Spiral coil crimping
pliers are used to finish binding documents with spiral coil. They cut
off the excess coil and bend the ends over in a single motion. This
helps to ensure that the spirals don't spin back off the book.Special
crimping pliers make the finishing process much easier. If you don't
have them you will need to cut off the coil and then manually bend the
end over so that it won't come off the book. This can be pretty
difficult.
Overview:
Spiral coil crimping
pliers are used to finish binding documents with spiral coil. They cut
off the excess coil and bend the ends over in a single motion. This
helps to ensure that the spirals don't spin back off the book.
Spiral
coils are usually purchased longer than the edge of the book that you
are binding. For instance you would purchase 12" coils for an 11"
binding edge. This extra is to allow for the crimping process.
Special
crimping pliers make the finishing process much easier. If you don't
have them you will need to cut off the coil and then manually bend the
end over so that it won't come off the book. This can be pretty
difficult.
Features / Strengths:
These
pliers have a red dot on one side of them. This red dot is to help you
align the pliers during the crimping process. The important thing to
remember when using them is that the red dot should always face the
ceiling when you are crimping coil.
They offer a standard
throw length (the length of the piece of coil that is bent over). This
is ideal for 4:1 pitch and 5:1 pitch coil which are the two most common
sizes.
The plastic coated handles of these pliers make them easy to hold and easy to use.
Crimping
with coil pliers isn't really that hard provided you remember to keep
the red dot facing upward and the spine of the book facing you.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
The
throw length on these pliers is ideal for standard 4:1 pitch and 5:1
pitch binding. However, binding documents with 4:1 pitch oversize oval
holes, 3:1 pitch holes or 2.5:1 pitch holes will be difficult. With
larger holes the throw length may not be long enough which will still
allow the spiral coil to spin off the book. For these applications,
premium oversize oval hole crimping pliers are suggested.
You
need to squeeze the pliers hard enough to bend the end of the coil over
but not so hard that you end up cutting the end off. This can take a
little bit of getting used to.
High volume spiral coil users
can sometimes find the coil crimping process to be tedious and labor
intensive. There are several automated crimping tools available on the
market that range in price from a few thousand to tens of thousands of
dollars. These are designed for high volume users and often require
significant amounts of setup time.
Some new coil binding
machines are including a small crimping tool on the machine itself.
These new tools are actually fairly easy but are still very expensive.
Still they are a good alternative for people who greatly dislike
crimping documents with these pliers.
Recommendation:
I
would recommend that every user of coil binding have a pair of coil
crimping pliers. Many machines come with a pair. If yours doesn't you
should make sure that you add one onto your order.
High
volume users might consider other crimping options. However, it is best
to consult with a document finishing specialist about these options to
know what option will work best for your application.
Customers
that are using non standard pitches of coil or who are using an
oversize oval hole pattern should consider a pair of pliers with a
longer throw.
If you need more information or would like to purchase the Spiral Coil Hand Crimpers 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.