The Fellowes Galaxy manual plastic comb binding
machine is designed for frequent use in a medium to large office
environment. The Fellowes Galaxy manual comb binding machine
offers an impressive punching capacity of 25 sheets. This is one of the
largest capacities that we have seen offered by a manual comb binding
machine. Plus, the design used by the punching handle made it easier to
punch the maximum capacity of the machine.
Overview:
The
Fellowes Galaxy manual plastic comb binding machine is designed for
frequent use in a medium to large office environment.
This machine offers a sleek contemporary look that is designed to blend into an office environment.
Although the Galaxy offers a similar look to the Star,
Starlet, and Quasar comb binding machines, this machine offers a number
of improved features that makes it a great choice for larger volume
users and offices.
Strengths / Features:
The
Fellowes Galaxy manual comb binding machine offers an impressive
punching capacity of 25 sheets. This is one of the largest capacities
that we have seen offered by a manual comb binding machine. Plus, the
design used by the punching handle made it easier to punch the maximum
capacity of the machine.
One of the real strengths of this machine is its
contemporary design. Many other plastic comb binding machines have an
industrial look that sticks out like a sore thumb in an office
environment. The Galaxy is designed to fold closed when it is not in
use and uses a combination of gray colors and smooth curves that helps
the machine to blend in with desktop printers and other contemporary
office equipment.
This machine offers a unique style of comb opener that can
be removed and used separately to increase productivity. That allows
one person to punch documents and another to insert the pages onto the
binding combs. The comb opener uses a separate handle on the side of
the machine and it can handle plastic combs up to 2 inches in diameter.
The Galaxy binding machine offers a rotary edge guide to
easily adjust the side margin on the punch. The machine is designed
primarily for users who need to bind letter sized documents with flush
cut or oversize (8.75" x 11.25") covers. However, it also offers the
ability to selectively disengage three of the different punching pins
for users who are looking to bind half letter size and A4 sized
documents.
The machine has a built in storage tray that slides out of
the side of the machine. The storage tray can hold a few plastic combs
for convenient access and also offers a document sizing guide that
helps you determine the correct size of plastic comb that you need for
your documents. The sizing guide will also help you to match up loose
plastic combs so that you can determine what size they are.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
Although
the punching capacity on the Fellowes Galaxy is impressive,
organizations that do a lot of binding may want to consider a binding
machine with an electric punch. Fellowes offers an electric version of
this machine for about $150 more. It is an upgrade that some
organizations may find worthwhile.
It was nice to see Fellowes include some disengageable
dies on this machine. However, there are still only three releasable
punching pins. Many other more industrial manual comb binding machines
in this price range offer fully disengageable dies which allow users to
punch virtually any size of document.
The storage tray on this machine seems like it would be a
really useful feature. However, it isn't large enough to hold any real
volume of plastic binding combs. The document measurement tool is
useful but it would have been nice if they made the comb storage area
larger.
Recommendation:
For
a medium or large sized office, the Fellowes Galaxy manual binding
machine is an excellent choice. It offers a sleek contemporary design
that will blend in with other office equipment without looking
industrial.
It offers an excellent punching capacity, a removable
plastic comb opener and the ability to bind documents in a wide variety
of lengths and thicknesses.
However, offices that need to do a lot of binding may want
to consider upgrading to a binding machine with an electric punching
mechanism.
This machine is also not a good fit for organizations that
need to punch custom length documents or need to bind legal sized
sheets.
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.
