“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”
Print Finishing
HISTORY OF BINDING
Definition of binding: binding in an art and technique of securing printed or un-printed sheet of paper in a loose or folded form in proper sequence (if printed) with a view to protect these from dust, dirt and damages in handling.
It is called post-press printing. They are so called because all the binding operations generally start after printing.
The post-press operations are also known as ‘converting and finishing operations’.
The person who does the work of binding is called a ‘binder’.
Developments of binding material: considerable development have been made to provide variety of covering and re-Inforcing material, decoration, finishing and blocking materials and adhesives for use In the field of book binding leathers, rexin, binding cloths and synthetic covering material in different colors surface finishes, sizes, guage and qualities are available to melt the requirement of various styles of binding.
Classification of method of binding: the different methods of binding, converting and finishing these jobs are broadly divided under the following four heads.
1. Cutting, folding and trimming.
2. Folded sheet binding.
3. Adhesive binding.
4. Loose leaf binding.
Method of binding:
1. Cutting& folding and trimming:
2. Folded sheet binding:
3. Section sewing
1. Flexible binding
(1)(a) Paper cover
(1)(b) Cloth & Rexin cover.
2. Hard case binding
(2)(a) letterpress binding
(2)(b) Stationery binding
2.b.1: Account book binding
1. Cutting, folding and trimming: the large printed sheet of paper are reduced to a handy size either only by cutting and trimming or by cutting, folding and trimming.
Trimming is also called finishing process since it converts the job to a final size.
The folders having four, six or more no. of pages after cutting are folded according to the scheme of imposition and then finally trimmed to the required size at around.
2. Folded sheet binding: a folded sheet of paper with two or more folds is termed as section. The folded sheet binding is therefore, also called section binding. The sheets containing eight, sixteen or more number of pages printed on it are cut and folded in the form of sections assembled in proper sequence and then stitched or sewn according to the style of binding.
The section or folded sheet binding is further sub-divided into the following two group.
a. Stitching: it used method of holding the sheets together for ease in handling. Stitching may be done either with wire or a sewing thread.
The method of stitched by hand with wire staples is also called ‘stabling’. (Side, center stitching).
b. Section sewing: the sewing of sections one at a time done with thread in book work binding is called ‘section sewing’. The section sewn book may have a flexible cover made of some strong cover, paper, laminated sheet or binding cloth / rexine pasted on the card sheet. This is called ‘flexible binding’.
Many of the section sewn book have a hard cover make of board covered with a suitable covering material.
The hard case binding is further sub-divided into the following two group according to their actual use –
1. Letterpress binding: they are printed by letter press, photo offset or gravure process. It three kinds
a. Edition case binding: the majority of books having stiff cloth covers are bound in this style, which is also referred to as publisher’s edition case binding.
The sewn and trimmed books ready to receive cover called ‘book block’ and the hard cover also called ‘case’.
b. Extra letterpress binding: it is slightly superior class of hard case binding making use of some extra operations and extra material to give more strength to binding. It if therefore, known as ‘extra letterpress binding’.
c. Library style binding: this is an exceptionally strong and more durable binding.
2. Stationery binding: it is the name given to all books primarily meant for writing, such as account books and exercise note books. The binding of diaries, receipt books, bill books also fall under the category of stationery binding.
The pages of stationery books are generally ruled to guide the users to write in a straight line. Many account books have the index consisting of a special section. In some cases account books require to be numbered. When the pages are numbered the book is said to be paged or folio.
Bill books have invoices in duplicate, triplicate, quadruplicate each printed on paper of different color. All the bills are neatly numbered is sequence in the book. The last copy of the bill is usually fixed while remaining copies of each bill page are duly perforated in the book so that they can be detached easily.
Some of the book and exercise note books have typical styles of binding called ‘flush binding’.
Flush binding two types.
a. Quarter cut flush: the board with the covering material, and the secured pages of the book are trimmed together to the final making the edges of the cover board visible at the fore-edge, head and tail.
b. Quarter flush edges turned over: the covering material is not trimmed with the boards and pages of the book, rather it is turned-in and completely covers the edges of the board at fore-edge, head and tail.
Style of covers: it is commonly used in hard case binding.
Quarter bound: it is the style in which two different kinds of covering material are used. The one is used at the spine and back of the book and other is used to cover the top and bottom board of the book.
Cloth/rexine with leather and paper with cloth/rexine. The paper with cloth/rexine used in practical note book and exercise note book.
