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Removing UV Coating to Aid Perfect Binding Operations

[fa icon="calendar"] Fri, Jan 20, 2012 / by Andre Palko

When I was a bindery department supervisor, I’d occasionally hear this at our production meetings, “Don’t worry, Andre will fix it." 'It' could be any number of errors, large or small…a job backed up incorrectly, shortages, poor register, inks that didn’t dry, lack of production time or an incorrect imposition.

If you’ve been around bindery operations for more than a few weeks, you get used to being a Mr. Fixit. The nature and complexity of printing and print finishing is such that mistakes creep in no matter how well prepared and systematic you are about your operation.

UV Cover RepairHere’s a clever tip on how one bindery fixed a problem with a long-run perfect binding job. The problem is that hot-melt glues won’t successfully bind covers to books when the spine area is coated or printed. Sure, it was probably specified by the bindery to keep that are free of coating; nevertheless the job was printed and sitting on the bindery floor with a UV coating fully covering the spine’s glue area. There was no option except to figure out a way to run it on their Muller RB-5 or Muller Normbinder.

Their solution was to position a motorized wire brush at the delivery end of their Baumfolder. Baumfolder modificationNext, a wire frame was mounted to the fold plate, with a support wheel riding just above the wire brush. (see photos and video) After some trial and error they discovered that the only way it worked was when the brush rotated in the direction of sheet travel, with the rotation speed faster than the speed of the sheet.

The fold rollers and slitter shaft hold the sheet while the brush removes the UV coating. Most of you reading this will never have to fix a problem like this…it will probably be something else surprising. Of course if you DO need to try something like this, be sure to follow all safety precautions and regulations.

Although problems like this can be frustrating when they appear, there is a certain satisfaction and reward in figuring out a solution. Hopefully this short video tip will inspire you to fix whatever challenge the world has in store for your bindery or printing operation today.

Many thanks to our friends at Technifold Mexico for the video. Click the video below to watch and as always, we welcome your comments, suggestions and experiences below!

Topics: Bindery How-To Tips, Folding Machines, Perfect Binding

Andre Palko

Written by Andre Palko

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