Well, it really comes down to several things:

So, let’s see if we can help you answer some  of these questions

Ask yourself, how many books will you binding in a week, month, quarter or year? If you are doing a small amount like 10, it may be better to purchase a manual punch machine. These are the ones that have the lever that you pull to create a punch in your document. They work fine for small run projects and tend to be the inexpensive binding machine on the market.

If you are doing more than 10 a month, you may want to consider a machine that has an electric punch, but may have a manual inserter. With an electric punch, it would allow you to run more pages. It would also allow you to manage more volume than you would with a manual punch.

Finally, if you are a law office or an accounting and are doing large volumes of binding each day, you need to look at a commercial binding machine. These will help you punch larger stacks of paper, they come with multiple die systems and can take a beating. The other machines will just not be the right tool for a large volume office.

The next question you have to ask is what is the purpose of the documents you are binding? Should you use binding comb spines, plastic coil binding spines or wire binding spines? Or, should you use perfect binding or a MasterBind?

Comb binding still has a place in the legal markets. Some courts require that comb binding be used for briefs submitted to the court. Some people find coil is more friendly to use because it allows for the documents to open up completely. Also, you can color coordinate your binding coil to ensure it conforms to your marketing.

Then, there are other systems like Perfect Binding that can customize hard covers for your to glue the documents in place. Or, you can use the MasterBind system which allows for custom covers on the fly, while allowing for quick production of bound documents.

You can look like a million dollars with the right binding system. You have to decide how important image is to what you are producing. Some binding methods are utilitarian for purposes of sharing internal process and procedures. Other methods are best for marketing purposes with expensive covers, custom covers or special binding needs. Quality is determined by the purpose. High quality book binding can be had with coil, wire, MasterBind or Perfect Binding. You have to decide how you want to project yourself to determine what investment will need to be made.

After you have answered these questions, head on over to the Binding Machine store and look at the different machines available. We have a large selection.