Half bound: it is turn used when in a hard cover, the spine back and its corners at fore-edge have a covering of one material (say leather) and the remaining portion of the case (say cloth or rexine). (Account book and library book).
Three-quarter bound: it is covering material used at the spine, three-fourth portion back and fore-edge and remaining portion cover with other covering material. (it is rarely found in actual practice book).
Full bound: it book with hard cover are covered all over with one place of the same covering material (leather/rexine) and little cheaper for used (cloth) and it have a jacket wrapped around them. It cheaper for sometimes covered with multicolor printed and laminated sheet of paper. It is for not use jacket a still cheaper called yapp binding and it used in religious book like bibles and diaries. No board used change with flexible covers. These books have extra-square of the pulp board cover, full bound full bound with round corners called ‘yapp edges’ or ‘limp edges’.
3. Adhesive binding: it called perfect binding and un-sewn binding. It is a method of binding in which the pages are helped together by a rubber type flexible adhesive at the spine of the books without any stitching or sewing. The extra thick and publications printed on coated with heavily sized paper are not preferred for adhesive binding it used sewing.
The absorbent paper with the paper grain direction parallel to the spine are more suitable for this type of binding adhesive.
The quality and life of perfect binding mainly depends:
1. The kind of paper stock used.
2. The characteristics of the adhesive.
3. The method of preparing spine.
The adhesive binding by manual process can be done by the two methods:
a. Loose sheet adhesive binding: when the pages of the book consist of loose sheets, they are jogged and knocked at the head and back spine. They are then held tight in the jaws of the laying press projecting the back of the book upward out of the jaws about 70-80mm.
The sheet at the spine are now fanned out on one side overlapping each other about half a millimeter. A thin and uniform layer of adhesive binding glue is applied with a brush at the edge. The same process is repeated for the other side of t book also. Now the back edge of the book is pressed by nipping causing every sheet at the book rooted in a film of adhesive and held together.
Fanning at spine increase the surface areas of gluing and it gives stronger grip to the sheets at the back finally the spine is again glued, smoothened and the book is pasted with a creased covered at the spine. It is then ready for trimming.
b. Folded sheet adhesive binding: the book is in form of gathered and collated sections after knocking at the head and spine is trimmed at the back edge to cut away all the folds and convert the spine into loose sheets. The book is now held tight in the jaws of laying press projecting the back of the book upward out of jaws about 10-12 mm.
The trimmed smooth spine of the book is roughened with a metal scrapper to open out fibres a paper and mild jaws cuts are made with a hack-saw blade to groove the spine and thus increase the spine area. Now the spine is cleaned with a hard brush to remove all the traces of loos paper fibres.
A thin and uniform layer of adhesive binding glue is applied at the spine. The book is removed from the laying press and pasted with a creased cover. In some cases pieces of thread are embedded in the flue saw cuts at the spine before attaching the cover to the book. It gives additional strength to binding.
4. Loose leaf binding: it is method of securing loose sheets in handy from for proper storage protection and ease in handling. The loose sheets are gripped by means of some springly or mechanical devices instead by wire stitching or thread sewing. It high important in paper management, presentation of catalogues and sales brochures, submission of reports, circulation of meeting agendas etc.
1. – Brief Introduction to Print Finishing.
The meaning of binding is to fasten or to attach together. The main purpose of binding is to keep the leaves of a book in order to protect them.
The term “Finishing Processes” is applied to binding. The term binding is not sufficient to express all the processes; hence the modern term “finishing” is more proper and suitable.
2. Classification of Book Binding – Quarter bound book, Half bound book – old style and new style, Full bound book.
The covering material is the first part of the book to be seen by the user and it should make a good impact. The appearance of the book varies and depends upon the material used for covering of the book.
The main three styles of covering are
1. Quarter bound
2. Half bound
3. Full bound
Quarter bound book
When only the spine edge of the book is covered with calcio and rest with marble paper then it is called as quarter bound book. It is the cheapest and mostly “cut-flush” method is used. It can also be done as turned-in, i.e. the book is trimmed after attaching boards and then the covering material is turned-in. It is also called as quarter bound all-sides-turned-in (ASTI).
Half bound book
When the spine edge and fore-edges are covered with calico cloth and the remaining areas are covered with marble paper, it is called as half bound book. There are two kinds of half bound book. They are
1. Half Bound – Old Style
2. Half Bound – New Style
Half Bound – Old Style
If the spine edge and the fore edge corners of the board are covered with calico and the remaining areas are covered with marble paper, it is called as half bound old style.
