Welcome to our Bindery Success Blog!

How to Fold Cover Stocks 2-Up For Better Folding Machine Yield

  The beautiful thing about folding machines is that it’s possible to do many things to the sheet as it passes through the machine. Creasing, perforating, cutting, gluing and punching are a few folder functions that can be combined for high productivity.

For years however, some things, though possible, were simply not done. For instance, trimming cover stock on the folder was discouraged, so covers were always run 1-up. My early training was that if the cover needed scoring, it was done anywhere except the folder, typically on press, letterpress or diecutter.

With the advent of new creasing and cutting tools, it now pays to re-visit some of these ‘possibilities’ that may have been removed from your arsenal of post-press production techniques. In working with printers and binderies daily, we see lots of creativity. However there are a few techniques that are very simple to execute and for the longer runs will give you huge boosts in productivity, in some cases doubling the yield or better.

The technique here is one of the most popular we see for three reasons:

• It provides an enormous increase in folder production
• It’s easy to set up
• The print layout usually doesn’t need to change.

A typical 4 page or letterfold-type piece (6 panel) is laid out 2 up so it can be creased (scored) in the main, parallel section. It then folds in the right angle section where the trim is taken. Figure 1 shows the two-fold layout and figure 2 illustrates a one-fold. A 6-panel requires 2 Tri-Creasers in the first section and one Multi Tool for cutting in the right angle while a 4 pager requires only 1 Tri-Creaser and 1 Multi Tool.

The folder can be run at high speeds with either layout and if you are using an automatic stacker, you can probably push the folder to its limits. The tradeoff in extra setup time is small, perhaps an extra 15-30 minutes, so even moderate quantities merit a review for this type of folder run.

Watch for more layouts in our next few Bindery Success blog posts!

Hearing Loss Around Bindery Equipment

What do bindery equipment, loud music, gunshots and power tools have in common?

Exposure to them can cause hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears.) Some day…maybe…I’ll tell the story of how long ago I had an experience with all four during the course of a single day at work.

One of the leading causes of this preventable problem is the failure of staff to wear hearing protection, according to the Centers for Disease Control. About 1 in 22 people are afflicted with tinnitus and according to surveys by the CDC, about half of these workers are in manufacturing.

In these days of OSHA oversight, most printers have hearing protection readily available but if you don’t use it, it doesn’t do any good. While damage to your ear can occur with a single loud incident, initial hearing loss is not usually noticeable, and the symptoms are more likely to appear in a gradual fashion.

I know this from personal experience. In my early 20’s I was fortunate to be employed in the bindery department of a New York commercial printer. I vaguely remember seeing the hearing protectors somewhere in the shop, but I was 20-something and it didn’t look cool, they were hot and I had to constantly take them off to hear people talking. So I’d cut and fold all day, with the protectors hanging off the folding machine. Hey, at 21 we are invincible.

My real mission at the time was playing in a rock band at night—and you definitely did NOT wear hearing protectors when playing at CBGB or anywhere else in New York City. So I’d get 8-10 hours of ear-pounding noise by day, and most nights between rehearsals or playing out, a couple more hours of heavy auditory pummeling.

Noise gets uncomfortable around 80 decibels (the sound of heavy traffic up close) and is dangerous from around 90db and up. Folding machines, presses and compressors easily generate in excess of 85db. Rock concerts can produce 100-110db. Not surprisingly, prolonged, regular exposure to dangerous levels will cause permanent damage. A rule of thumb is that if you have to speak loudly or shout to another person to be heard over a noise, the noise might be damaging.

I didn’t even know I had hearing loss until a hearing test revealed it many years later. Occasionally there would be a ringing in my ears but it always went away so I didn’t think much of it. Until one day the ringing stayed….and steadily worsened. The noise varies with individuals, but I can best describe mine as the sound of two very high-pitched, dissonant tuning forks combined with the buzzing sound of cicadas. Volume varies but it’s always there, 24-7.

