Saddle Stitch booklet maker for a small shop

[positiveg]

You said it was an 80 page book = 20 forms + cover. And you said it's 80# text with a 12pt cover? That's a decently thick saddle book.
I have a little hand stitcher that I use for making proofs, and it would never be able to put a stitch through that.

Yeah so I'm wondering if i should just maybe perfect bind the book and then print on 32lb paper and use the same 12pt cover cause that might be better
The machine we use for perfect bound though is all manual and I just used it for the first time the other day but i got the hang of it I'll need something to put the crease in the paper though cause doing the creases by hand was crazy

Again, I just don't see any way you're going to find a collator/folder/stitcher for anywhere near your budget.

If we got a job like that, and didn't have our stitcher, we'd print the job then send it out for finishing.
We're a small/midsize shop, and there's plenty of other finishing we can't do in-house that we send out.

I actually used a larger company here to do the finishing, but I'll be honest because I'm a small print shop and I'm just coming in and they didn't get the job, the amount they charged me to staple two jobs, 9600 books) and trim, is about how much it cost me to print the same number of books. So they are doing everything in their power to get me out of business hence why for this upcoming job if i'm to win the bid (200 books 80 pages including cover) I need to try to do as much in house as possible.

 

[arossetti]

I wondered why he suggested that lol

Because when I suggested a $5,000-$7,000 solution to stitch, fold, trim your books you said that was way out of your budget. I didn't have a reference point as to what your budget is so I offered the cheapest solution which can be had for under $50.

 

[positiveg]

Because when I suggested a $5,000-$7,000 solution to stitch, fold, trim your books you said that was way out of your budget. I didn't have a reference point as to what your budget is so I offered the cheapest solution which can be had for under $50.

The suggestion you made the machine I saw was $17K not 5-7K so my apologies But i didn't see that

 

[positiveg]

Hi arossetti I've looked for the Horizon SPF-10 with no collator but no luck
I'm getting some financial assistance to cover the cost of buying the unit
G

 

[gazfocus]

I’m surprised to hear people are saying a 20 sheet book (80 page) is a lot for a decent booklet maker to fold and stitch. We’ve got an old xerox with a booklet finisher that does 25 page booklets.

 

[PrintIT]

I’m surprised to hear people are saying a 20 sheet book (80 page) is a lot for a decent booklet maker to fold and stitch. We’ve got an old xerox with a booklet finisher that does 25 page booklets.

With 80# text and a 12pt coated cover, without cracking the cover? They must have made the old inline finishers better than the current ones...

 

[gazfocus]

With 80# text and a 12pt coated cover, without cracking the cover? They must have made the old inline finishers better than the current ones...

We recently did a booklet for a customer that was 24 sheets of paper. 130gsm text and a 250gsm cover. Didn't crack the cover once (not sure what those weights are in US though).

However, the booklet finisher I have doesn't do square fold so I did have to allow for a fair margin on the middle few sheets.

 

[positiveg]

We recently did a booklet for a customer that was 24 sheets of paper. 130gsm text and a 250gsm cover. Didn't crack the cover once (not sure what those weights are in US though).

However, the booklet finisher I have doesn't do square fold so I did have to allow for a fair margin on the middle few sheets.

I really would like to know how you guys are getting this done?
And this is using 11x17 page size? Cause i tried 22 sheets 80lb (150gsm) with 80lb cover and it would not fold
Yep was 11x17 sheets

 

[gazfocus]

I really would like to know how you guys are getting this done?
And this is using 11x17 page size? Cause i tried 22 sheets 80lb (150gsm) with 80lb cover and it would not fold
Yep was 11x17 sheets

We actually printed the booklet 2 up on an SRA3 sheet, trimmed it to A4, then fed it back through the printer cut to A4 size to make use of the booklet maker.

 

[positiveg]

We actually printed the booklet 2 up on an SRA3 sheet, trimmed it to A4, then fed it back through the printer cut to A4 size to make use of the booklet maker.

Oh that's why so it wasn't printed then made one time into a a4 size
but when you choose that option how did you feed it? or you had something else to be printed on the sheets?

 

[gazfocus]

Oh that's why so it wasn't printed then made one time into a a4 size
but when you choose that option how did you feed it? or you had something else to be printed on the sheets?

No it wasn’t all done in one pass. We used the printer as a ‘booklet maker’ so to speak.

We actually use the copy function (purely as I didn’t have time to figure out how to do it in command workstation), so scan x number of blank sheets (set on b&w), and use the finishing options to fold and staple.

set it to take a blank cover (preprinted) from the oversize high cap feeder and the inner pages from tray 1. Had to set tray one to preprinted paper though.

 

[positiveg]

No it wasn’t all done in one pass. We used the printer as a ‘booklet maker’ so to speak.

We actually use the copy function (purely as I didn’t have time to figure out how to do it in command workstation), so scan x number of blank sheets (set on b&w), and use the finishing options to fold and staple.

set it to take a blank cover (preprinted) from the oversize high cap feeder and the inner pages from tray 1. Had to set tray one to preprinted paper though.

Nice creative idea I'll try that
i'm hoping this job coming in i can get it do at least 16 pages cause i think if i do that with pre-printed covers from inserter tray i might be able to get booklets to staple and fold then square fold
Cause that's what i'm really trying to do the square fold option.

 

[gazfocus]

Nice creative idea I'll try that
i'm hoping this job coming in i can get it do at least 16 pages cause i think if i do that with pre-printed covers from inserter tray i might be able to get booklets to staple and fold then square fold
Cause that's what i'm really trying to do the square fold option.

We are looking for a stand alone booklet maker but really want one with square fold and trimmer. But don’t have the budget to buy new.

 

[positiveg]

We are looking for a stand alone booklet maker but really want one with square fold and trimmer. But don’t have the budget to buy new.

That's exactly my predicament. Exact same predicament I'm in. We need a stand alone but no budget
Can get a used folder and stapler but the squarefold comes new and that's like close to 6 grand.
The use folder is 3300 shipping to my freight forwarder.