On-demand book binding

Since we already have a variety of efficient equipment to achieve on-demand printing of books and publications, we should now pay more attention to how to bind books. In some wireless bookbinding systems that we can relate to, we have found that many meaningful new products, although still at a relatively low level, can give people a certain degree of surprise in the market for oddly missing RFID equipment.
At present, most of the books are paperback books. The binding of such books is done with glue glued on the spine and on the pages, and the printing terminology is called binding. Whether or not such a book is truly "perfect" (the word "bindery" also has the meaning of "perfect binding" in English)", it is still a satisfactory bookbinding method and it occupies the printing industry. A decisive position.

In this article, we will explore the techniques of wireless perfect binding for digital book printing. We will start with the perspective of producing books for the sale of books, so we will only study the binding methods for books that we can buy from bookstores and can be read at home. That is to say, there is only one color cover, the size of the book after the trimming of the book is 6×9 inches, and there is a one-inch error within the upper and lower books. We can assume that the bound book will become a neat book on three sides. For the sake of simplicity, we also assume that the contents of the books are black and white (in fact, many books are like this). There are many kinds of book binding methods for this type of book, each with its advantages.
In this article, we will first set up a stage to describe the basic processes and methods related to wireless glue binding. Then briefly introduce some of these devices. Finally we will return to the question of how to choose different equipment for different requirements. Facts have proved that even after 10 years of on-demand binding production, it is still difficult to choose the best binding equipment for many production environments.

A few of the key factors in wireless bookbinding are in many places. The question is whether the purpose of printing is to print some single pages or to print different copies of each page, or to print exactly the same book as expected. If these books are printed according to the order of a certain guest, then it is very important to choose the equipment and software that can meet various needs (for example, the book they print will be placed in a bookstore or for Used by some kind of service). Today, most installations of books that print books on demand are designed to print tens or hundreds of short-run print jobs. At this point, the demand depends on the publisher rather than the individual customer (The exception worth mentioning is Ingram's "Lightning Source" device, which can really be used to handle the requirements of a single print). From the point of receiving the task, to the production, and then to the transportation, they are easy to do when the number of prints is small. But true on-demand production, such as the production of books that only print one book, will become more and more important in the future, and some related equipment and tools have emerged.

Preparation Session Before we start to discuss the binding process, we will need to explain the preparation and attention. Because they are directly related to the choice of the binding method. We believe that the following conditions should all be satisfied: the manuscript is complete, and it is already arranged in pages; the proper outer envelope has been designed, the spine is in line with the thickness of the book; and a suitable monochrome press It is also ready for use; the paper can be printed on both sides at a suitable speed according to the volume of the book's design; the color covers have been found in the appropriate colors for printing.

Once the book is typed out, the next step is to publish the book. This is relatively easy in a digital printing environment because the size of the paper is closely related to the designed page size (in roller printing, it should be about the width of the drum). The most basic question is whether the book is printed on a single page (printed on only one page) or on a double page (two pages printed on one sheet). In some cylinder equipment, three pages are sometimes printed.

Orientation of the paper texture Another factor that has an impact on the design of the design is the texture orientation of the paper. If the texture of the paper is exactly parallel to the spine, the book is easily opened and the security of the binding is relatively high. In many cases, the paper texture will be determined in the correct direction, but other times it is not. In fact, when printing on a cylinder press, the direction of the paper grain cannot be selected. For the size of many pages, you can choose from where the paper begins to print. At other times, you cannot choose. In what direction you get the paper texture, you can only print in that direction. Fortunately, the orientation of paper textures is not a very important issue for general plain paper, especially on the digital printing of some lightweight paper.

Viscose Many times, hot-melt adhesives are used in the wireless glue book technology. Although cold glue is also useful, it can only be used on a small number of devices. Therefore, we do not discuss it here. There are two main types of hot melts: the standard hot melt made from EVA and PUR glue. PUR is a new product that is mainly used for high-strength binding and has a wide temperature tolerance range. However, it is relatively expensive, it also requires a longer curing drying process, in addition to a special treatment process to avoid it becoming gas during the binding process. These reasons limit its use, mainly for large-capacity traditional binding. In digital printing, we still insist on the use of traditional hot melt.

The various methods of perfect binding, "comb-covering," are the finishing process for the binding process, which will make the book stronger and easier to open. At this time, the front and back covers are separated from the spine by a small area of ​​one inch to form the stitching (comb shell) on the spine of the cover. The glue is extended to the last page and the first page according to the appropriate amount. section. This method of attaching the cover makes the last page and the first page safer; it makes it easier to open the book. However, most small-scale bookbinding machines cannot do this.
Another binding method is "flying spine." The most basic glue binding is to apply the glue directly on the spine. This will make the book unflattened when it is opened on the table. This may not be a problem for some books, but for other books this will not be welcomed. For example, when you are busy doing other things, but you must refer to the contents of the book, in this case, how do you do it, such as tablature, recipes and some reference books. An effective way to keep the wireless glue book flat is to apply the glue only on the edge of the book while the rest of the spine is "floating".

