Despite their versatility in the bindery, folding machines do have limitations. The bigger the diameter of the fold roller, the heavier the sheet that can be run. Grain direction also matters. But before you take the salesman’s head off for suggesting that you score and fold an 18pt cover stock, consider this technique that might help you finish an impossible job.
When running thin 4-page signatures on a saddle stitcher inserter pocket or in a gatherer, it can be difficult to control the vacuum so as not to pull double signatures, typically on light, uncoated book stocks.
If you happen to have a gate fold attachment for your folding machine and you use it strictly for gate folds, you could be cheating yourself. You may not know this, but it’s entirely possible to use a gatefold plate to reduce, or even eliminate, three issues common to letter folds and other multi-panel folds:
The blessing and the curse for folding machine and bindery equipment operators is that there is always something new to learn. It’s great when you learn something new and you can do a job faster or better. But you can’t rest on your laurels because on this new plateau of performance there are even more things to learn, more questions and more is expected of you. There is a Chinese proverb that sums it up: “Learning is like rowing upstream. Not to advance is to drop back.”
A Bindery Success™ subscriber recently emailed to talk about an issue he was having with perforating on their folding machine. As with most post-press problems, the more we dug into it, the more we had to peel back layers. In this case the problem which generated the inquiry is that perforator blades are wearing out too fast for the boss’ liking.
There is no doubt that our Technifold anvil-style perforating systems deliver a cleaner, flatter product than conventional folding machine rotary perforating systems (illustrations, right.) There is less distortion of the sheet and it’s possible to safely get more teeth per inch (tpi) with the stronger double-bevel perf blade typically used in the anvil method.
For something with just two sides to it, it’s amazing the hundreds of questions that can arise. We are of course, referring to paper. There’s a good chance that some of what you’ve found to be true about printing and finishing paper is counter-intuitive. For instance, the simple question, ‘Which side of the paper should I score on my folding machine?’ falls into that camp.
If you work in a trade bindery or print shop handling a lot of book work, by now you probably have your own bag of tricks for folding 32 page signatures. If however you’re not accustomed to running them on a regular basis, you might encounter a bit of a learning curve.
If you’re a new folding machine operator, don’t let the wrinkles on a folded piece lead to wrinkles on your face! There are numerous things that can cause a sheet to wrinkle as it travels through the folder but with a little patience and thought it’s usually easy to eliminate the problem and with experience, prevent it entirely.
When the short side of a rectangular sheet is running against a folding machine side guide, it’s generally called an ‘oblong’ sheet in reference to the oblong fold that might take place in the parallel folding section. It’s also referred to as landscape format. A common scenario is the 11x17” or 8.5x11” cover stock run in such a fashion in order to score and/or perforate the sheet before folding in a right angle section.