Do you have a glossary of coil binding terms?

Coil binding is a popular document finishing method that can be used for reports, proposals, anthologies, and more. In order to bind with coils, it’s usually necessary to use a coil binding machine. There is a lot of terminology associated with these machines, so it’s a good idea to become familiar with it before you try binding your documents. Here are the main terms you should know:

Binding capacity. Nearly every type of binding machine has a specific binding capacity. This refers to the maximum number of pages each document can have. So if your coil binding machine has a 200-page capacity, that means your documents can be up to 200 pages long. 

Coils. Coils are plastic binding implements that can be used with books containing 440 pages or less. These supplies are sometimes referred to as “color coils” because they are available in dozens of colors. Most coils are 12” long, which makes them suitable for letter-sized documents.

Coil inserter. A coil inserter is a machine that’s designed to insert coils into your documents. These machines don’t usually come with a punching mechanism, so you’ll either need a modular binding machine or pre-punched paper.

Crimping pliers. Crimping pliers look just like a regular pair of pliers. They’re used at the end of the binding process to trim and curl the coil. This helps secure the binding so the coil won’t spin out of your document. Some coil binding machines come with crimping pliers and they can also be purchased separately.

Disengageable dies. Some coil binding machines and punches come with disengageable dies. These dies can be engaged (or disengaged) so you can produce different hole patterns for various sizes of paper. Machines with disengageable dies usually have an open punching throat to accommodate different sizes of paper.