Most spiral coil binding machines are designed to punch sheets of standard bond papers and up to a few plastic covers at a time. However, even the strongest models have a difficult time punching through chipboard and other thick materials.
With this in mind, DFG (Document Finishing Group) developed the TitanCoil Ultra. It is equipped with a stronger punching mechanism that makes it ideal for use in punching hard board covers.
This opens up a whole new world of opportunities for quick printers, copy shops, print on demand operations and large corporations.
Suddenly, the concept of producing your own coil bound hard cover documents can be a reality.
Strengths / Features:
At first glance, the TitanCoil-Ultra looks a whole lot like the regular TitanCoil binding machine. It uses the same heavy duty metal construction and even has the same shell. In fact, if it didn't say Ultra on the machine, it would be impossible to tell the two apart by looking at them. Both machines utilize heavy duty metal components and are extremely durable.
Although the punching capacity of the TitanCoil Ultra is only three sheets higher than the capacity of other DFG Titan machines, it includes a larger punching throat. This larger throat is designed to allow users to insert a piece of chipboard or a custom made hard cover into the throat of the document. This is important since most coil binding machines don't have a large enough throat to fit a piece of chipboard inside.
This machine includes fully disengageable dies. This means that it can be set up to bind almost any size of hard cover document. It can punch any size sheet up to eleven inches in a single pass or you can use the open throat design to punch longer sheet sizes using a two step process. This means you can use the TitanCoil-Ultra to punch and bind documents as short as two inches and as long as twenty inches.
Although the Titan-Coil Ultra is designed specifically for users who need to bind hard covered documents, it is also an excellent machine for binding regular reports, presentations and proposals with coil. It includes a coil sizing guide that helps you select the correct diameter of coil for your books. It also includes an adjustable depth of punch margin control and a foot pedal operated spiral coil inserter on the top of the machine. These features make this a great machine for binding both soft covered and hard covered documents.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
Although this machine includes a larger punching throat and can accept thicker materials such as chip board, it can be extremely difficult to pull the handle if you load too much paper into the throat of the machine. Most individuals will have a hard time punching more than fifteen to twenty sheets of paper or two or three clear plastic covers at a time. Depending on the thickness and density of the chipboard that you need to punch, this machine may handle it easily or may require a great of force. If it is too hard to pull the handle on the machine it is a good idea to reduce the thickness of the material that you are punching so that you don't damage your equipment.
The TitanCoilUltra includes a foot pedal operated coil inserter that is located on the top of the machine. However, the design of this inserter and the quality of the foot pedal are less than ideal. The coil inserter uses a single roller design (as opposed to two rollers) and is only about six inches in length. This shorter length and single roller design make the inserter less effective for use with larger coils or for high speed inserting. The foot pedal is also not nearly as strong and durable as the foot pedals on other similar pieces of binding equipment.
The chip tray or waste drawer is also fairly small on this machine considering the punching capacity that it offers. It is important to remember to empty the chip tray on a regular basis. If the chip tray becomes full it may become difficult to punch items.
Recommendation:
Apart from a heavy duty modular binding punch which costs thousands of dollars, this machine is one of the only options available for organizations looking to punch hard covers for use with coil binding.
It includes a larger than normal punching throat and a great set of features that make it an excellent spiral coil binding machine for handling both hard covers and soft covers.
Although the design of the spiral coil inserter is not optimal, this machine is still an excellent choice for companies that might need to punch chipboard or thick materials.
However, it is important to remember that if the handle is too hard to pull, you are probably punching an item that is either too dense or too thick.
Overview:
The DFG TitanCoil is a heavy binding machine that is designed for medium sized companies that want to bind their own documents with spiral coil.
Although this machine has a manual punch, it is built with high quality metal components for use in organizations that need to bind documents every day.
The TitanCoil is a heavy duty, reliable, functional and user friendly binding machine. This makes it an excellent choice for POD applications, Quick-Printers, Copy Shops and professional organizations.
It offers a heavy duty punching capacity, fully disengageable dies, and open punching throat and a built in spiral coil inserter.
Strengths / Features:
The DFG Titan-Coil is one of the most durably constructed spiral coil binding machines available on the market. It is made almost entirely of metal components and is extremely durable. The housing, document table, handle and all the internal mechanisms are made from high quality steel. This durable construction allows the Titancoil to punch up to twenty five sheets at a time.
One of the most impressive things about the TitanCoil binding machines is that it includes fully disengageable dies. For years, binding machine companies have said that it was impossible to include this feature on a coil binding machine since the punching pins were so close together. However, DFG has found a way to include this feature on their machines. This enables users to punch virtually any length of document. The throat on this machine is eleven inches long. This means that you can punch any document that is eleven inches or less in one punch. Any document that is longer than eleven inches can be punched using a two step punching process.
The TitanCoil includes a special book measuring guide on the right hand side of the machine. You simply place your stack of pages under the measuring guide and press it down to determine the correct size of coil that you need for your book. This feature is extremely useful for organizations that bind reports and presentations that are different thicknesses. It take all the guesswork out of choosing the diameter of your coil binding supplies.
On the left hand side of the machine behind the paper edge guide there is a depth of punch margin control. This control allows you to select how far in from the edge of the page the holes will be punched. The holes should be set closer to the edge of the page for small sized coils and further away for larger diameter books. If the holes are set too far away, the pages in your thin books may not turn freely. However, if the pages are set too close to the edge of the page, the sheets may tear out of your large diameter presentations.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
The Titancoil includes an electric spiral coil inserter on the top of the machine. This is an extremely handy feature to have on a manual coil binding machine. It helps to spin the coils onto the edge of your documents. However, the design of the coil inserter on this machine has a few issues that make it less effective than other coil inserters on the market. The inserter on the Titan-Coil uses only one spinning rollers and is only six inches in length. Higher quality coil inserters utilize two rollers and longer lengths to make inserting go faster. The design of this inserter limits it to books that are less than 22mm in size. Larger coils will need to be inserted by hand.
Although most of the components on this machine are made from high quality steel, there are a few pieces that are not nearly as durable. The spine measuring device, the edge guide and the depth of punch margin control adjustments are all made of plastic. The plastic depth of punch control or spine measurer shouldn't be a huge deal. However, the edge guide on a machine like this gets a lot of use. It would be a lot better if this edge guide was made of metal for durability and accuracy.
The foot pedal used for the coil inserter on this machine is also not nearly as larger or durable as the foot pedals included on other similar pieces of binding equipment that are on the market. Depending on how much you use this machine and how hard you step on the foot pedal this is a component that may eventually need replacement.
The final limitation that I noticed with the TItancoil is that the chip tray on this machine is fairly small. This isn't a huge deal. It just means that you need to remember to empty the chads from the tray more often in order to ensure that they don't back up inside the punching mechanism.
Recommendation:
The overall construction and feature set of the DFG TitanCoil is actually quite excellent. Document Finishing Group has utilized a number of high quality metal components and included features on this machine that are simply not available on most other coil binding machines.
However, there are a few limitations and concerns that I have with this machine. In my opinion, for most companies the Akiles CoilMac ECI is a slightly better choice than the DFG TitanCoil. The only exception is if your organization needs to bind custom sized documents. The TitanCoil is a better choice for that application.