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  • Name: Printing Technology
  • Branch: Printing Technology Diploma 5th Sem
  • Published: May 27, 2025

Binding & Finishing Part - 2

 

 

Unit - III                Forwarding Operations

Text Box: Unit - III	Forwarding Operations

 

 

    1. – Cutting, Trimming, Difference between Cutting and Trimming, Folding – Types of Folding – Folding-to-paper, Folding-to-Print, Lump Folding.

Cutting

 

Cutting is defined as brining the paper to the desired dimensions by cutting the pile of sheets in a cutting machine.

Normally cutting operation is performed in a single knife guillotine machine

 

Trimming

 

Trimming is the stage of the book production process in which the pages of a book are trimmed so that they have even edges. During this process the book is brought to its finished size. Trimming operation is carried out to trim away the unwanted paper from the head, tail and fore edge of the book

Trimming can be done either with the help of a three knife trimmer or with a single knife guillotine machine.

Difference between Cutting and Trimming

 

Sl.No.

Cutting

Trimming

 

1.

Cutting means bringing the paper to the

required dimension.

Trimming means bringing the book to the

required size.

 

2.

Single knife guillotine is used for

performing cutting operation.

Three knife trimmer is normally used for

performing trimming operation.

 

3.

Cutting operation gives us the required

size of sheets to us.

Trimming operation produces unwanted

waste paper.

Folding

 

Folding is the process of preparing a section of a book or pamphlet by reducing its size according to the imposition scheme.

It is nothing but forming a permanent crease by crushing the fibres of the sheet at the line of folding.

There are three types of folding. They are

 

      1. Folding-to-paper
 
      1. Folding-to-print

 

      1. Lump folding

 

Folding-to-paper

 

Folding-to-paper means folding the paper to its edge to edge, particularly when the print area is in irregular shape.

Requirements

  • Equal margins on opposite sides.

 

  • Accurate size of the form.

 

  • All sides must be in right angle.

 

Advantages

 

  • Faster method of doling.

 

Disadvantage

 

  • Quality is less.

 

Folding-to-print

 

Folding-to-print means folding the paper exactly according to the print area. Particularly book work, magazines and quality controlled jobs are folded print-to-print with fine registration.

Requirements

 

  • Run-on headings.

 

  • Folding marks.

 

  • Perfect imposition.

 

  • Equal margin.

 

Advantages

 

  • Quality is more.

 

Disadvantage

 

  • Speed of work is slower.

 

 

 

 

Lump Folding

 

Lump folding means folding collectively say 5-10 sheets at a time. After folding the individual sheets are separated. This is termed as “pulled”. After pulling or separating the sheets are finally pressed to have a crease.

Cheap quality book works are folded by this method. The quality will be less but the speed of the work is very fast.

    1. – Creasing, Gathering, Collating, Binder’s/Collating  mark, Inserting, Attaching of Plates and Maps.

Creasing

 

When thick material such as board is folded, its surface become damaged and ragged at the line of folding. In order to avoid such damage, creasing is done before folding operation.

 

 
 
 

 

 

The creasing is done with the help of creasing rule, by giving a blind impression into the board so that the board can be folded without any damage.

Gathering

 

Gathering is the process of collecting all the sections of a book in a proper sequence. In manual gathering, all the sections of a book are stacked on a table in proper order. The binder will collect one section from each pile, beginning with the last signature.

Gathering must be done with utmost care to prevent mistakes.

 

Collating

 

Collating is the process of checking a gathered book to ensure that all the sections are there in proper order.

It is also known as “Examining” and must be done before the securing operation.

 

Binder’s/Collating mark

 

                                                  

 

It is a black square mark printed on the spine of the each section. The marks are printed slightly offset in each section progressively. When the sections are correctly gathered the binder’s mark on the spine side forms a step like appearance. By this we can identify the correctness of the gathering. It easily shows missed, extra, mis-placed sections.

Inserting

 

When the paper used for printing the text is unsuitable for printing the halftone illustrations, they are printed on single leaves (coated paper) which are termed as plates. These plates are then inserted in appropriate places of a gathered book before sewing. Sometimes the single leaves are pasted after sewing. This operation is called as “inserting”.

Attaching plates or Maps

 

Sometimes folded maps or diagrams printed on a large sheet or board are also folded a little less than the book size and pasted inside the book. This is also called as “inserting” or “attaching plates or maps”.

    1. – Perforating – Types of Perforation, Punching and Drilling, Numbering – Horizontal Numbering and Vertical Numbering.

Perforating

 

Perforating is defined as making a series of small holes very close to each other so that a portion of the sheet can be easily torn away.

There are three types of perforating. They are

      1. Round Hole
      2. Slot
      3. Slit
 

Like punching machine, this has a male perforator bar and a female punch bar. The male bar has a number of small pins. When the treadle is pressed the pin pierces through the sheet and the female punch bar. In this way perforation is done.

Punching and drilling

 

Punching

Punching is defined as making of one or more holes in the job in a determined position.

Punching is normally done in many shapes.

 

Sl.No.

Name

Diagram

Use

 

1.

 

Round Hole

 

 

Interscrews, Ring binders, Endlock metals, Spiral binding etc.,

 

2.

 

Key Hole

 

 

Metal back ledgers.

 

3.

 

Slot Holes

 

 

Plastic com binders.

 

4.

 

Thong

 

 

Thong binder.