Half Bound – New Style
If the spine edge and the complete fore-edge of the board are covered with calico and the remaining areas are covered with marble paper, it is called as half bound new style.
Full bound book
When the book is fully covered-up with only or completely calico cloth, it is called as full bound book.
Paper sizes ISO: ISO system of paper size in UK and EUROPE is the ISO standard. It have dimensions in mm and international standard paper size.
ISO sizes divided into 2 category: ISO have three series A, B, C series.
A=general printing purpose like stationery and publication.
B= posters and wall charts
C= envelops.
It is regular sub-divisions 1: under root 2 and proportion of sides.
1. Side proportion of metric size
2. Sub-division
It is used in India follower by the British. It have dimension in inch.
NAME OF PAPER
size in inch
size in mm
Small foolscap
13 ¼ X16 ½
337X419
Foolscap
12 ½ X 17
343X432
Post
15 ½ X 19
394X483
Crown
15 X 20
381X508
Small demy
15 ½ X 20
394X508
Large post
16 ½ X 21
419X524
Demy
17 ½ X 22 ½
445X572
Medium
18 X 23
457X584
Small royal
19 X 24
483X610
Royal
20 X 25
508X635
Royal elephant
20 X 27
508X686
Large royal
20 ½ X 27
521X686
Imperial
22 X 30
559X762
Binding and Finishing Tools Folder
It is used for folding the papers, smoothing down the pasted paper or cloth. It is made of wood, bone or plastic.
The needle must be long and strong, with big eyes to take the thread freely. They must be non rusty, preferably made of steel. It is used for sewing the book.
Tenon Saw
The tenon saw is used to make groves in the back folds of the sections for sewing. It is a saw with thin blade, long steel back and small teeth with a wooden handle.
Bodkin
Bodkin is a fine thin pointed shaft with metal or wooden handle. It is used for piercing holes in paper and boards. It is mainly used in side sewing.
Piercer/Awl
An awl is a small pointed tool used for piercing holes, especially in leather. It is also used for piercing holes on sections of the book for centre stitching or sewing.
Eyelet Punch
Eyelet punch is a machine used for punching eyelet holes and fastening eyelets in paper, board or cloth.
Brushes
Glue brushes are round with stiff and short hairs. Paste brushes have long hairs and are flat and wide. The brushes must be of best quality.
Hammer
The binder’s hammer is used for many operations like knocking out the grooves. Reducing the swell, rounding and backing etc.
Scale
The scale rule with graduations in inches, centimeters and millimeters are used in various stages of forwarding for measuring.
Carpenter’s “L” Square
It is the most essential tool to check the squareness of the board’s trimmed books etc.
Scissors
It is tailor type large scissors used for cutting textile covering materials.
Binder’s knife
It is a long wide, thin blade with wooden handle used for cutting miscellaneous papers.
Spring Divider
Dividers are instruments used for measuring distances between two points, transferring or comparing measurements directly from a rule, or for scribing an arc, radius, or circle.
2. Finishing Tools
To carry out the finishing operations like guilding, tooling, blocking many tools are used.
Type Holder
Brass types are assembled into a hand held type holder. It is very useful in blocking on the spine side of the book.
Fillet
These are round discs of brass with metal shaft and wooden handle. On the edges of the periphery of disk, single, double or triple lines are engraved in relief. These are used to block squares with angled corners.
Gold Cushion
A wooden board covered with leather and is used for cutting the gold leaf or foil.
Finishing Stove
The finishing stove has a wider stand so that many tools can be placed for heating purpose at a time.
BOOK Binder Material
Ware House, Types of Ware House – White paper Ware House, Printed paper Ware House
The warehouse is the place of practice where a printed and blank stock is handled to convert into finished product. There are two types of warehouse in nature
1. White paper warehouse
2. Printed paper warehouse
White Paper Ware House
In this ware house only the unprinted sheets are stored and handled. From this ware house the paper goes to the printing press department for printing.
Printed paper Ware House
In this ware house only the printed sheets are stored and handled. After printing the printed sheets from the printing press department comes here for storing before it goes to the binding and finishing department.
Covering Materials – Binding cloth, Buckram cloth, Rexene, Leather, Paper fabric, PVC
Binding Cloth
It is a very important material in book binding. It is used to cover the book and make it attractive, to reinforce spine edge of the book, to hold the straw boards with the book spine.
