Folding A4 saddle stitched booklet to DL. Can it be done?

[BigSi]

Hi there.

A4 for my American friends is 210mm x297mm. Folded to 210mm x 99mm. To fit into a standard DLE envelope. Saddle stitched on the long edge. Normally 80gsm to 120gsm and 8 to 12pages. (self cover)

Not that it makes any difference to my problem but they are finished offline on my Duplo. (stitched and front edge trimmed). Volume's are getting up there, x1400+. Need a way to do these other than by hand. As far as I know there is not a machine that can do this (not without wasting huge numbers anyway and costing a fortune).

Other than trying to find some casual workers (with or the associated problems) what do I do? None of the print finishers want to touch it. (not that there are many in my city)

Your thoughts are much appreciated. (sort of hoping there might be a reasonably price machine out there).

thanks Simon

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Just to be clear, is this a regular saddle-stitched booklet with both sides even, or is it some weird tri-fold that is saddle-stitched on one of the folds?

My workaround for things like this is to use our booklet maker on our Versant 180, do a square fold and trim the edge at ~4.75" and then to take it to the guillotine and do the final trim to 99mm or 3.667" (our equivalent of 1/3 of a letter sheet).

But at 1,400+ pieces I can understand why this would not be a preferred method. All booklet machines that I see, that can handle odd-sized booklets are usually focused on being able to produce 4.25 x 5.5" booklets, with the stitching being on the 5.5" edge, as their minimum size. And that's a small booklet. I'd be surprised if they can somehow remove another 20% of that to get down to 99mm or 3.667".

In any case this is a good place to ask the question. The people on this forum have a lot of knowledge.

 

[TJPrinter]

Don't know what Duplo you have but you can hand feed these and set for fold only and it would be easier than hand folding. Cheap too since you already have it.

I do these kinds of right angle folds two different ways. Either hand fed in the booklet maker for a knife fold or I send through an old Martin Yale creaser first then put it on a friction buckle folder with the last plate doing the fold and rollers set with a wide gap. The buckle fold is quicker but more limited in sheet count since I can only go as high as 12 pages of 75gsm.

A knife fold would be the best and if your Duplo won't do it you could look for a used hand fed booklet maker for the knife folding only.

 

[BigSi]

Just to be clear, is this a regular saddle-stitched booklet with both sides even, or is it some weird tri-fold that is saddle-stitched on one of the folds?

My workaround for things like this is to use our booklet maker on our Versant 180, do a square fold and trim the edge at ~4.75" and then to take it to the guillotine and do the final trim to 99mm or 3.667" (our equivalent of 1/3 of a letter sheet).

But at 1,400+ pieces I can understand why this would not be a preferred method. All booklet machines that I see, that can handle odd-sized booklets are usually focused on being able to produce 4.25 x 5.5" booklets, with the stitching being on the 5.5" edge, as their minimum size. And that's a small booklet. I'd be surprised if they can somehow remove another 20% of that to get down to 99mm or 3.667".

In any case this is a good place to ask the question. The people on this forum have a lot of knowledge.

Thanks for getting back to me. This is just a regular saddle stitched booklet. (Staples are on the spine as per normal). I'll attach some photos in the thread.

 

[BigSi]

Don't know what Duplo you have but you can hand feed these and set for fold only and it would be easier than hand folding. Cheap too since you already have it.

I do these kinds of right angle folds two different ways. Either hand fed in the booklet maker for a knife fold or I send through an old Martin Yale creaser first then put it on a friction buckle folder with the last plate doing the fold and rollers set with a wide gap. The buckle fold is quicker but more limited in sheet count since I can only go as high as 12 pages of 75gsm.

A knife fold would be the best and if your Duplo won't do it you could look for a used hand fed booklet maker for the knife folding only.

Hi Tom
Thanks for the info. My Duplo won't do a three-panel fold. (Its a DBM-120 booklet maker rather than a folder). It looks like I'll need to buy some more old machinery (my wife will be over the moon
Photos attached.

 

[Magnus59]

This is called crash folding, small quantities can be done by hand, there are machines to do larger quantities, check with your local mailing house if they can do this for you.

 

[joshlindsay]

Hey Si,

I hand feed these into my Morgana Digifold creaser folder.
Doesn't do an amazing job but good enough.

 

[BigSi]

This is called crash folding, small quantities can be done by hand, there are machines to do larger quantities, check with your local mailing house if they can do this for you.

Hi Michael
Yea at the back of my mind I think I remember it was called crash folding. Thanks for the advice. ta Simon

 

[BigSi]

Hey Si,

I hand feed these into my Morgana Digifold creaser folder.
Doesn't do an amazing job but good enough.

Hi Josh. Wow! I'm surprised you can get these through a Morgana. I've got a Morgan here but its only the creaser. Look forward to seeing you new set up (location) in the near future. ta Simon

 

[TJPrinter]

Hi Tom
Thanks for the info. My Duplo won't do a three-panel fold. (Its a DBM-120 booklet maker rather than a folder). It looks like I'll need to buy some more old machinery (my wife will be over the moon
Photos attached.

Now I see, I got that one completely wrong. My brain didn’t do a good job on the size conversion. That’s a tough fold.

 

[TJPrinter]

A bit more space and a lot more money and you'd be all set with this setup Booklet to DL

 

[BigSi]

A bit more space and a lot more money and you'd be all set with this setup Booklet to DL

Wow! that is one serious peace of kit.

 

[joshlindsay]

Hi Josh. Wow! I'm surprised you can get these through a Morgana. I've got a Morgan here but its only the creaser. Look forward to seeing you new set up (location) in the near future. ta Simon

Let me know when you wanna pop out.

 

[nclancione]

Hi there.

A4 for my American friends is 210mm x297mm. Folded to 210mm x 99mm. To fit into a standard DLE envelope. Saddle stitched on the long edge. Normally 80gsm to 120gsm and 8 to 12pages. (self cover)

Not that it makes any difference to my problem but they are finished offline on my Duplo. (stitched and front edge trimmed). Volume's are getting up there, x1400+. Need a way to do these other than by hand. As far as I know there is not a machine that can do this (not without wasting huge numbers anyway and costing a fortune).

Other than trying to find some casual workers (with or the associated problems) what do I do? None of the print finishers want to touch it. (not that there are many in my city)

Your thoughts are much appreciated. (sort of hoping there might be a reasonably price machine out there).

thanks Simon

Hi Simon, I'm with Advantage ColorGraphics, a commercial print company located in Anaheim, CA (USA). If you haven't found someone to help, we could print and bind these for you. Below is my contact information, feel free to contact me; I'm here to help.

Nicholas Lancione
cell: +1 414-379-5210
email: [email protected]

 

[BigSi]

Hi Simon, I'm with Advantage ColorGraphics, a commercial print company located in Anaheim, CA (USA). If you haven't found someone to help, we could print and bind these for you. Below is my contact information, feel free to contact me; I'm here to help.

Nicholas Lancione
cell: +1 414-379-5210
email: [email protected]

Hi Nicholas
Thanks for the offer, but sorry just a little bit far away. Auckland New Zealand All sorted now.