Information Bank – The Print Group
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The Print Group Australia offer a variety of book and booklet printing services to suit your needs. Whether you have a catalogue, magazine, newsletter, yearbook, training manual, annual report or you are publishing a book, we can assist.
There are a variety of finishing options for books and booklets. Each finishing option has unique benefits depending on the end use of your project. When combined with additional finishing features such as die cutting, embossing, foiling, celloglazing, tab dividers or clear covers, the variety of options available to customise your book or booklet is quite extensive.
Let’s start by looking at the type of binding options available:
Saddle Stitched Binding
Saddle stitching is a very popular book binding method that is quite economical to design and print. With saddle stitching, folded sheets are gathered together and then stapled or “stitched” through the fold line with wire staples. For example, to create an A4 booklet, an A3 sheet is folded then stapled on the fold line or spine to create the finished product.
The Print Group Australia offers a unique saddle stitched binding option. While most print machines are limited to 90pp with a single fold, we can offer up to 180pp with a square-edge fold. Our digital press and booklet maker trims, folds, staples and square edge folds booklets and brochures. The end result is a professionally finished booklet that will look amazing and showcase your material in the best way possible.
Comb, Wire, Coil or Spiral Binding
Should you prefer a comb, wire, coil or spiral bound booklet, we can also offer print and finishing services for up to 540pp. Offered with or without clear acetate covers, cardboard backs and tabs, we can offer a variety of printing options for this type of booklet. For any booklet under 200pp, our square edge fold saddle stitched booklet offers a quality finish at a more economical price.
With any of these booklet options, a series of small holes are punched into the document/booklet then bound together. All of these documents have the benefit of folding cover to cover at 360 degrees and will lie flat.
Comb binding offers flexible plastic binding that can be re-opened and closed for easy updating of pages. The same binding comb can be used if documents are updated. You would however, need to have your own machine to do this. Comb binding is not recommended for booklets that need to have a long shelf life, as the binding has been known to break and crack with age.
Coil or spiral binding are often interchanged and essentially mean the same thing. It offers a flexible coil that is cut and crimped to keep it in place. The documents cannot be easily replaced without rebinding the entire document.
Wire binding offers a higher quality look compared to your standard comb, coil or spiral bound booklet. Once bound, the booklet cannot be edited easily and the binding wire cannot be re-used.
Perfect Binding / PUR Binding
Perfect binding is where the book cover and pages are bound using an adhesive. All of the single pages are stacked together, then the edges are roughened, flattened, and attached inside the cover using an adhesive. Examples of this binding method are paperback books or magazines. While both a perfect bound book and PUR bound book would essentially look the same, the main difference is the glue used. Perfect binding uses Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) adhesive and PUR uses Polyurethane Reactive (PUR). PUR is the most durable binding glue available and is extremely resilient in hot/cold temperatures and is much stronger than a standard EVA bound book, so will not fall apart. The benefit of the EVA bound books however, is when the binding is thread-sewn, as this glue is thicker and allows for greater penetration into the spine area and the folded sections.
Burst Binding
Burst binding is similar in appearance to perfect binding, but offers more strength in the spine due to the way it is compiled and glued. At the folding stage a small slot from the spine of the text is added, so when the adhesive is applied, it gives added strength to the book.
Thread Sewing
Thread sewing (or section sewing) is also similar in appearance to perfect binding. The difference is that the pages are sewn together, then adhesive is applied to the spine and the cover is then attached. This enhances the strength and quality of the books. This type of binding is typically applied for books that will require heavy usage such as text books, catalogues or library books, for example.