It is a closely woven cloth from good quality cotton fabrics. It is starched on one side. It is available in many colors but red, green and blue are popular. The gaps between the woven threads are filled up with pigment filler and finally heavily starched on one side. It prevents the penetration of glue from rough side to polished side.
Buckram Cloth
It is superior quality binding cloth. It is closely woven and stiffened with heavy paste and glazed to avoid finger prints on cloth. Sometimes it is grained and embossed with different patterns to make the appearance attractive.
Rexene
The closely woven cloth is coated with cellulose plastic. Due to this the Rexene becomes water and stain resistant. It is very strong and durable. Various attractive patterns are embossed on it. It is used for cheap account books, diaries, albums etc.
Leather
Leather is a very durable covering material but also very cotly. Leather is used in costly and durable bindings only. Mainly account books, ledgers and very rare valuable books are bound in leather.
Leather is durable covering material but aloes very costly. It is very attractive and pleasant to handle. Mainly account books, ledgers and very rare valuable, costly books are bound in leather. Leather bound books are mostly decorated by gold blocking etc. leather is of mainly two varieties. They are skins and hides.
Skin means leather obtained from the small animals such as goat, sheep, calf and pig. Hide means the leather prepared from matured animals such as bullock, cow etc.
Paper Fabric
It can be called imitation book cloth. Paper fabric is a strong paper made from chemical wood pulp highly sized and grained. It has high tensile strength but does not have resistant to water and stain. It is used in very cheap quality binding e.g. exercise note books.
PVC
Here the closely woven cloth is coated with Poly Vinyl Chloride. It is not so durable. It is available in many colors and patterns. It is used for diaries and pass books.
Reinforcing Materials – Mull Cloth, Calico Cloth, Tapes and Cords Mull Cloth
It is loosely woven cotton cloth, heavily starched and stiffened. It is called as a reinforcing material because it gives additional strength, support to the spine of the book when it is affixed over the glued spine as first lining. This cloth is also used for strengthening the end paper.
Calico Cloth
It is as good as mull cloth but closely woven, lightly starched and is made from bleached cotton. It is superior to mull cloth and used like mull cloth but in superior quality books.
Tapes
Cloth tape is used for sewing books. It may be 1.27cm in width and its length is according to the thickness of the book. Linen tape is very strong but at the same time nylon or terylene is the strongest.
Cords
A good hemp cord is used for sewing purpose. Usually 3 to 5 ply hemp cord is used for sewing. Nowadays nylon cords are also available. It is obtained in balls.
Adhesives – Paste, Glue, Synthetic Adhesive, Hot-melt, Gum Paste
Paste is prepared from a mixture of plain flour, water, alum and formaldehyde. It is well mixed and heated on a pot until it is thickened. Formaldehyde is added as disinfectant. Paste is not water resistant, gets affected by humidity, bacteria, fungi and insects.
Glue
Glue is prepared from the bones and skins of the animals by boiling with water. The first output is good quality, transparent “pearl glue”. The second output is “flexible glue”. The final output is of inferior quality, having bad smell and brown in color called as “scotch glue”. Glue named “cassava” has been recently introduced, which can be mixed with cold water and used.
Synthetic Adhesive
These are made from (PVA) Poly Vinyl Acetate and are in white liquid form. These have good tackiness and high flexibility.
Hot melt
It is another synthetic adhesive made from copolymers, resins and waxes. It is 100% solid and is brought to working condition by melting is at 1600 to 1900 C
Gum
It is obtained from tree. It is thin, nearly in liquid form with low viscosity. It is specifically used in manufacturing of envelopes, labels, stickers etc.
3. Varnishing
Varnishing is a transparent, hard, protective finish or film that is applied to a printed surface to add a clear glossy attractive appearance. Varnish is available in matte, dull or gloss and can be applied on the entire press sheet or in selected areas.
Full Sheet Varnishing
If the entire surface of the sheet or board is varnished, then it is called as full sheet varnishing.
Spot or Patch Varnishing
If the required area (or) the printed area is applied with varnish, then it is called as spot or patch varnishing.
Gloss varnish
Gloss varnish brings out the colors in a printing. Gloss varnish is normally used as a spot varnish to highlight images or photographs printed on an uncoated paper.
Matt varnish
Matt varnish is normally preferred to avoid glair due to reflection but the colors appear duller in a matt varnish.
