The GBC CombBind C55 is a manual plastic comb binding machine with a built in plastic comb opener.The GBC C55 is small, easy to use and is ideal for binding documents up to 90 sheets at a time.
Overview:
The GBC CombBind C55 is a manual plastic comb binding machine with a built in plastic comb opener.
It
is designed for small offices, mobile personnel and personal users that
occasionally need to bind documents with plastic combs or with GBC
Zipbind reclosable binding spines.
The GBC C55 is small, easy to use and is ideal for binding documents up to 90 sheets at a time.
Strengths / Features:
The
Combbind C55 is small, light-weight and portable. This makes it ideal
for users who need to take their comb binding machine with them on the
road. It even comes with a built in handle to allow you to easily carry
the machine with you on the road.
This machine includes a
convenient push lever punching mechanism that is unique among plastic
comb binding machines. This push lever punching handle makes punching a
few documents easy and convenient. It also helps to reduce the amount
of space consumed by the C55.
It also uses a special rotary
style comb opener for opening your plastic combs. You simply need to
rotate the knob on the machine to open and close your combs. Again this
eliminates the need to for an obtrusive handle to open your comb
binding spines.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
Unfortunately,
the GBC C55 is not very durable. The machine is composed of almost all
plastic components. This isn't a huge issue except for the fact that
the fingers and hooks on the comb opener are made of plastic. Over time
it is likely that these hooks will break, especially if the machine is
used extensively
The C55 is only designed to punch between
2-3 sheets of paper at a time. This will be ok for users who need to
bind a few documents per week but it would be extremely tedious for
binding large numbers of reports or thicker documents.
In
addition to the limited punching capacity of the C55, it is also not
compatible with larger sized plastic combs. The comb opener on this
machine is only designed for use with spines up to 1/2" in diameter.
Attempting to open larger spines with this machine may cause the
fingers on the comb opener to break. This means that the C55 can only
be used to bind documents with up to 90 sheets of 20lb paper.
This
machine also has a Small chip tray that will need to be emptied often.
If you do not empty the chip tray when it becomes full the machine may
become difficult to punch and if left long enough the machine may
actually be damaged.
Recommendation:
The GBC CombBind C55 is the perfect binding system for a users who need to produce a few small documents per week.
Its
small lightweight construction and convenient carrying handle also
makes it a great choice for a mobile office or for users who need bind
documents on the go.
However, the plastic construction, small
punching capacity and inability to open large sized combs makes the C55
a poor choice for users who do any volume of binding at all.
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.
