Even with the highest speed binding punch on the market, you'll still need a plastic comb opener to spread the combs for page insertion. The GPC PB2600 modular electric comb opener is the tool you need to improve efficiency and speed in the binding process. In a market flooded with manual comb openers, the PB2600 is virtually the only electric comb opener available, and can dramatically save time on one of the most tedious aspects of plastic comb binding - especially for users with a high-speed punch or pre-punched paper.
Features:
Using a foot-pedal for operation, the PB2600 frees up your hands to hold the documents while inserting your pages onto the combs. If you are not a fan of the foot-pedal, however, you can open the combs with a touch of a button - a large one, located at the top of the machine. In addition, the PB2600 can remember your previous setting, allowing for quick and easy opening of any combs that are the same size, reducing the need for a new set-up with each similar project.
This machine is the most accurate comb opening system available on the market, and has several adjustment features to ensure accuracy. For example, you can use the large knob on the side of the machine to set the width of the comb opening. For larger documents, you can also tap the foot pedal to open the combs incrementally, a very important feature when inserting pages onto large oval shaped combs. In addition, this machine has curious little black tabs on its back. These tabs are actually a very unique feature called, "no flip stoppers," These tabs are designed to ensure that large oval binding combs will not slip on the machine during the opening process, which is very important for fast and efficient binding practices.
The PB2600 is designed to be paired with one of the GBC modular binding punches such as the Magnapunch, MP2500ix or MP2000PB. The PB2600 neatly stacks on top of one of these machines or can be placed beside the punch to allow two users to work on the binding process simultaneously.
Limitations:
With the PB2600's ease of use and solid construction, there really are few, if any, limitations to this product. The only potential issue apparent is that if used in the field, the machine can become dirty or over time. When the machine does become dirty, the equipment can become clogged with dirt or dust and jammed and lose its ability to perform. Because of this, the opening hooks should be cleaned and lubricated periodically to prevent the machine from becoming jammed.
Construction:
The GBC PB2600 is solidly constructed and built to last. The machine is perfect for almost any comb-opening application and has the GBC standard of excellent binding equipment. Given this, the CBC PB2600 is an excellent option for any moderate to larger applications
Recommendation:
This product is highly recommended for organizations that do a great deal of comb binding. The PB2600 is an extremely helpful tool that can more than double the productivity of a standard manual plastic comb opener, making it ideal for printers, copy shops, in plant print shops and binderies. For a smaller organization the machine may be a bit of overkill. However, the GBC2600 is so effective that even if its overkill, it certainly gets the job done, faster and more effectively. This machine is truly the perfect tool for comb binding machine in almost any application as long as it fits within your budget.
So take a look at the PB2600 and see if it is the right solution for your binding needs.
Overview:
The Tamerica 240HB is a manually operated modular plastic comb opener that is designed for printers, in plant print shops, binderies and high volume users of plastic comb binding.
The 240HB is an ideal companion for a heavy duty modular plastic comb binding punch. It is small enough that it can be stacked on top of many punches or it can be placed beside your punch to allow one user to punch while another user finishes the documents.
The 240HB is designed to help organizations increase productivity while binding documents with plastic combs. You can use it with a heavy duty modular electric punch, with 19 hole punched paper or to edit your existing comb bound documents.
Strengths / Features:
This machine is designed for use with all of the different sizes of plastic comb binding spines. The 240HB can open comb binding spines that are round or oval shaped. It can be used with spines as small as 3/16" and as large as two inches in diameter. You can use it to bind documents with as few as two sheets or with as many as 425 sheets of 20lb bond paper.
The 240HB is fourteen inches in length. This means that it can be used to open combs for binding letter size, legal size, half size, A4 and other custom sizes of documents.
The small footprint of this machine makes it ideal for placement on top of your modular binding punch. It can easily be placed on the counter beside your punch or can be stored away when it is not in use.
This comb opener has a convenient adjustable binding stop on the side of the machine. The adjustable binding stop allows users to set the machine to open a specific size of comb. This is extremely useful for binding a large number of documents that are all the same size.
The 240HB has heavy duty metal components that are designed to hold up in production environments. It is great for high volume applications where it needs to be used on a daily basis.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
On the 240HB model that I tested, the comb opening handle began to slip slightly over time. The handle is supposed to stay tight and remain open without the need to hold it in place. I was able to tighten the handle to fix this problem. If the machine has this problem in the field it is possible that you may also need to tighten the handle.
This machine is only fourteen inches in length. It is great for opening legal size and smaller documents. However, users who need to open longer sized combs will find that the handle on the left side of the machine gets in the way. Users who need to insert combs that are longer than 24 loops will need to insert the last loops by hand or try to work around the handle on the side of the machine.
Although the 240HB is a good solution for high volume users, the highest volume users may benefit from an electric plastic comb opener such as the GBC PB2600. An electric plastic comb opener is both easier to use and offers more productivity than a manual opener. It also doesn't have a handle to get in the way for binding long documents.
Recommendation:
The 240HB is a great choice for printers, binderies, large organizations and in plant print shops that are looking for a high quality modular comb opener.
It is capable of handling both large and small plastic combs with up to 24 loops. This makes it great for binding letter size, legal size, half letter and custom length documents.
The only weakness with this machine is that the handle can become loose over time and that it isn't ideal for binding documents that are longer than twenty four loops.