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.
Here's a question we hear frequently, especially from folder operators new to running cover stocks on folding machines...."Even though I've scored it, the cover stock I'm running still cracks when I run it through the folder; what can I do?"
In the course of a normal day, folding machine operators usually only concern themselves with one adjustment on the buckle plate. That, of course, is the fold stop which sets the length of the fold.
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)
If you produce double gatefolds on your buckle folder, you might have struggled with the ‘boxed’ fold as shown in the photo (left). The problem is obvious in that the first fold is squared off and boxy rather than flat and sharp. Several readers recently emailed asking how to solve this problem, especially when folding text weight stocks.
Some time ago a Bindery Success™ reader asked us to referee a disagreement about the correct usage of the term “aggressive perforation.” He believed a more aggressive perf would tear more easily. His colleague thought 'more aggressive' meant it would be harder to tear. Who was right?
The bindery scenario is this—you have an 8 page folded brochure, no stitches or glue, 8.5 x 11” trim size which folds again to 5.5 x 8.5”. If your press and folding machine (with right angle section) are large enough, you simply print the job as one 8-page signature then fold and trim to size, inline on the folder. The job becomes more difficult if your press is either too small to print the 8-page signature or your folder isn’t big enough or properly equipped to handle this type of folding work. Or maybe a customer supplies you with such a job.
A double gatefold as shown in the figure below, requires a special folding machine attachment for automatic high-speed production. There is an easy way to do this without the attachment, but it does add a manual labor step to the process.