Preparing the spine Most large and medium-sized bookbinding machines use many methods when preparing the spine, but the glue is the preferred choice. They applied glue to the scratches on the spine so that the surface of the spine would be smooth and the glue would be easier to apply when bound.
As we have determined, the preparation of such books cannot harm the book itself, but it is unnecessary for most digital printing products. The glue is fixed at the free edge of the page so that the pages can be aligned. On the other hand, spine preparation is more important for lithography. Because of the distinctive features of lithography, it is often the edges of folds, and often there are many overlapping. In this situation, ink squeegee is very important, so that glue can reach each page.

The printing of the front cover considering the cover is indispensable in the step of binding books. If it is short-run (a few hundred words), the lithographic cover is very practical. But usually we will choose to use toner-based printing. The toner used in the cover printing is usually covered, ie, it can maintain the durability of the cover, and it can also make the cover look closer to the quality of the lithography. Inkjet printed envelopes have been widely circulated and do not necessarily have to be covered. It can prevent the toner from scratching, which is often the place where the cover is often bent.

After bounding with light, books often have to be trimmed on three sides in order to achieve beautiful appearance. In addition, the edging is also of practical value: if the outer edge of the book is not trimmed (on the side opposite to the spine), the book is not easily flipped. There are three methods of brilliance: for large quantities of printing, three-edged edging is very feasible, but the price is relatively expensive. Can also choose any size of paper cutting machine, manual or electric, this aspect also has to cut three knifes, is a more labor-consuming method; the third method is to use a computer-controlled single-knife paper cutter, which can Rotate and position books.
In principle, if the pages of the book are cut fairly accurately; if the cover of the book is appropriate for the size of the pages, the thickness of the spine is also appropriate; if the pages and the cover are well aligned at the time of binding. If these assumptions are true, then no further trimming is needed. This time, we call it "TCO only," which can be done on the various machines listed below. You will find that they sometimes start to pass when the book page is not in a line, so they are sometimes not credible, but in most cases, they can still complete the task.

On-line or off-line operation Is your binding machine connected to your press (online operation) or in another separate operation (non-online operation)? The advantages of online operation are obvious: there is no operating clearance. This no-operation gap operation can save labor, and can also reduce the waste caused by artificial things. Online operation should be used in most mass-produced digital printing systems, but it is rarely used in practice. Why? Because in most cases it is not cost-effective, this is what we will discuss in the next section.

Improvements to Binding Beneath We will introduce some devices for binding. The main improvement methods in the market are always in the production of middle and low-grade products, so we will introduce several new companies.
The machine introduced here is designed for medium and small print runs. Most of them are used in small print shops, producing several dozen or hundreds of books a day. They are also used in small photocopiers. Since they embody new features, we will introduce them in detail. Large companies and their customers can also learn one or two new methods of reform.

Dynic's BP300
This machine was developed by Japan's Dynic Corporation and was isolated from a standard way of automated binding. It can bind 300 books in one hour. Unlike machines that have special pre-solubilized supply glue, it comes with a rubber roller itself and does not require flattening during binding. This machine uses the method of "repairing the cover only": the pages are pre-designed to the size of the book, and the size of the cover is also pre-cut to the appropriate size (but this decoration must also be based on the size of the book).
Dynic's machine does not look like a binding machine. It looks like an office copier, and it operates as easily as a copying machine. It can bind books from 5.85 x 8.25 inches to 8.2 x 12.1 inches. Its maximum binding thickness is 20 mm, which is also not possible with many binding machines. It can also bind different books with the same cover. During the operation, the cover will be placed at the operator's hand and will be bound at any time, requiring some operator intervention to work properly.
The appearance of the office appliance and the wide range of thickness options make its design more suitable for the company's office environment, but it is still a binding machine that can bind at least 300 books. BP300 has now been sold to 32,000 US dollars, the company is currently studying its appliances.

Instabook Maker II from Instabook
This special device includes self-printing and binding binding, which allows the digital document to become a book in five minutes, but only 5.5 x 8.5-inch book paper is suitable for this machine. The printing of book paper is also only suitable for monochrome printing, so it is a new reform of binding. However, such a book operator must also perform mechanized cutting at the end.
In the past decade, many companies have been committed to unlimited binding bookbinding machines. But as far as I know, only Instabook really provides a complete bookstore facility that is being used in the Canadian bookstore. In addition, Instabook's manual equipment has been installed in small publishing companies and printing plants.