Do you need to add your business card to the front or inside of a report cover or a proposal? One clever way of doing this is by using the Card-It business card insert cutter. I have had the opportunity to use it and this is my review.

Business cards provide a great way to get your name out there. The contact information can prove to be invaluable and is a great marketing tool. One problem that occurs with business cards is that they can get lost.

One way to make sure your business card is seen and presentable is by adding it to literature, handouts and proposals. What you need is the Card-It business card insert cutter. The concept is simple, but the end results are professional, effective and convenient.

The Card-It itself is very portable. It only weighs a few pounds and can easily be put in a suitcase or bag. It is especially nice to have at tradeshows, making it possible to put your business card into not only your literature, but other literature as well.

The Card-It essentially cuts two diagonal slits into paper. You can then insert two apposing corners of a business card into these slots. The result is a business card holder. The Card-It can be used to punch slots in card stock, brochures and more. The throat is deep enough to place a business card in the center of an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper.

While the machine is fairly simple in design, it is very good at what it does. I have used this to place business cards in cardstock and have never had a problem with it.

You can find the Card-It business card insert cutter / slitter here.

I have a few customers a day ask me if there are any paper folding machines that are able to fold multiple sheets of paper at a time. The answer is kind of a mixed bag. There are solutions to multi-sheet paper folding. Here are a few options you may want to consider.

First of all, a standard paper folding machine cannot automatically fold multiple sheets of paper at a time. They are all designed to pull one sheet off the stack and fold it. In order for a paper folding machine to fold multiple sheets, it would need to have multiple feed trays. There are machines that can do this, which I will discuss a few paragraphs down.

Many standard paper folding machines have a bypass opening, which looks like a slot, located on the top of the machine (kind of like a paper shredder). Folding machine equipped with a bypass slot can often fold up to three sheets of paper at a time, but require the paper to be manually fed. An example of this type of folding machine is the MBM 87M folding machine found here.

Manually feeding three sheets of paper through the bypass slot is still much faster than folding paper by hand, but it is still not automated. For automated multi-sheet folding, you will need to use a paper folder inserter.

Paper folder inserters, designed to fold multiple sheets and insert them into an envelope, can be used for multi sheet folding. Simply turn off the inserting portion of the operation so it only folds paper.

At this time there aren’t any other options. You must use the bypass slot (if so equipment) on a standard folding machine or use a paper folder inserter equipped with multiple feed trays.

You can find our entire selection of paper folding machines here. You can find our entire selection of paper folder inserters here.

I had someone recently ask me if it is possible to laminate a sheet of card stock or paper that has already been folded. This was in relation to restaurant menus, but can be applied to many other projects. The answer is fairly short and simple.

You can laminate paper that has already been folded, but you probably won’t be happy with the results. This is because the crease in folded paper creates an uneven surface. While this surface can be laminated, air will often get trapped under the lamination film and the end result will be pretty ugly.

Standard copy paper may come out just fine, but card stock is where you run into the biggest problems. This isn’t to say it will always turn out bad, but I can’t make any promises. The uneven ridge created by the fold is hard for the laminator to flatten out.

If you need to fold something that is laminated, I recommend using a paper scoring machine. These machines, sometimes called creasers, will crease the paper down the middle, making it easy to fold. The end result looks great.

So in relation to menus, I highly recommend laminating them first and then scoring them. You will be happy with the results.

You can find our laminators here and our paper scoring machines here. Still have questions about laminating and folding paper? Contact one of our specialists at 1-800-658-8788 or post your question in a comment.

Have a great day!

If you work for or run a printing press, you know how important it is to tab, organize, batch count and separate print jobs. One machine you may want to consider using is an automatic tabber. One machine designed to help with in-line tab inserting is the Shooter-II press tabber. This is my review.

To begin with, the Shooter-II is designed to be positioned at the delivery end of your equipment. It can deliver tabs into the delivery pile of presses, sheeters, folders and other converting equipment that uses a receding pile delivery system. It can be mounted to the equipment or be used as a stand-alone device.

The Shooter-II counts at speeds equal to the equipment being used at a speed of up to three tabs per second, which is very fast. This helps to increase profits by quickly eliminating overages and shortages with extremely accurate counting at tabbing. The Shooter-II also helps making competitive quotes easier.

So how does the actual counting and tabbing work? The Shooter-II can be set up via a micro switch or by using a universal electronic pick up. An optional Infrared reflective opto sensor can be used, which requires no connection to your equipment.

A few additional features include:

• Total and batch counts
• Variable tape lengths
• Variable knife cut delays
• Back lit LCD display

The Shooter II can also be customized to best suit your application. A few optional customizations include:

• Multiple tabbing heads (up to three)
• A 90-degree angle tape chute
• A swivel bracket mount
• Stagger tabbing
• Additional base stands and swivel mounts
• Custom tape chute lengths
• Infrared reflective opto sensor

Customizations can be built into the Shooter-II in the factory. If any of these customizable options sound like something you need, you can speak with one of our specialists at 1-800-658-8788 and get a quote. Don’t see a customization that you may need? Ask us. We may still be able to build it in at the factory.

