Binding Tips

We have listed a few tips that may help to improve the quality of a finished job or even save having to re-print!

Cover Grain Direction - The grain direction running from top to bottom rather than across the page helps to eliminate cracking when creased.

Print on inside cover - Try to avoid the spine area along with a small gap each side to allow for the hinge. If the ink or sealer pulls away from the paper the cover may pull away from the book.

UV Varnishing - Avoid using UV on the spine or the hinges - the glue will not adhere and the cover will pull off. On a perfect bound book, make sure the UV does not go into the spine, again the glue will not adhere.

Cover and text lining up - We generally put a 6mm hinge on the front and back cover. This means you will lose 6mm of your image on the inside front and back cover and 6mm on the front and back pages of the text. Dont forget to allow for this.

DIGITAL PERFECT BINDING....Is now a large part of our work. The following tips should help us to produce a better quality job for you.

Leave a coloured divider between each book!

Overs -We can normally get away with a small amount of overs on the text, although we require a reasonable amount of overs on the covers. We can reuse the text but not the covers.

Cover Grain Direction is very important, it should run from head to tail rather than across the page. (Digital Paper tends to crack easier than traditional papers).

MOVEMENT...Digital Print often tends to have movement. try to keep trim marks to a minimum or they may get left on the finished job so we have to trim under size.

It also helps if the grain direction of the text runs from head to tail. This will prolong the life of the book due to there being less pressure when opened.

Lamination - often peels off of Digital covers, especially Darker Colours. We suggest you use a Water Based Lamination (we do not do this method) or a HIGH TACK LAMINATION which we can do for a small extra cost.

Try to avoid print on the inside spine area and 4mm either side. The ink is much more likely to pull away on Digital Covers.

If you are printing your images 2up or even 4up, it is best to supply them printed in page order as a Bookblock with 6mm gutters .If you are in any doubt CALL US OR EMAIL This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  for more information.