Aqueous varnish
Low cost water based aqueous coatings are most commonly used today. They provide good protection from finger prints and other blemishes. Like varnishes aqueous coatings are applied in-line on the press but the aqueous coatings are shiner and smoother than varnish. They also have higher absorption and rub resistance. They are less likely to yellow and environment friendly. They dry faster than varnish.
Solvent based Varnish
Solvent-based varnishes are based on synthetic resins dissolved in petroleum solvents. After application the film-forming substances in varnishes harden due to evaporation of solvent.
UV (Ultra Violet) Coating
Extremely high gloss UV, or Ultra Violet, coating offers more protection than varnish and aqueous coating. UV varnishing is applied as liquid, using a roller, a screen or a blanket and then exposed to UV light. The UV light polymerizes and hardens the coating. UV varnish is glossier than all other varnishes. It offers best rub protection but it is costlier than all other varnishes.
Special Effect Varnishes
The use of varnishes for special effects is not limited merely to surface effects. Unusual designs can be achieved with inked varnishes. The best examples for special effect varnishing are pearlescent varnishing, metallic varnishing etc.
With the help of screen printing we can apply thick coating of varnish. We can feel the relief of the coating with our fingers. Special relief codes, such as Braille lettering or security features in security papers, can be created in this way. Embossed wallpapers are prepared using special effect varnishes with relief effect.
Apart from visual effects, special effect varnish can be used to stimulate the sense of smell. Scented varnishes are used for this purpose. Micro-encapsulated fragrances are embedded in the varnish. When the printed varnish is rubbed, the micro capsules burst and the fragrance is released.
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
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
2. Folding-to-print
3. 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
Advantages
Disadvantage
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.
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.
2. – 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”.
Pre-Forwarding Operations
These are the operations performed after printing but before binding and forwarding. They prepare printed sheets for folding, gathering, binding, and finishing.
1. Jogging
2. Counting
3. Cutting, Slitting, Trimming
Single-Knife Guillotine Machine
4. Folding
Hand Folding
Binders Aids
Machine Folding
5. Tipping-In
6. Attachment of Plates
7. Gathering
8. Collating
UNIT-3
SECURING METHODS:
Securing Materials – Thread, Wire, Metal and Plastic Units Thread
Sewing threads are manufactured from linen, cotton, nylon and terylene. Linen thread is expensive and most suitable for hand sewing.
Wire
Stitching wire is made from low grade medium carbon steel in various grades. It is usually coated to prevent corrosion. It is mostly round but flat wire is also used.
Metal and Plastic Units
Eyelets made from brass, steel or aluminium is used to prevent the tearing of hole in a paper or board. Rivets are used extensively in fastening of metal parts in paper products. Various types of metal and plastic fasteners such as spiral, comb, inter screw, rings, metal backs etc are used to hold loose sheets together.
Stitching – Side Stitching and Saddle Stitching.
Stitching is classified as
Wire Stitched Book
When the sections are stitched using thread on the side of the book, then it is called side stitching.
Saddle Stitching
When the sections are stitched using thread in the centre of the book, then it is called centre or saddle stitching.
Sewing, Types of Sewing – French Sewing, Tape Sewing or Sewing on Tapes, Raised Cord Sewing or Flexible Sewing, Recessed Card Sewing or Sawn-in Sewing, Two on & All along Sewing, Overcast Sewing.
French Sewing or Library Sewing
The sections to be sewn are jogged well by knocking the head and spine of the sections on the table. The sections are held in between the plates of a nipping press. Saw cuts are made on the spine for making holes for sewing. The number of holes depends upon the length of the book to be sewn. The last section is sewn first and the first section is sewn last. In French sewing no reinforcing materials like tapes or cords are used.
Tape Sewing or Sewing on Tapes
This is similar to French sewing but, tapes are used as a reinforcing material at the spine side. The number of tapes depends upon the length of the book. The position of the tapes and holes are marked using pencil. The thread passes over the tapes while sewing. Finally the tapes are attached to the end paper. This gives extra strength to the book and board. Account books and ledgers are sewn by this method.
Raised Cord Sewing or Flexible Sewing
In raised cord sewing, instead of tapes, cords are used as the reinforcing material. This is similar to tape sewing but the thread encircles the cord while sewing. This gives a raised effect on the spine. The cords are spread and laced to the boards. This kind of sewing gives flexibility to the spine. Costlier books are sewn by this method. This is also called as flexible sewing.
