Wire bind - 2:1 vs 3:1

bcr

Well-known member
We have a modular punch with 2:1 and 3:1 wire bind dies.

I'm ordering binding spines now, and wondered... Is it worth bothering with 3:1 for the thinner documents, or should I just stick with 2:1 for all sizes? Is there a benefit, aesthetic, practical or otherwise from 3:1? We will be binding documents which are A5 and A4 in size.

Many thanks,
 
Aesthetics really, either will do the job. The thinner the spine, the thinner gauge wire is used. So 2:1 at very thin spine widths looks a bit weedy. Still works, but some customers won’t like it.
 
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We've always used 3:1 for wire bound jobs, only resorting to 2:1 for very thick documents where 3:1 wire elements are not available. In fact we've only got one size of 2:1 elements on the shelf, No.20 being 1.25". We have both dies for the original Magnapunch, in round hole flavour. For us, no-one has ever asked if the holes would be round or square.
 
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Thanks guys. My supplier only does 2:1 above a certain page count. So I got 3:1 up to I think 65 sheets and 2:1 spines after that.

We've got round hole dies on the GBC modular punch. Heard after ordering that square is a bit easier with larger page volumes as the holes are a bit bigger, but you live and learn.
 
Ha, I'll post a photo of our "spool wall" one day to make you laugh, what a PITA that is to keep accurate stock levels of every single size of 3-4 different colours. With current generation automated wire binders you have to use the right size wire, in the old Rilecart days we could get away with using a bigger size wire. Round vs square? Don't sweat it. Round looks nicer for 2:1 and we have zero problems running that on our binders. As long as you have clean, accurate punching you should be ok. 2:1 wire goes down to 1/4 inch on spools (I don't know about cut wire boxes), but as I say it looks a bit weedy. It is cheaper per book though as there's less wire.
 
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Ha, I'll post a photo of our "spool wall" one day to make you laugh, what a PITA that is to keep accurate stock levels of every single size of 3-4 different colours. With current generation automated wire binders you have to use the right size wire, in the old Rilecart days we could get away with using a bigger size wire. Round vs square? Don't sweat it. Round looks nicer for 2:1 and we have zero problems running that on our binders. As long as you have clean, accurate punching you should be ok. 2:1 wire goes down to 1/4 inch on spools (I don't know about cut wire boxes), but as I say it looks a bit weedy. It is cheaper per book though as there's less wire.
Thanks!

I'm ordering bare metal ones as I think that looks the most classy.

We've got two Ricoh machines with GBC streampunch pros, which so far punch the pages far more accurately and consistently than I ever managed punching them myself.

Also got a renz ECL360 wire closer so not going fully automated.
 

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