The Akiles Coilmac Plus is a new updated and
upgraded version of the classic Akiles Coilmac M which has been one of
the most popular manual spiral coil binding machines for years.The Akiles CoilMac Plus features the same
durable metal construction that has made the line of Akiles binding
equipment famous. They have a reputation for building equipment that is
extremely strong and durable. This machine is no exception. The machine
is made almost entirely out of metal and is designed to last years
without ever needing service or maintenance.
Overview:
The Akiles
Coilmac Plus is a new updated and upgraded version of the classic
Akiles Coilmac M which has been one of the most popular manual spiral
coil binding machines for years.
This machine is designed to bind documents using standard 4:1 pitch spiral coil binding spines.
The
Coilmac+ is a heavy duty metal spiral coil binding machine designed for
small and medium sized businesses that need to bind a few documents at
a time with coil binding.
It is a great introductory model for organizations that need a
dependable and durable binding machine for their office but don't want
to spend a lot of money.
Strengths / Features:
The
Akiles CoilMac Plus features the same durable metal construction that
has made the line of Akiles binding equipment famous. They have a
reputation for building equipment that is extremely strong and durable.
This machine is no exception. The machine is made almost entirely out
of metal and is designed to last years without ever needing service or
maintenance.
When Akiles released their plus line of binding equipment they
made several significant upgrades that are worth mentioning. They
changed the holes that the machine produces from round to oval. The new
oval hole pattern makes it easier to insert coils and also makes it
easier to turn the pages of your bound books. This is a great feature
and the CoilMac M+ is one of the only manual binding machines available
on the market that includes this feature.
Akiles also modified the hole pattern used by this binding
machine. The Coilmac-Plus uses a 0.248 hole spacing instead of 0.250.
This means that the machine punches 44 oval holes as opposed to 43
round holes. The 44 holes fit better on an 11 inch binding edge than
the typical 43 hole round pattern.
This machine also offers fully disengageable punching pins.
This allows users to punch virtually any size of document. Any hole
along the punching edge can be disengaged making it possible to punch
documents that are less than 1 inch in length. It also has a continuous
punching guide to allow users to punch and bind 8.5" x 14" legal sized
documents and 11" x 17" tabloid size documents.
In addition to all these other features, the Coilmac+ also
includes a pull out coil inserting table to help users to increase
productivity when manually inserting spiral coils onto their documents.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
Although
Akiles has added a huge number of new features to this binding machine,
it is ultimately still a manual binding machine. The CoilMac Plus does
not include an electric coil inserter. This means that users will have
to manually spin the coil onto their documents by hand. Users who bind
ten or less documents at a time my not find this to be a problem.
However, higher volume users may really want to upgrade to a machine
with a coil inserter.
This machine offers a punching capacity of approximately
seventeen sheets of paper per lift. Although this is reasonable for
most small and medium sized offices, higher volume users may want to
consider a punch with a larger punching capacity or an electric punch
with foot pedal operation.
Although the oval hole design offered by this machine makes it
easier to insert coils and easier to turn pages, many users are used to
using a round hole pattern. Whichever pattern you prefer, it is
important to note that the hole patterns are not interchangeable and
you can not use this machine to punch pages for insertion into a 0.250
pitch round hole coil bound document.
Recommendation:
In releasing the CoilMac Plus binding machine, Akiles made huge strides to improve on their already highly popular design.
The oval holes, disengageable dies and new hole spacing make
this machine a definite winner and helps to set it apart from the
competition on many different levels.
These changes make this machine our favorite coil binding machine that we have reviewed.
However, it is still not a good choice for high volume users.
Organizations that need to bind large numbers of documents will want to
consider a machine with an electric coil inserter and possibly an
electric punching mechanism.
If you need more information or would like to purchase the Akiles Coilmac Plus Manual Oval Hole Coil Binding Machine or any of the other Color Coil Binding Machines that we carry please feel to visit our site or contact us with your questions.
This review was written by Jeff McRitchie who is the director of marketing for Mybinding.com.
Jeff has written more than three hundred articles and more than two
hundred reviews on Binding Machines, Binding Supplies, Report Covers,
3-Ring Binders, Index Tabs, Laminators, Laminating Supplies, Paper
Shredders and Paper Handling Equipment.
