Jeff McRitchie

DFG Office Ecoil EC1000 Spiral Coil Binding Machine Review

The Office Ecoil EC1000 is a manual spiral coil binding machine that is designed for small offices and home offices.It includes many of the features of more expensive binding machines but is available at a price that is palatable for organizations on a budget.

• The Office Ecoil EC1000 is a manual spiral coil binding machine that is designed for small offices and home offices.
• Created by the Digital Finishing Group, the EC1000 is a medium duty, feature rich and economical spiral coil binding machine that is popular with small churches, offices, schools and professional organizations.
• It includes many of the features of more expensive binding machines but is available at a price that is palatable for organizations on a budget.

Strengths / Features:

• One of the greatest strengths of this machine is its price point. With a selling price around three hundred dollars, the EC1000 is the least expensive coil binding machine with an electric coil inserter that is available on the market. This is perfect for organizations that are on a tight budget but don't want to insert the coils onto their books by hand.
• The Offce Ecoil 1000 includes a punching mechanism that is capable of handling up to 25 sheets of 20lb paper per lift. Although the machine can probably punch this many sheets at a time, you would have to use a whole lot of force on the handle. Most individuals should be able to punch between 15-20 sheets of paper at a time. This is still an excellent punching capacity for a manual coil binding machine and is in line with other similar binding machines that are on the market.
• As I mentioned above, the EC-1000 includes a spiral coil inserter on the top of the machine. Most coil binding machines in this price range do not include this feature. Plus, the EC-1000 includes a foot pedal to control the inserter. Using the coil inserter you can quickly and easily insert the spirals onto the edge of your document without having to wind them on by hand.
• Many coil binding machines in this price range are made primarily of plastic. However, the EC-1000 is made with high quality metal components. Although there are certainly more durable binding machines available on the market, this machine should have no problem binding a few documents every day for years without the need for maintenance.
• The EC1000 also includes a pair of high quality coil crimping pliers for finishing your documents. Using these pliers you can cut off and crimp the ends of your spirals so that they don't spin back off your bound documents. These crimpers have a value of about $30.

Weaknesses / Limitations:

• The main weakness of the EC-1000 is that it does not have any disengageable punching pins. It is designed for punching 11" letter sized documents and will have difficulties punching any other sizes. With coil binding, the holes are so close together that it is impossible to punch a custom sized document without leaving a partial hole on the edge of your sheet. Companies that need to bind half letter, legal, A4, landscape or any size other than a standard eleven inch sheet should really consider moving to the PC200E or another machine with at least some disengageable dies.
• Although this machine is built well it is really not designed for high volume binding applications. The handle is difficult to grasp for punching and the coil inserter is small and slightly underpowered. The foot pedal is also small and not nearly as durable as I would like to see. These things should not be an issue for an organization that needs to bind a few dozen small reports per week. However, attempting to bind hundreds or thousands of books with a machine like this is probably not a great idea.

Recommendation:

• The EC-1000 is one of the least expensive options for organizations that are looking for a coil binding machine with a spiral coil inserter.
• It is an ideal choice for a small office, church, school or other organization that is looking for a solution to bind a few letter sized documents per week.
• However, this machine is only designed for binding letter sized documents and is not a high volume binding system.
• For companies that need to bind landscape, half letter, legal, A4 or longer documents this machine will not be a good fit. It is also not a good solution for high volume users or for organizations that need a machine that offers high productivity.

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