Some months later a hearing specialist explained everything I ever wanted to know about tinnitus and how now that I had it, there wasn’t any known cure for it; there is only prevention. Yes, I can get these high-tech noise-cancelling hearing aids that would cancel out the noise but right now the remedy seems worse than the ailment.

So at the risk of sounding like an old-timer to the young bindery workers out there, I’ll issue this warning—wear your hearing protection starting today. For you fellow sufferers, there is a lot of advice out there on how to live with it, including recommendations on minimizing it. Do they work? It’s hard to say because the noise never goes away. And there’s no way to quantify what we hear, or to say that it’s ‘less bad’ than it used to be.

The one recommendation I can’t bring myself to try yet is to stop drinking caffeinated beverages. I exercise, eat OK, don’t smoke, don’t drink, and my weight is good. But life without coffee?? That just wouldn’t be life… And if I can’t tell the story of loud music, gunshots, power tools and bindery equipment over a cup of coffee, well then, I just can’t tell the story.

7 Bindery Tips to Improve Paper Drilling

Drilling holes in paper can be easy and trouble-free…if you practice the right habits. The drilling concept is simple but like most things in bindery and print finishing, there are more factors to consider than initially meet the eye. These include type of paper stock, size of hole, number of holes, type of drill bit and coating, drilling blocks, drill bit depth adjustment, table speed and lubrication.

It’s easy to buy a new piece of bindery equipment for drilling, set it up and start running. If you skimp on the details, you’ll soon find yourself plagued by broken or clogged drill bits, ruined lifts of paper and even damage to expensive drill head spindles.

With the 7 simple bindery tips outlined below, you’ll eliminate these problems, get extended drill bit life and have a smooth, nearly non-stop drilling workflow. And in the bindery, non-stop is the key to maximum yield.

1 -  Drill bit depth adjustment and seating. The drill bit should just barely cut into the wooden drilling block. Start by firmly seating the drill in the spindle and adjust so the drill bit isn’t quite cutting into the drill block. Gradually adjust so the drill cuts through a single sheet of paper. Drill a small lift of waste paper to further seat the drill. If it’s not cutting through the lift, make gradual adjustments until it cuts cleanly through—resisting the temptation to go deep into the wood—doing so prematurely dull the bit! Repeat for ALL drill bits.

2 - Use chipboard or other waste material on the bottom if you desire a perfectly clean cut on the bottom sheet of the live job. If you can do this, you’ll rarely have to make further adjustments to the bit depth because the bottom sheet will be discarded anyway.

3 - Be sure drills are sharpened before every job. With the right tools, sharpening is very fast and a shortcut in sharpening is guaranteed to cost you far more in lost production time, replacement bits and premature wear on the machine. For long run jobs you may need to sharpen 2 or 3 times in a day, but it is well worth the effort. For me, a change in the sound of the drills going through paper was one clue to sharpen. Another  clue: one or all of the bits start to clog.

4 - Use drill lube continuously on both the outside of the bit and on the sharpened edge of the bit. It reduces friction and keeps the waste chips flowing freely.

5 - Use the fastest possible table speed. When I first worked with drills, I mistakenly assumed that slower was better. But drill bits spinning through paper generate an enormous amount of heat and mechanical resistance, two enemies which can damage or destroy the bits, drill heads, drive belts and motors. You want the drill bit in and out as fast as practical. The right speed varies with each job and it takes some experience to get a feel for it. You may, for instance, adjust the speed to get a certain sound for one job and a different sound for another, with each ‘correct’ sound verifying you have the correct speed.

6 - Clean out all drill bits as soon as you are finished with a job. Drill chips that move freely through a hot bit will probably clog up as the metal cools and shrinks. Then next time you drill, the waste chips are solid as a rock inside the bit and you instantly break it, or you stall the table, or you jam the bit so hard inside the spindle it’s nearly impossible to remove. Trust the voice of experience on this one—I’ve done them all! So clean them every time and give a light coating of lube to protect the metal. While you're at it, clean the drill spindles too. This ensures proper seating of the bits.