Recessed Cord Sewing or Sawn-in Sewing
In recessed cord sewing grooves are made at the spine of the book for placing the cords. The cords are placed in the grooves while sewing. This avoids the raised effect of the cord on the spine. This sewing is also called as sawn-in sewing.
Over cast Sewing
Loose sheets or the books with narrow margins are sewn by this method. The spine side is trimmed (in case of old books or uneven sheets) and glued. After drying, the book is separated into sections and sewn using thin thread and thin needles through the glued sections.
Two-on or All Along Sewing
Thick book (i.e.) book containing more sections in bulk causes extra bulk on the spine due to threads. To avoid this bulk, two-on or all along sewing is used.
In this style, while the thread passes from one end to the other end (i.e.) from tail to head, it links two or three sections. Due to this the bulge caused by the thread in the spine is reduced. The production speed increases due to this type of sewing, but the strength is lost. Cheaper varieties of books are sewn by this method.
Loose Leaf Binding – Spiral Binding and Comb Binding
Loose-leaf binding is the most common form of stationary binding.
There are many kinds of loose-leaf binding. But three methods are most commonly used.
They are:
Spiral Binding
A Spiral Binding consists of a continuous wire, which is coiled through evenly spaced holes that have been punched into the pages of a book. The spiral wire can be made of metal, plastic or plastic –coated metal. Plastic is available in verity of colors, but the metal spiral is not available in many colors.
When the books are open, the pages lie flat. The spiral binding is used for binding training manuals, cook books, note books and calendars.
Comb Binding
This is a method of binding using plastic “comb” through rectangular holes in the paper. This type of binding allows book to open flat. This type of binding also allows addition or removal of pages from a book.
3. Perfect Binding – clamping station, milling station, gluing station, nipping station and delivery station.
Perfect Binding
Perfect binding is also known as adhesive binding. In this style of binding adhesive is used as the only securing material. A hot-melt adhesive is applied to the spine of the gathered pages.
When the adhesive dries it securely bounds the book.
Clamping Station
The sections to be bound are clamped in the clamping station. The sections need to be jogged before clamping. The spine side of the sections is to be clamped downside in the clamp.
Milling Station
In the milling station, there is a rotary knife. The clamp takes the sections to the milling station. The rotary knife at the bottom mills the spine side of the sections. This enables the penetration of the glue completely into all the individual sheets of the sections.
Gluing Station
In the gluing station, there is a glue pot. Hot melt glue is melted in the glue pot. When the clamp takes the milled sections above the glue pot, the hot melt glue is applied into the individual sheets of the sections.
Nipping Station
Immediately after application of the glue on the spine side, the clamp takes the sections of the book to the nipping station. In the nipping station, the cover is fed. When the sections of the book come above the cover, the nipping mechanism presses the cover against the book. The cover gets attached firmly on to the book.
Delivery Station
After the cover is attached the competed book is delivered onto the delivery tray.
End Paper – Types and its use - Single End Paper, Made End Paper, Reinforced End Paper, Cloth Joint End Paper, Zig Zag End paper.
Purpose of the end paper
1. The end paper is a media in between the book and the covering material. It forms an inner joint in between book and cover.
2. The fly leaves of the end paper protect the first and last pages of the book. It also prevents the first and last pages from bad handling, stains etc.
3. It gives first good appearance as it helps to hide the constructional features of the covering. The board-sheet is pasted over the board.
4. The pasting of the end paper on board assists in counter-acting the outward warp of the board caused by the covering.
Types of end papers
1. Single end paper
2. Reinforced end paper
3. Cloth joint end paper
4. Made end paper
5. Zig zag end paper
Single end paper
This type of end paper is common and is used inside stitched books. It is the cheapest variety of end paper ( Blank paper,Kraft paper, Color paper or chart paper). It consists of two single leaves, one to cover the constructional features called the board leaf and the other one is the fly leaf. For making this end paper single sheet of same length and double in width of the book is needed. The end paper is made by just folding it into half.
Reinforced end paper
In this kind of end paper the fly leaf is stiffened by positioning a half sheet over it (A half sheet is slightly larger than the book width). Then excess width is turned and pasted over the full sheet which is equal to the length of the book to be bound but double in its width than the book’s width.
Cloth-joint end paper
In this kind of end paper the fly leaf needs two full sheets and a half sheet. A strip of calico is pasted over the center fold. The two full sheets are pasted as shown in the picture. Then the half sheet is pasted over the full sheets to hide the reinforcing cloth material.
