This is a bindery trick that is elegant in its simplicity. In other words, you really must see this at work on a folding machine, even if you never plan to use it!
This is a bindery trick that is elegant in its simplicity. In other words, you really must see this at work on a folding machine, even if you never plan to use it!
Many people doing hands-on bindery work, will have fingers taped and wrapped in Band-Aids from January through March. We have seen boxes of band-aids strategically placed through the print shop to deal with the yearly epidemic of dry hands and cracked fingers, some even use masking or duct tape in a pinch!
Is the subject of packing boxes in the bindery a topic not worth your time? If you think it’s trivial, we promise it will eventually cost you.
It happens every year around this time with our customers in wintry climates, so we will review a handy tip that came to us in 2011:
A printer recently sent us four-color samples on 70# C2S litho text which were cracking horribly when folded. They couldn’t get rid of the problem with their own scoring devices and wondered if the EZ-Fit or Fast Fit Tri-Creaser would take care of the problem.
Rotary scoring and perforating machines with direct feed systems are easy to use and widely available. This type of machine has no register table but instead moves the sheet directly from the feeder into the shafts. You’ll find manual-fed, friction-fed and air-fed designs from such manufacturers as Rosback, Rollem, Graphic Whizard, Count, Pierce as well our CreaseStream series (right) and its predecessor, the Speedcreaser.
One of the unique Tri-Creaser design features is the ‘floating female’ component that comes with several of our popular folding machine models. What exactly is the floating female? No, it’s not the tooth fairy or the woman at the next table who’s had too much to drink.
These unsung folding machine accessories go by several names including pull out wheels, gripper rollers, transfer wheels, gripper bosses, register wheels, drive rollers, and probably more we aren't aware of. They serve a few important functions on folding machines and most other types of bindery equipment.
Maybe you’re thinking “Who cares about the shaft diameter on bindery equipment, just look it up in the manual if you need the info!” We can say that as a supplier of bindery products to fit hundreds of machines with all kinds of shafts, there is often a noticeable lack of information available. At the very least there is often some measure of confusion about actual dimensions, especially if no caliper is available to take a precise measurement.
Whether you or your folder operators are industry veterans or are setting up your first folding job, here’s a topic worth more than one look. We’ve discussed various aspects of slitter shaft maintenance a few times (see blog links at the end of the article) yet the type of questions that come up tell us it’s an item often overlooked when troubleshooting.