Overall the Shooter-II is a durable machine that gets the job done. It is one of the most customizable machines that I have seen and I really like how compatible it is with most machines out there. It is easy to set up and is designed to be used all day long.

You can find the U.S. Paper Counters Shooter-II Press Tabber here. You can find our entire selection of paper counters here and our tabbers here.

Do you need an affordable booklet making solution? Booklet makers are one of the best ways you can do this. These machines fold and staple paper in a fraction the time it would take manually. One of the newest machines available to create booklets is the Formax FD 180. I have had the opportunity to play around with and use this booklet maker. This is my review.

Formax has been making booklet makers for some time now. Their most recent lineup includes the Formax FD 180 and Formax FD 160. The FD 180 is probably one of the most affordable booklet makers that both folds and staples the paper for you automatically.

The FD 180 is extremely easy to set up. It comes with six preset folding sizes. Select the one you want, place your paper inside and push a button. The machine will then staple the paper down the center and fold it. The booklet comes out the top of the machine. You’re now ready to move on to the next booklet. Every time I have used this booklet maker the paper has come out registered and properly aligned.

The Formax FD 180 is designed to staple and fold up to 15 sheets of 20# paper. This comes out to be a total of 60 booklet pages. You can get four booklet pages (front and back) per one sheet of paper. It can be used to fold and staple thicker sheet of paper, but the thicker the paper the fewer sheets you will be able to fold and staple.  Although manually fed, the FD 180 is rated at an operational speed of up to 500 booklets per hour.

Two built-in stapling heads can be adjusted to five different positions, often depending on the size of paper you will be stapling. One nice thing about the FD 180 is that it uses standard paper staples. The Formax FD 180 can be used to fold and staple paper as large as 12 x 17-inches in size or as small as 8.25 x 10 inches.

The Formax FD 180 is commonly used by churches, schools, print shops and other organizations for creating brochures, booklets, stories, user manuals and other literature that fits within 60 pages. It weights in at about 60 pounds, which means it can be used on most tables and surfaces.

Overall I have to say that I am impressed both with the build quality and easy-of-use. I think any business or organization that has low to medium-volume booklet making needs could really benefit from using the Formax FD 180.

You can find the Formax FD 180 booklet maker here. You can find our entire selection of booklet makers here.

Thermal binding is one of the least known but one of the best looking binding formats around. It is easy to do and machines typically cost very little money. Fellowes recently unveiled a new line of thermal binding machines under the Helios name. I will be reviewing the new Fellowes Helios 60 thermal binder.

To begin with, the Helios 60 is one of the highest-capacity thermal binding machine we offer. It is capable of thermally binding up to 600 sheets of paper at a time. Impressive. The only other binding machine that even compares is the VeloBind System III from GBC.

This doesn’t mean the Helios 60 can only bind large amounts of paper. It can also be used to bind small reports as well. The binding capacity is determined by the thermal binding cover being used. The Fellowes Helios 60 uses special thermal binding covers, available in different thicknesses.

The thermal binding covers typically consist of a clear cover and a card stock backing. The spine is filled with thermally activated glue. Much like a hot glue gun, when the glue gets hot it turns into a liquid that then sticks to the paper. You essentially put your documents in the cover, place that cover in the machine, remove the cover and wait for it to cool. The process is fast, simple and only takes 1-3 minutes (depending on the size).

The new Helios 60 has an attractive design. The glossy sheen and the rounded corners look almost like an art piece. This machine can be used on a desk and folds up into a compact design for easy storage.

The panel is easy to read and access and the machine will automatically shut off if left unattended. It is also designed to be cool to the touch.

The Helios 60 best used for creating reports and is not typically used for long-term binding. For long-term binding, it is best to use a machine that utilizes a binding element such as comb, wire, coil or VeloBind. If you don’t believe you will need the full 600 page binding capacity, the Helios is available as the Helios 30, which has a 300-sheet capacity.

You can find the Fellowes Helios 60 thermal binding machine here. You can find our entire selection of binding machines here.

So you need to create a booklet, but don’t know exactly how to do it? Have you considered using a booklet-making machine? Booklet makers are great for creating user manuals, reports, storybooks and much more. They are easy to use and save a lot of time versus outsourcing or using a paper folder and stapler. One booklet maker you may want to consider using is the Formax FD 160. Here’s why:

The Formax FD 160 booklet maker is considered to be a semi-automatic machine. It is very easy to use and the manual involvement is minimal. The FD 160 includes two staplers with a maximum of four total stapling positions. The stapling heads are mounted on some bars attached to manually activated handle.

Once the handle is brought down, it staples the paper. As the staplers are released, automatic paper folding rollers pull up the paper and fold it down the center. The result is a compact, professional booklet. The Formax FD 160 is designed to fold and staple a total of 12 sheets of paper, which equals out to be a 48-page booklet. You can get four booklet pages (front and back) per sheet of paper. It can be used with paper as large as 11 ¾ by 18 ½-inches in size.

I would rate the FD-160 to be capable of low to medium-volume booklet making. It is a tough little machine, and Formax is known for making high quality products. It is compact enough to sit on most tables and desks. It is light enough that it can be picked up and moved, however, it does weigh 41 pounds, so you may need two people.