7 - Visually inspect the drill bits before each job. Drill bits can flare out at the edge or get nicked, chipped or cracked. If damage is visible, it’s time to replace.

Drill operators usually tend to one or more of these tasks when it suits them or when a problem arises. Instead, make it standard operating procedure or even better, use a checklist. Be sure to follow your manufacturer’s recommendations too. When combined with the hard-earned lessons above, you’ll see a noticeable improvement in your drilling workflow.

Tip for Centering a Rotary Crease on Your Bindery Equipment

There are several factors which affect the quality and performance of a crease. These include the rule width (male component), the depth of crease, the width of the female channel, and the 'critical distance' (the distance from the side of the male rule to the edge of the female channel.)

If the critical distance is not equal on both sides, the crease quality suffers. In other words if the crease is slightly off-center, you won't get the best possible crease, resulting in possible fiber cracking or tearing of the folded paper.

Here is a simple, classic technique to ensure that your rotary creasing device is perfectly centered. The video demo illustrates this bindery tip using an EZ-Fit Tri-Creaser, but the concept works with any rotary scoring tool.

One important requirement: your tools must move freely on the shafts, responding to a light finger pressure. So be sure the shafts are clean and free of burrs. This is a good practice whether you are running folding machines, scoring machines, or cover feeders on saddle stitchers or perfect binders.

Many versions of the Tri-Creaser automatically center themselves, so if you have a female component without an allen screw, you don't have to worry about this step.

Click the Video to Play

Marketing Your Printing Business to Grumpy Old Men

One of my colleagues in the world of marketing, Bob Bly, has a file of marketing resources that I must have sub-consciously kept to myself over the years. (Note: if you own or manage a printing, bindery or other business, you ARE in the world of marketing, like it or not.)

I was reminded that one of our purposes here is to share with our readers in the printing industry the hidden gems we unearth. With a little arm-twisting, Bob agreed to give away an ebook to all of our subscribers here at Bindery Success. It’s called Marketing to Grumpy Old Men (aka GOM) and since I am one, I'm especially fond of this title...hence the gentle encouragement to Bob to let me give this one away.

So whether you too are one, or you sell your services to them, or you want to help your customers relate to them, Click here and scroll down to the Marketing to Grumpy Old Men link to download your copy—on the house, courtesy of Bob and me—absolutely no strings attached.

I admit I originally bought it because the title made me laugh, because Bob is a known GOM, and because I have at least 47 of his other books. All of them have proven immensely valuable over the years, giving me tools to help drive our company to the Inc. 5000. So if you have some GOM as customers, or you want us as customers, be sure to get your complimentary copy.

A side note: there are nearly 200 other resources available on the page, most in the $29-49 range, so be sure to look around and bookmark the page. Remember this important strategy…not only can you use the GOM book and others to boost your own skills, you can be a hero by sharpening your customer's marketing skills.

Show them you're the expert and advise them for instance, how to produce more effective brochures, catalogs, and other marketing material, how to write better copy, how to self-publish books, and more—all leading to more jobs for you to print! 

So be kind to a Grumpy Old Man today, and get your copy here. And since we are indeed authentic GOM, download it today before one of us changes our minds for no apparent reason.

Bindery Equipment Tip - How to Replace Allen Screws

Bindery equipment often has to be serviced or adjusted in hard-to-reach spots. The lowly allen screw is one item that can give an operator fits when removing or replacing. Quite often the allen is dropped into an impossible-to-reach spot...repeatedly.

Folding machines, scoring or perforating machines, saddle stitchers and perfect binders all have lots of contstant vibration when running. So screws work their way loose and fall out.

Or over time, the heads of the allen screws get rounded out from repeated tightening and loosening, so they need to be replaced. Whatever the reason, those hard-to-reach spots sometimes need to be reached.

This video shows a quick tip to make this frustrating task easy and fast, and works well whether you are taking the screw out or putting it in.