Made end paper
For preparing made end paper we need two full sheets and one half sheet. This end paper is similar to cloth joint end paper but the only difference is we are not using any reinforcing cloth here. The two full sheets are pasted as shown in the picture. Then the half sheet is pasted over the full sheets to give the final reinforcement.
Zig Zag end paper
For preparing this end paper we need two full sheets, one half sheet and one zig zag sheet. It is rarely used and especially used in heavy books having large number of pages. The two full sheets are pasted by just leaving a portion un-pasted at the spine side. Now the zig zag sheet is pasted over these pasted full sheets. After that we have to paste the half sheet.
It is solid in books of 25 leaves, the size being about 31/2 inch. Square. Gold leaf sticks to anything upon contact, unless the article is dry, clean and absolutely free from grease.
Blocking foil
The blocking foil is made of aluminium, silver, brass metallic powders spread over waxed cellulose or polyester film carriers. The powder is finally covered with thin layer of tan (powder from oak). The foils are used for hand tooling, and blocking
3. 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
2. Ready-made (or) machine-made
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.
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 edge
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Lamination
Lamination is the process of combining together two or more plies of the same or different substrate to form a single complex material with considerably improved characteristics. The normally used combinations are:
a. Plastic and aluminum
b. Plastic and board
Plastic and paper There are four types of lamination
1. Dry lamination
2. Wet lamination
3. Thermal lamination
This lamination is usually done by dry bonding technique using a resin and solvent-based adhesive. Here the cellulose film is coated with polymer on one side and the resin is applied to the uncoated side. The film is combined together by pressing between two rollers. Then it is cooled and rewound as a roll.
Here paper and foil is laminated together by wet bonding technique. The foil is coated on one side with adhesive and passed through nip rollers. In the nip rollers the paper joins with the foil. The laminated web passes through a drying oven, where the adhesive is dried and then rewound as a roll.
Polymer coated films are laminated together by this process. The two substrates were individually heated by a pre-heater and passed between heated nip rollers. Due to heat and pressure the films adhere together and the laminated web is rewound as a roll.
Window Lamination
Window lamination is mainly used in food packaging. It provides visibility, transparency and protection. It also provides luxury high gloss and protection to the complete packaging box. Window lamination is also an economical one.
Window lamination can be applied both internally and externally to any pack and has a number of benefits over more traditional style window patching.
When applied internally the film creates a food safe barrier between the board and product so eliminating the need for bags, PE board or window patching. When applied externally the film decoratively enhances the pack and gives added protection to both product and packaging.
Benefits:
Strip Lamination
Strip Lamination is the combination which creates a pack with the practicality of film and the tactile qualities of paper.
Programmable Cutting Machine and its operations – machine bed, clamp, back gauge, knife and safety mechanisms.
The machine used for cutting and trimming the sheets or boards is called as single knife guillotine or paper cutting machine.
A programmable cutting machine is a power operated machine with automated features which facilitate and speed up the work. One of the salient features is the ease and perfection in label cutting.
The important parts of the programmable cutting machine are bed, clamp, knife, back gauge and safety devices.
Machine bed The bed is the base platform of the machine made of steel. One third (1/3) length of the bed is in front of the knife and two thirds (2/3) is behind the knife. The width of the bed is actually, the size of the machine. On the surface of the bed air blast marbles are provided at equal intervals to facilitate the easy movement of the paper pile. In some latest machines, to increase the output and speed up the work, hydraulic lifting rams are provided on both the sides of the table.
Back gauge
Back gauge is the important part of the machine. The squareness and perfection of the cutting depends upon the proper positioning of the back gauge during assembly. It must stand exactly in right angle to the bed and move to and fro exactly parallel to the knife.
In programmable cutting machine, the back gauge movement is performed by a motor which is controlled by the programme. With the help of the computer electronic system, the movement of the back gauge, lowering down of the clamp and the knife are activated fully automatically.
Clamp
It is a square block of heavy steel used to give pressure over the stock being cut. It is essential to have firm pressure on the stock while cutting. Otherwise the work will be affected with rough edges, unevenness in size tec. The clamp is pressed down or moved up with the help of hydraulic mechanism. The hydraulic mechanism gives the required amount of pressure for accurate cutting. The clamp can also be lowered down by a foot operated pedal to adjust the pile of the paper according to the cutting marks printed on the paper. While cutting operation is performed, the clamp is activated automatically and it presses the pile before knife strikes the paper.
