Binding

linziloop

linziloop

Member
Hi guys, do any of you lovely printing people on here know of a good online resource that would show me the different types of book binding - I'd like to see how each method looks, looking to learn more about binding but also use this for a current project - deciding what type of binding to go with for a large book.
 
Thank you PCB, much appreciated. Do you by any chance know the difference between perfect bound, burst bound and PUR bound?! It's the three options our printer has given us for a large book but we don't know what each is, he's bringing in examples but at the end of the week, and curiosity is getting the better of me.
 
Perfect Binding is performed by roughing up the spine, teasing out the fibres from the paper and putting small notches into the spine for the adhesive to flow into.

Burst binding is performed by removing a small slot from the spine of the text at folding stage and nothing is then roughed up at the binding stage, so no allowance needs to be made in the spine.

PUR (polyurethane reactive) glue is the most durable binding glue available - has a chemical reaction with moisture content in paper.

The most important bit in perfect binding is getting the grain running parallel to the spine. Makes the book feel 'right' so that you can 'flick' through the pages.
 
Thanks so much! Very interesting! Which method would you say would be best for a 400 page paper back A4 book?
 
Wow - just from the size I would say go with PUR binding or perfect binding. (200 leaves - yes?) It probably depends on unit cost. Take your printers advice - especially if they are doing the binding. But as I said the paper grain is absolutely vital for a really good finish.
 
I would suggest that digital would not be the right method for printing 4 or 5 thousand copies. Litho would be more economical.
 
That's without a doubt absolutely right Kate, and it's not my field at all.

From a cashflow point of view though... If I thought the 4K books would distribute over a year, I'd hate to have all that cash tied up in boxes of stock. So I'd buy in smaller batches, pay the slightly higher unit cost, and keep the cash in my business earning me money. More economical isn't always going to be about cheapest production cost. It's nice that it's complex. If it wasn't everyone would be doing it. :)
 
We're definitely going with litho, the company I work in-house for is massive, the few thousand will hopefully be gone as soon as printed, with a few left spare for over the year. I should also mention at this point that we already have a printer on board with this one, but cheers for the link ;)
 
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