RESOURCES

On our resources page you'll find lots of helpful information regarding our machinery, consumables and general information about the packaging industry. Please see our separate downloads page for various machinery manuals and user guides.

Bookletmakers/Collators

Booklet makers or collators are a simple way of putting printed pages of images or text into booklets, this makes it nicer to send out to clients, you can buy small ones that are extremely easy to use and large ones as well. The features of some of the bookletmakers or collators as some are called are that they are dual adjustable size guides, they can staple. The early machines when they were 1st commissioned used lights and mirrors to help with images of the two documents so that differences in text alignment or the wording stood out. Companies use these are they are very helpful in that they handle large volumes of multi-page documents, it saves money and time. They take multiple pieces of paper and peel a sheet off of each stack and puts them together into an organized pile. You may have seen this done manually collators do this much more quickly and effortlessly. There are several different types of collators they are a manual collator, automatic collator, multi-tower collator or a collating system.

A manual collators are machines that do not have a motor to run, they are operated by a person, and these machines are designed for small business and low volume.

There are automatic machines these are easy to use and setup. Automatic collators are available with features such as a touch screen control panel, jam detection, bin empty indicator, offset and straight stacking and more.

When using a multi tower collator these are not designed for more than ten bins, Multi tower collators take two single collating towers and interface themselves together.

A collating system can be interfaced with other pieces of finishing office equipment. Some collators can also be interfaced with booklet makers. A booklet maker takes a stack of paper, folds it and staples it down the centre. The end result is a booklet. Once interfaced, the booklet maker will take the collated stack of paper from the collator, fold it and staple it into a booklet.

Automatic

Automatic means the machine requires little if any manual power to operate it.

Base

Some collators require a base or platform to sit on. This helps make operating the machine easier.

Bin

The bin is where you place the paper into the collator. Some collators have up to 30 bins.

Booklet Maker

Booklet makers take a stack of paper, fold it and staple it down the center. Some collators can be interfaced with booklet makers. This makes in-house booklet making inexpensive and easy.

Collator

Collators take stacks of paper and peels a sheet off of each one, turning it into an organized pile of paper. Collators are used for making tests, proposals, booklets and more.

Corner Stapler

A corner stapler can be attached to some collators to quickly staple collated piles as they come out of the collator.

Double Page Detector

A double page detector will stop a collator if the collator pulls too many sheets of paper out of a bin at any given time. This prevents major paper jams.

Friction Feed

Friction feed machines use a rubber wheel to grab paper. Friction feed machines do not work well with glossy paper as the wheel tends to slip.

Interface

An interface allows one machine to connect to another. Collators can use a special interface that allows them to work in conjunction with a booklet maker.

Manual

Manual operated machines require human interaction to run the equipment.

Mis-feed

A mis-feed is what happens when a machine tries to pull a sheet of paper from a paper bin, but does it incorrectly. This can be a result of rubber wheels slipping on the paper, or the machine failing to grab the paper at all.

Offset Stacking

Offset stacking is when a machine slightly moves the paper in the exit tray before the next paper leaves the machine. Offset stacking makes it easier to differentiate between different jobs printed or run on a machine.

Paper Stock

Paper stock is the thickness of paper. You will always want to make sure you know what paper stock you are working with before buying a piece of office equipment.

Paper Weight

Paper weight is the thickness of paper. You will always want to make sure you know what paper weight you are working with before buying a piece of office equipment.

Straight Stacking

Straight stacking is the opposite of offset stacking. When paper leaves a machine, it is stacked directly on top of paper in the exit tray.

Creasing Machines

A creasing machine is where paper or card is made the material lays in all different directions, when the materials are folded by hand the fibres fold in various ways because of this it breaks the surface of the material creating an unprofessional look. Creasing machines compress the fibres in the paper or card forming a u shape channel, this mean that the material can be folded without cracking it. There are factors that affect paper and the structure to it these are the environment, the printing process and the paper structure. When creasing machines are used this can be done by either a platen method which is where both sheet and die board are flat or the rotary method this is where paper passes between cylinders or wraps around a cylinder. Both methods use a male die to force the sheet into a female channel. Sometime companies with score as this can eliminate splitting and fibre cracking, but in commercial printing because it is high quality creasing is needed.

Stitch Machines and Paper Drills

These finishing machines are simple to use they come in wide variety and are very versatile, most are suitable for drilling paper, cardboard, plastic and leather. Some models come with one spindle, two fixed spindle which come with variable distances. Some features on these machines depending on what you are looking for are time saving sliding tables, also with flexo drill sliding tables this is where they releases after every stroke automatically. They have the option that if they have top tables that these can be upgraded to a foot treadle operation or power stroke. There are different kinds of stitching machines, book stitching machines is used for notepads or exercise books, they can do side stitch and centre stitch an usually can do anything from 2-450 pages depending on the model. Stitchers use wire to stitch books together there are different from electric staplers, stitchers can bind large amounts quickly and are ideal for high volume. Saddle staplers allow paper to easily staple along the spine which is why you can create booklets and leaflets with these.

Folder machines

Paper folding machines are also referred to as letter folding machines, they come with powerful motors and have folding plates. Friction feed machines run by using rubber rollers to pull the paper through into folding. These machines are not ideal for glossy paper. Paper folder machines use a special roller that can neatly fold the thousands of sheets of paper an hour, there are several types on the market you can use an air feed machine that is good for glossy paper or coated paper, It uses air suction and not friction as not to damage the paper. They come in manual set up or automatic. Air feed folder are often referred to as pneumatic folding machines the reason it has its advantages over friction is that as well as not damaging the glossy paper it also is ideal if you work on deadline and need things done at fast speeds. In the printing industry there is also pressure sealers or paper folder sealers. These kind of sealers take special pressure sensitive paper and fold into forms, These kind of machines are good for flyers and advertisements. They are used for mailing invoices as they can be folded into a C, Z and half fold.

Corner Rounders

Corner rounders are used for cutting the corners off of brochures, business cards and whatever is needed. They are easy to use and can be electric or pneumatic. They can work on paper, card and laminated pouches.

Prepress

Prepress machines is what is referred to as a process and a procedure that occurs with the creation of a print layout and the final printing. There are several steps to the process they start with Typesetting, copy editing, Markup, Proofing, Screening, Imposition, Manufacturing of plates, the creations of the file and then the paper selection.

Papercounter

When it comes to needing paper counted, batch marking and feeding the best way to deal with this is with a machine that is called Vacuumatic machine. The machines are designed to work at a high speed. You can have small shooter that are high speed and can put tabs into receding delivery pile of papers, Digital counter machines are great in malls, sports venues and offices, the reason they are used is because it help maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of sales etc. in companies.

Numbering, Perforating and Scoring

These machines were designed to help with creasing documents for easy folding and processing. The process starts the scoring and this is done a special rotary wheel to put a crease into the paper/card so that you will be able to score and fold anything that is needed. Scoring is used as it is very accurate and scores the spines of books. Perforators are used by a lot of large companies to make coupons, tears-outs and more. How it works there is a wheel known as a perforation wheel and it makes a line of holes so that it can be easy to tear off.

Guillotines

Guillotines or paper cutters as they are also known as are found in small office all the way up to big printers. They can vary in size the smallest usually starting at 30 centimetres all the way up large industrial machines. These have sharp blades so that they can cut through small or large amounts of paper. The larger one can come with lifting equipment so that they can be efficient.