How to Fold Digital Printing Jobs Fast Without a Folding Machine

Using your folding machine for digital, short-run jobs can be a nuisance. It often takes longer to set up the folder than it takes to run the job. And if your folder operator makes a mistake, an entire digital print job can be ruined in the blink of an eye!

Here's how to fold these jobs fast without use of a folder. The technique works best on cover stocks, from around 6-7 pt. and up.  The job has to be pre-scored in some fashion, whether on a scoring machine, printing press or hand creaser.

Once you get the hang of it, you'll find it simple to fold hundreds of printed brochures in just minutes. This is especially useful when dealing with lots of short printing runs that have different trim sizes.

Micro Perforating on Web Presses - a Sneak Preview

For web printers in search of in-line micro perforating solutions, here’s a sneak preview of the new alternative in high-speed perforating designed specifically for web presses.

Web presses are in some ways more complex than their sheet-fed brethren by virtue of their high speeds, by web tension and by heating and chilling variables, in addition to the usual ink, paper and plate issues. Perforating and scoring accessories that perform just fine in a sheet-fed printing environment might fail under the different demands of web printing.

We’ve had several years of successful field experience with the Web Creasers, dramatically improving the score quality on many types of paper stocks. To make the Web Creaser more of a plug-n-play installation and operation, this past year we introduced some new hardware solutions. It was only natural to venture into micro perforating on the web.

Based on customer requests and input from operators and owners in the field, we developed the new Web Micro Perforator to add this extra dimension to your web press finishing capabilities.

One of the squawks we hear about some perf units on the market is the short life of perf blades. We addressed that issue with a close look at the proper materials in both the perf blade and the cutting anvil.

Also available with the new micro perforator are several perf blades designed to produce the proper perf across a range of paper stocks. We plan to start with 17, 25, 40 and 52 teeth/inch perf blades using a cut-to-tie ratio designed to work efficiently on the web at high speeds.

Have a suggestion or idea about perforating on web presses? Please leave a comment below…we’d love to hear from you!

Folding Machine Tip to Eliminate Bent Corners on Folded Brochures

A scenario notorious for causing 'dog ears' (bent corners) is the 11x17" brochure which first folds in half and then folds 2x at a right angle to fit a #10 envelope.  It’s common to get an unsightly ‘dog ear’ or bent corner on the inside flap (fig. 1)

There are a couple ways to fold this, but for our illustration we’re using fold plate #1 in the parallel section and then going up in to plates #1 and #3 in the right angle section. If you use another configuration, simply move the score wheels as needed—the concept works for any folding machine setup.

A “How’d They Do That” Solution

Often the folder operator will struggle with adjusting the fold, trimming more off the sheet (you can’t go back from that one!) or playing with the fold plates. Some or all of these can indeed work, but it is  tedious and there could be limitations due to folding on a bleed, or copy that is close to a trimmed edge.

Before struggling with these folding machine variations, try adding a slight up-curl to the inside panel where the dog ear would normally occur, to curl it the opposite direction. Do this by using a regular scoring wheel against a single scoring block (or pull out wheel) as shown. The curl that is created keeps the inside panel nicely tucked on the second fold. You’ll find that you can tuck the panel in so tightly that it will leave others wondering how you did it. An added bonus…you’ll be able to run the job faster.

For best results, experiment with the distance of the score from the edge of the sheet, and with the distance of the male score wheel horizontally from the score block (making the score sharper or softer.) While this bindery tip might take a few extra minutes in the folding machine setup, the payoff is huge in reduced troubleshooting time, higher folder productivity and  customer satisfaction.

How to Add Creasing Capability to Your Perforating or Cutting Tool

If you are micro perforating or trimming on your folding machine with Technifold's Multi Tool, watch this video to find out how you can add creasing capbility with this Upgrade Kit.

Using Fast Fit Tri-Creaser technology along with the blade holder which you already have as part of your Multi Tool kit, you can quickly convert to a creasing tool. For less than half the cost of Fast Fit Tri-Creaser you instantly gain more flexibility from your folding machine.