Allied Bindery

Planning for Layflat Perfect Bound Books

Your customer has just requested a perfect bound book with enhanced capabilities to lie flat when opened.  You check your list of trade bindery service providers and see that some of them promote the ability to produce Layflat Binding (or Stayflat or Otabind).  Problem solved, right?

 Not necessarily.  There are several critical planning steps that must be considered during the design and prepress stages of the project that ultimately determine the cosmetic and functional success or failure of the book.

A successful Layflat binding style is accomplished by building the book so that the spine of the book block is not attached to the spine of the book cover as with a standard perfect bound product.  The Layflat book block must first be adhered to a fabric liner rather than a book cover.  The bound book block will then be attached to the cover between a pair of hinge scores specifically placed on the front and back cover.  This design allows the spine of the book cover to separate from the book block when the book is opened, allowing the spine of the book block to float above the book cover.  This design reduces resistance and allows for an enhanced Layflat characteristic when the book is opened.

In order to build a successful Layflat product, design and prepress planning must incorporate specific requirements for hinge scores, graphics and text placement on the covers and interior text pages.  Design requirements must also provide consideration for cross alignments, page borders, and if necessary, drill hole placement.  Failure to plan for these critical characteristics will result in an unhappy customer.

The Sales and Planning Professionals at Allied Bindery are prepared to assist you with the critical planning requirements for Layflat Binding.  Give us a call at 248-588-5990 and let us show you how we can help ensure a successful project for you.

 

Key Planning Tips for Successful Roll Fold Projects

Roll fold designs are often used for advertising pieces and are meant to catch the eye of the consumer with the unique product design. There are several items to consider when planning for a roll fold product to ensure accurate registration and crisp folding results.

A good guideline to follow when planning for roll folds, is to realize that the outer two panels of the product should be the same size as the final required size of the piece, while the interior panels should be successively smaller in width by 3/32”, ending with the innermost panel 1/16” smaller in width that the panel immediately preceding it. This guideline will vary somewhat based upon the paper stock being used, with heavier basis weight stocks requiring slightly larger panel size reductions. If panel size decisions are not carefully planned, the end product may display wrap around registration issues and/or push-out problems.

Scoring of the panels is also a critical element toward achieving a crisp and registered folding result, particularly on basis weight stocks heavier than 80 lb. If a project requires scoring, verify the width of your folder, or your trade bindery’s folder, in comparison to the length of the sheet to be scored. If the material to be scored is longer (wider) than the folders capability, the printer must plan for die scoring of the flat press sheets. Failure to incorporate scores on heavier basis weight stocks can result in cracking and fold variation or skew in the final product.

Involving the Sales and Planning Professionals at Allied Bindery can help you with planning requirements for roll fold projects. Review of project trim size, number of panels, paper basis weight and design will result in a superior end product for your customer.

 

Planning Tips for Die Cut Covers

Planning Tips for Die Cut Covers

A common approach to jazzing up the cover for your perfect bound, saddle stitch or mechanically bound project is to utilize a die cut cover. Designs may include die cut windows or even specifically die cut words. There are a number of things to remember when planning for the use of a die cut cover.

Don’t forget the spine grind allowance!  Often, a die cut cover on a perfect bound book is meant to align with text or graphics on the first page of the book. If the designer forgets to accommodate a spine grind off margin on the text, the die cut shape or window will not align as desired. Forgetting to accommodate the spine grind margin can throw off the alignment between cover and text by at least 1/8”.

Don’t forget to incorporate a “choke or spread”.  If the desire of the designer is to have the die cut window fully cover a graphic design on the first page of text, the graphic design must be planned larger than the die cut window. Since each production process will contain some level of register variation, the die cut window needs to be smaller than the design that it is meant to cover. If the window and the graphic are designed at the same size, a register variation as small as 1/64” will result in a visually displeasing effect.

