Booklet maker

[katieatseark]

Just took over for our company's Print Coordinator. The lady could barely turn a computer on. We print a lot of 11X17 booklets but large ones. I have a booklet maker that will fold and staple a maximum of about 15 pages. I need something that will fold and saddle staple about 50 pages. My predecessor's solution was to fold them by hand and reinforce the fold with a coffee mug. Bring on the carpal tunnel syndrome. So if anyone know of anything.. help a newbie out. Thanks in advance.

 

[dabob]

Where do I even begin. . . whats a "lot", if they are 11x17 what does "large ones" mean . . . and how do you reinforce the fold with a coffee mug? . .

For a booklet that large the sheets need to the folded individualy and then gathered into a booklet, then stapled, so imho you need at least a tabletop or better folder and a pretty sizable stitcher . . .

 

[katieatseark]

A lot, for us, means about 3,000 booklets a year using 11X17 paper. "Large ones" means 50 pages, as I mentioned. Folding them individually would be incredibly counter productive and a huge time waster. She would fold a booklet, all pages at once by hand then take the coffee mug and press it firmly against the spine of the booklet running it up and down the spine to reinforce the fold. Then we staple them on a large double head Stago automatic saddle stapler.

 

[MailGuru]

There's a lot of equipment out there that will do this quite efficiently. However, your definition of "a lot", is only 3,000 booklets a year. It's going to be hard to financially justify any equipment with that small a volume. We use Duplo Booklet makers, but then, to us, "a lot" is about 750,000 booklets a year. Still, you may be able to find a used hand-fed Duplo DBM System 3000, or DBM 200 with an attached face trimmer unit for around $5,000. They're pretty old machines, and, Duplo no longer services them, so, if you find one, you'll need to have an independent service guy who can fix them.

 

[dabob]

A lot, for us, means about 3,000 booklets a year using 11X17 paper. "Large ones" means 50 pages, as I mentioned. Folding them individually would be incredibly counter productive and a huge time waster. She would fold a booklet, all pages at once by hand then take the coffee mug and press it firmly against the spine of the booklet running it up and down the spine to reinforce the fold. Then we staple them on a large double head Stago automatic saddle stapler.

do you mean 50 sheets of 11x17 to make or make a 48/52 page book using 12 or 13 sheets of 11 x 17?

If you are talking about the 50 sheets of 11 x 17 to make a 200 page book - not many, if any "bookletmaker" will staple a stack that thick, specs on a DBM 3000or the DBM 200 list a 25 sheet/20# bond max. You would have to find a knife folder to handle a booklet that thick and the fold would not imho be very sellable.

In order to get what we would consider an acceptable looking booklet we would have to fold them individually and gather/collate the books and then staple them, then at least do a face trim so the booklet looks square . . . but thats just the way we roll . . . depends on the final product you desire

 

[MailGuru]

do you mean 50 sheets of 11x17 to make or make a 48/52 page book using 12 or 13 sheets of 11 x 17?

If you are talking about the 50 sheets of 11 x 17 to make a 200 page book - not many, if any "bookletmaker" will staple a stack that thick, specs on a DBM 3000or the DBM 200 list a 25 sheet/20# bond max. You would have to find a knife folder to handle a booklet that thick and the fold would not imho be very sellable.

In order to get what we would consider an acceptable looking booklet we would have to fold them individually and gather/collate the books and then staple them, then at least do a face trim so the booklet looks square . . . but thats just the way we roll . . . depends on the final product you desire

dabob's right. When the OP said "50-pages", I was assuming 12 sheets of 11 x 17 plus a cover (52 pages). If you're talking 50 sheets yielding a 200 page booklet, no Duplo-style booklet maker that I know of would handle anything that thick. With 50 sheets being folded, you would definitely need to use that process that dabob outlines above. With 50 sheets being individually folded, then gathered, you are definitely going to produce a lot of "creep" on the face edge, so, face-trimming would be a must so all the pages look square.

 

[davarino]

You might want to check with a trade bindery in either Shreveport or Little Rock. This would be a pretty much run of the mill project for a trade bindery.

If you wish to do it yourself: print (or copy) all the sheets as individual sheets (NOT collated), run all the sheets through a folder, set the folded sheets in 50 stacks on two or three tables, and walk around the tables inserting the book into each sheet. This will be the fastest way to do it.

Then staple them and face trim them.

It's a PITA job by hand, but it can be done more quickly (and better) than by trying to fold the whole doggone thing at once.

 

[gregbatch]

You don't mention how you are producing the sheets. Is it offset or collated digital sets? If it is offset the previous posts are spot on. Fold, then collate and stitch/staple. If it is collated digital sets, then your booklet maker can do the job. You just need to run the job in lifts of 15 to 17 sheets and drop them into your booklet maker WITHOUT staples. Then marry your lifts and staple. Will be much cleaner and quicker than hand folding.

 

[Craig]

Morgana BM500 will handle it, depending on the paper used. We have stitched 50 sheets of 60lb with ours.

 

[davidspiel]

You could try The MBM Stitch Fold Bookletmaker. You can buy it with or without a trimmer and/or collator. It can stitch up to 25 sheets and a cover. The base model sells for under $14,000.

You can see more here: http://spielassociates.com/bookletmakers.html

To contact me:

David Spiel
Spiel Associates, Inc.
45-01 Northern Blvd.
Long Island City, NY 11101
718-392-7900
[email protected]
www.spielassociates.com

 

[narseman]

Wow. Not sure why anyone would want to do that booklet inhouse with hand equipment. (You're gonna need a bigger coffee mug ) We use a BLM 550Pro. See YouTube demo [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuO-w1JVThg ] Such a quantity is easily outsourced. Digital B&W print on an Oce 6000, with color covers and / or color inserts with a clean square folded spine, and face trimmed - all in-line. Full bleeds possible with an off-line Top 'n Tail trim. And we ship all over the world. Bulk or complete fulfillment services. Mail distros, package builds etc.. Can also run ALL color sheets to booklet maker through diverter if needed.
www.Disk.com Chicago area. 815-331-6000

 

[goalpdl]

If you are doing low volume, the other to consider is an MBM Autobook Booklet Maker. Its low cost and would do what you need to do.