 

5.

 

Blind

 

 

Thong binder construction.

 

6.

 

Slotted Round

 

 

Prong Binders.

 

Normally floor standing, foot operated or power operated punching machines are used. The punching machine has a male unit and a female unit. The sheets are placed in between the male and female unit. When the treadle is pressed, the male unit moves down and punches through the paper and the female unit at the bottom.

 

The number of sheets that can be punched at a time, depends upon the equality of the stock and the power of the machine. Depending upon the shape of the punch, the dies will be changed.

Numbering

 

Most of the office stationary such as invoice book, duplicate pads, receipt books, tickets and account books, require numbering either serially, duplicate, triplicate, quadraplicate etc..

The hand numbering machine is a small handy machine. Impression is given by hand – pressure on handle. The machine can be adjusted to single, duplicate, triplicate etc..

But the position of hand numbering is not so accurate as it is done manually.

 

When the numbering is done horizontal to the sheet, then its is called as horizontal numbering. (e.g) currency notes and bill books. Normally horizontal numbering is preferred.

When the numbering is done vertical to the sheet, then its is called as vertical numbering.

 

       
   
 
 

 

 

    1. – Die cutting and Slitting Operations.

 

Die cutting

 

Die cutting is a process in which the materials are cut in a specific pattern. Die cutting is normally done on boards and papers. The pattern to be cut is prepared in a die using steel rules.

There are three types of steel rules used in a die. They are

 

  • Cutting Rule

 

  • Creasing Rule and

 

  • Perforating Rule
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

The male & female dies are prepared according to the job requirement and performed in a die cutting machine. Die cutting can be done in either a flat bed or rotary press.

Rotary presses perform the die cutting operation faster than flat bed presses but mostly flatbed die cutting is performed as the die making process is easier for flatbed die cutting presses.

Slitting

 

Slitting is the process of dividing the reel of paper into two or more narrow ribbons with the help of rotary slitter wheels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

Slitter wheels are sharp knives fixed on a rotating shaft. The sheet or reel that has to be slit into ribbons is fed between the slitter wheels. After passing through the slitter wheels, the reel is slit into narrow ribbons according to the number and position of slitter wheels.

 

 

    1. – Headbands, Edge Decoration, Types of Edge Decoration – Coloring the edge, Marbling, Edge Guilding.

Head Bands

 

Head bands give strength to the head and tail to withstand strain on the book when pulled from a shelf.

There are two kinds of head bands.

 

      1. Sewn-on (or) worked-on

 

      1. Ready-made (or) machine-made

 

Advantages

 

  • It gives a decorative effect.

 

  • It protects the book from bad handling.

 

  • It protects the edges of the book while handling from the shelves.

 

Sewn on Head Bands

 

A properly sewn headband gives strength and beauty to the book. Headbands are the foundation for the leather at the head and tail of a book. Headbands are nothing but embroided silk threads worked round the strips of vellum (or) catgut (or) cord. The colors of the silk threads are normally selected to match the cover, edge decoration and end papers so that it will be very attractive.

 

 
 
 

 

 

The sewn-on head bands are normally sewn with the help of two contrast color threads and directly on the head and tail sides of the book along with a cord or catgut. Since it is sewn with the book it gives good strength to the book at the head and tail.

Machine-made head bands

 

These head bands are used only on costly work. These are ready-made with the help of a machine available in 12 yard length in different color combinations and six various widths. These headbands are available in cotton or silk.

 

 
 
 

 

 

These headbands are attached to the book by just gluing. So it will not give strength to the head and tail of the book. It just gives only attractiveness or adds beauty to the book.

Edge Decoration

 

The three edges of the book other than the spine are decorated for the below mentioned reasons.

  • Adds beauty and improves the appearance of the book.
  • It protects the edges from bad handling, finger prints and stains.
  • The dyes on the edges protect the book from dampness, direct sunlight and other atmospheric effects.
  • It also prevents from dusting and changing the edges of paper into yellowish color.
  • It protects the book from insects.

 

There are three methods of edge decoration. They are

 
        1. Coloring the edges
        2. Marbling the edges
        3. Edge Gilding

Coloring the edges

 

       
   
 
 

 

 

After trimming, the edges are colored by hand or by spraying the aniline and cosine dyes soluble in hot water. A little ox-gall and methylated spirit is added in color which helps to dry and spread the colors easily and quickly. Unwanted spots or stains can be removed off with oxalic acid. Various patterns of colors can be produced by spraying, stenciling, wax spotting etc. When thoroughly dried, a layer of clean wax is gently applied to the book edge.

Marbling the edges

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

The book edge to be marbled is damped, washed with alum solution and dipped into a size of colors. To avoid air bubble, the edge of the book is descended into the size in an angled manner. This is not popularly used but it is used mainly in account book, If any fraudulent removal of a leaf is done, then it will be clearly visible in marbling.

 

Edge Gilding

 

 
 
 

 

 

Gilding the edges is nothing but the edges are gold colored. The edges of the book after trimming are scrapped and smoothed down with burnisher. The pores of the paper edges are filled with black lead filler using a wet cotton piece. Then glair (white of egg + vinegar) is applied over the edge. Finally gold leaf is applied over the edge. The leaf sticks to the edge because of wet glair, when thoroughly dried the leaf is peeled off. The gold powder deposits as a layer on the book edge.

 

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