The biggest downside to the Formax FD 160 is that it is not designed to be used with glossy or slick paper. This isn’t to say that it can’t work with glossy paper, but due to the slick nature of glossy paper, this cannot be guaranteed. As is the case with most friction-based machines, the rollers can potentially slip on glossy surfaces and cause a jam.

Overall I would personally consider using this booklet maker for myself. It is a solid piece of equipment. Just be sure that a 12 sheet maximum capacity (48 pages) is OK with what you’re doing. You will find the Formax FD 160 booklet maker here. You can find our entire selection of booklet makers here. If you like the idea of the FD 160, but would like something more automated, consider the Formax FD 180 found here.

I had a customer ask me today how long a hollow paper drill bit will stay sharp. It was a good question, but the answer is a little difficult. There is no set defined time that a paper drill bit is rated to last. Here are a few things to take into consideration when gauging the lifespan of a paper drill bit.

The thickness of the stack of paper and the thickness of an individual sheet of paper will affect how sharp the drill bit stays. The more paper you drill through, the more friction and heat will be generated, dulling the bit faster. Cardstock will also dull a paper drill bit faster than standard copy paper. The more you use the drill the faster the bit will go dull as well.

So how can you prolong the life of a paper drill bit? Drill ease wax is one way of doing this. A properly waxed paper drill bit will create less friction and will stay sharp longer. You can find our drill ease wax here.

What if your hollow paper drill bit is already dull? We sell drill bit sharpeners designed to sharpen hollow drill bits. Most drill bit sharpeners feature a triangle or cone-shaped tip that fits inside the hollow part of the drill bit, which spins and sharpens the bit. You can find our paper drill bit sharpeners here.

Regardless of how long the bit lasts, paper drills are very nice machines to have. You can find our entire selection of paper drills here. You can also find our replacement hollow paper drill bits here.

VeloBind machines have been around for some time, yet remain one of the least-known binding formats. I personally find VeloBound documents to be attractive, professional and extremely secure. In fact, I would argue that Velobind machines product one of the most long-lasting and secure binds available today.

VeloBinding machines are often used by lawyers offices, universities and other professions that require the ability to bind a lot of paper at once. The largest GBC VeloBind machine, the System III Pro, can bind up to three-inches of paper. I am not aware of another “element” binding machine capable of doing that.

Most VeloBind machines use an 11-hole binding element. The machine punches 11 holes after which a VeloBinding element (11-prong) is placed through those holes. The document is placed back on the machine where the excess prongs are cut off and heat is used to melt the prongs to the back binding strip. The end result is very secure.

There are three primary GBC VeloBind machines used today. These machines are:

• The GBC VeloBind V800 (aka the System I)
• The GBC VeloBind System II
• The GBC VeloBind System III

The VeloBind system III has a de-VeloBind feature built in.

GBC VeloBind systems can be a bit of an investment up front, but the VeloBind supplies (found here) are very affordable.

If you can’t afford a GBC manufactured machine, you’re in luck. Tamerica, another reputable binding machine manufacturer, makes the Tamerica V2000-Pro SecureBind binding machine.

This machine is comparable to the GBC V800, but with the ability to bind two-inches of paper. GBC brand VeloBind supplies will work fine with the Tamerica V2000-Pro. You can find the Tamerica V2000-Pro SecureBind here.

If you are in the market for a binding machine, you should definitely consider looking at a GBC VeloBind machine.

Corners are just too dull, not to mention sharp. I don’t know what it is, but the simple process of rounding a corner can add a lot to a document. Take a business card for example. Sharp corners? Dull. Round corners? Cool.

Many people also like to round the corners on menus, playing cards, photographs, birthday cards and much more. So how can you round a lot of corners at once without sacrificing quality? It’s easy. Use a Lassco Wizer cornerounder. Cornerounders are often referred to as corner rounders and corner cutters.

Lassco has been making cornerounders for well over a decade and they have several time-tested models that get the job done well. I have personally used their entry-level CR-20 and can vouch for the fact that it is really easy to use. I never would have thought that cutting through a ½-inch stack of paper would be so easy. Lassco’s CR-60 cornerounder is even capable of cutting up to .080 aluminum.

So what are some of the most popular Lassco Wizer corner rounders our customers like to use? They are:

• CR-20 Corner Cutter - Great corner cutter for cutting documents that fall within a 5″ x 10-1/2″ size up to ½-inch thick.
• CR-50B Cornerounder – Very comparable to the CR-20 but with a larger 9″ x 18″ cutting base. Also capable of cutting a ½-inch stack of paper.
• CR-50P Corner Rounder – This machine has all the quality of the desktop models but in a floor design. This corner rounder has an electric motor, making it ideal for continuous use.
• CR-50XP Corner Cutter – This corenrounder is pneumatic, which means it is powered by an air compressor. This corner cutter is perfect for print shops, continuous and high-volume use.

These are just some of Lassco Wizer’s corner rounders. You can find our entire selection of cornerounders here. Have questions about our Lassco Wizer cornerounders? Post them here!