine of the book cover.

We do run PUR adhesive for all our perfect bound book applications. PUR is a superior adhesive for coated stocks. Will not reset and remains flexible in both heat and cold. If your job has flaps, gatefolds or anything that is out of the norm, please consult us for further guidelines.