HOW TO BIND YEARBOOKS WITH A THERMAL BINDING MACHINE

Times are tough and schools are constantly being hit by budget cuts. If your school is looking to cut costs, one of the first things to go might be the yearbook. Having a third party print and bind your yearbooks can be very expensive. However, you can still have your yearbooks and save money if you and your students bind them yourselves with a thermal binding machine. Just follow these steps:

Prepare your yearbook the way you normally would. Have the yearbook committee lay out the pages, write captions, take photographs, and so on. After the book has been edited, print out as many copies as you need.

Since you’re going to be using a thermal binding machine, you’ll need a good supply of thermal binding covers. There are both paperback and hardcover cases available, although the hardcover ones are more expensive. Choose cases that you can afford. If you want, you can have the cases customized with foil stamping, embossing, and/or offset printing. Be sure to allow for additional lead time if you order customized covers.

Once your yearbooks have been printed out and you have your covers at hand, you can start binding. Although each thermal binding machine has its own quirks, the general process goes like this:

Turn on the binding machine. Some devices need a couple of minutes to warm up while others are ready for use immediately.

Place your yearbook’s content in a thermal binding case. Jog the pages a little bit so you can be sure that all of them are in contact with the adhesive in the spine.

Slide the document into the binding machine with the spine going in first. The machine will activate the adhesive which results in your document being bound. The binding cycle will last for a minute or so. When the document is ready, the machine might beep or turn a light on so you know the binding cycle is over.

Take the yearbook out of the machine and set in on the cooling rack. Let it fully cool off before flipping through it. Repeat the above process to finish binding all of your yearbooks.

It’s often possible to bind more than one yearbook at a time. This depends on the thickness of your books and the size of your machine. There are some devices that feature multiple heating elements so you can bid a large number of books at once.

Finally, make sure you and your students congratulate yourselves on a job well done. Not only will your yearbooks look great, you will have saved money, and will have a terrific memento that can be treasured for years to come.

Although many schools are having to deal with drastic budget cuts, the yearbook doesn’t need to be a casualty. Just consider thermal binding and you’ll be able to create a yearbook that looks terrific and doesn’t cost a fortune to produce. Good luck and happy binding!

Jeff McRitchie is the Vice-President of Marketing for MyBinding.com. He regularly writes articles, reviews, and blog posts on topics related to bookbinding, laminating, paper shredding, and office equipment. More than 2,500 of his reviews have been published in thousands of locations on the Internet. If you’re looking for information about binding machines, his articles are a great place to start.