Conversely, if the designer wants the die cut window to frame a graphic or word, the die cut window must be larger than the item that it is meant to frame. This will allow for some minor process variation, without creating a visually displeasing effect.

Be careful with the choice of die cut shapes when designing the cover. Long die cut slits or narrow die cut channels in a cover are a recipe for getting caught up in equipment and destroying the cover. Solicit the input of your trade bindery representative to help identify ways to make your project design successful.

Involving the Sales and Planning Professionals at Allied Bindery can help you avoid potential problems with the design of a die cut cover.

Planning Successfully for Two Page Forms and Flysheets in Perfect Bound Projects

Tell a Perfect Binder Operator that he needs to bind a project containing two page forms or synthetic flysheets and he is likely to run for the hills, babbling incoherently. If your perfect binding project design requires the use of either two page forms or synthetic fly sheets, here are a few tips to help the project go smoothly, while allowing Perfect Binder Operators to maintain their sanity.

A two page form of any material is less stable and more difficult to feed and collate, on nearly any stock weight. Stock type and basis weight can exacerbate this challenge. A 50# basis weight text is the minimum that should be considered when a two page form must be planned when using offset or coated stocks. Below a 50# basis weight, the mechanical calipers on the collator, designed to detect a mis-feed or double feed, simply will not work. Mechanical calipers are not sensitive enough to detect a form this thin. Two page forms on stock weights less than 50# basis weight could be missed during the feeding process and not discovered. This results in missing pages in the final product. If you must include a two page form(s) in your perfect bound project, consider increasing the basis weight of the stock to at least 60#. The additional paper cost will go a long way toward avoiding the production of a book with missing pages. An alternative planning option is to combine the two page form with other signature page count options. For example, combine the two-page and a four page into a six page signature. Or, redesign a two page and an eight page form to create six page and four page signatures. Allied Bindery can help you get creative in your planning approach, while helping to minimize potential production and quality problems.

Synthetic stocks, often used for flysheets, create additional challenges. A basis weight of 30# will not only be too thin to detect through the pocket feeder calipers, but the stock itself will have a tendency to curl into a cylinder shape. The curling of thin, synthetic stock generally takes place immediately after the flat cutting process. Curled stock simply will not feed through a collator pocket. The curling sequence can take place so rapidly that the synthetic sheet will often curl between the collator pocket and the binder. When this phenomenon occurs, the sheet will likely be bound crookedly into the spine of the book. Allied Bindery recommends synthetic stocks with a minimum basis weight of 32# to minimize the potential for curling.

 

Critical Cross Alignment

Printing designs often require a critical cross alignment, also referred to as a cross over, between pages.  There are a number of planning tips that will help the designer and printer to achieve the desired end result.

Folding:

The best folding layout to insure accurate cross alignment is a parallel or double parallel fold.  This signature design requires folding only along the spine of the signature, helping to insure the desired cross over between pages.  If a quarter fold design is used, the flat text sheet must be folded in two directions (head to foot and spine to face), generating an increased opportunity for register variance.  A quarter-fold design creates registration creep in two directions, while a parallel or double parallel fold creates creep in only one direction.

 Adhesive Binding:

In order to achieve the desired cross alignment between text pages in an adhesive bound book, the designer or printer must take into account that the spine side of the page will receive a 1/8” grind off.  The grind off is done in order to expose fiber in all the pages of a folded signature to the adhesive.  Failure to incorporate a 1/8” spine grind off into the page layout will result in cross alignments that will be misaligned as much as ¼”.  Ask your Allied Representative for assistance with any cross alignment questions you may have.

In order to achieve the desired cross alignment between the inside front cover and the first text page of the book, or the inside back cover and last text page of the book, the designer or printer must keep in mind that the text pages will have the 1/8” grind off and the inside covers will have ¼” side glue hinge.  Failure to incorporate each of these dimensions into the planning process will result in cross alignment that is off as much as 3/8” from the anticipated result.