Knife
Knife blade is made of medium carbon steel, chrome and other alloys. The knife is fixed to a knife beam with screws. The knife beam is moved by an eccentric action with the help of a motor which is controlled by the computer electronics. For this we have to press two buttons. Electronically controlled machine activates the knife automatically as per preset programme.
Safety devices
The accidents occurred in printing industry are mostly because of this most dangerous risky machine. That is why the cutting machine is automated with safety devices. The safety devices used are
These are automatically activated when the knife movement starts and thrust away the operator from the cutting area.
These are brackets which cover the whole cutting area and are to be closed before starting knife action.
These are fixed on both sides of the cutting area. Any action by the body of the operator that breaks the beam of the light will halt the knife at once.
It engages both the hands of the operator to activate knife. Hence there are less chances of accidents.
Folding Machine and its operations – buckle folding, knife folding and combination folding stations.
Folding can be generally classified as manual and mechanical folding. Manual folding is done manually with help of bone folder. Mechanical folding is done with the help of folding machine.
Principles of folding machine (or) Mechanical folding
In the process of mechanical folding (or) a folding machine, two techniques are used namely,
1. Buckle folding
A buckle folding station consists of three rollers and a buckle plate. The first two rollers are arranged vertically above one another. These are called as forwarding rollers. The forwarding rollers carry the incoming sheet into the buckle plate until it reaches an adjustable feed guide stop.
As the lead edge of the sheet strikes the feed guide stop, the sheet continues to be fed into the buckle plate creating a buckle in the space between the three rollers. The buckle created is grabbed by the contra rotating rollers and the fold is formed as the sheet passes through them.
Each folding station can fit up to six buckle plates arranged alternatively above and below.
2. Knife folding
Knife folding uses a vertically moving knife and two rollers rotating in opposite directions. The sheet goes and stops at the sheet stop. At this point, the knife descends vertically and plunges (or) inserts the sheet through the rollers. As the sheet passes through the rollers, the sheet is creased and the fold is formed.
Only one folding knife is to be found in any folding station. For every subsequent fold, it is necessary to have a further knife folding station at right angle to the preceding one.
Wire Stitching Machine and its operations – wire unwind, wire straightener, cutter block, saddle and wire clenchers.
It is the simplest but very important machine in binding department. Most of the works are done using wire stitching machine because it is the quickest and cheapest method of binding. The wire stitching machine consists of the following parts.
1. Wire Spool
2. Wire Straightener
3. Cutter Block
4. Wire Head Rollers
5. Driver
6. Clencher
7. Bed
a. Wire Spool
It is present at the top of the machine. The reel of wire is wound around a steel roller. During the machine running, the reel is unwound from this roller. The wire is made of copper coated around steel wire.
b. Wire Straightener
The wire straightener consists of two steel rollers. The wire is made straight when the wire passes between these two rollers.
c. Cutter Block
The cutter block cuts the wire according to the thickness of the book. For this we have already set the cutting length according to the thickness of the book. False setting may lead to improper stitching.
d. Benders
The legs of the staple are then formed by bending the wire down on either side of the block. Then the driver drives the “U” shaped staple into the book kept on the bed.
e. Bed
The book to be stapled is placed on the bed or saddle. The bed can be adjusted according to the style of stitching. The saddle can be adjusted for both side and saddle stitching`` .
f. Clenchers
The clenchers underneath the bed bends the legs of the staples to close the stitch.
Rounding and Backing Machine and its operations – hopper, rounding station, backing station and delivery station.
The spine glued books are stacked in the hopper. The fore edge of the book is kept down. Then the book is transferred in between two milled rounding rollers. There are sahpers. One is at the spine side and the other one is at the fore edge of the book. The rounding rollers move the book up and down. Due to this the shapers make the book rounded by pressing the end sections towards the fore edge. Then the rounded book is moved to the backing station. Here there is a wiper. It moves across the spine side of the book and hammers hard blows. Due to this the book gets backed at the spine. Finally the book is delivered.
5. Gathering Machine and its operations.
In gathering machine, the piles of different sections of a book are placed in separate hoppers. The sections are placed in consecutive order. The bottom section from each hopper is pulled by suckers. The suckers give the section to a gripper arm. The gripper takes the section and drops it on a revolving conveyor belt. When the dropped section reaches the next station or hopper, the next section is dropped over this section. Finally the book is collected. This is transported to another conveyor belt, which delivers the gathered sections to the delivery stacker.