The Akiles Duomac 421 is a designed to provide organizations the choice between three different styles of binding.
It produces two different hole-patterns. This allows companies to choose the style of binding that is the best fit for different types of deliverables.
The Duomac 421 is built from heavy duty metal components and is designed for years of use inside a small to medium sized company.
It is an excellent binding machine that offers versatility, durability and the ability to create highly professional documents on demand.
Strengths / Features:
The DuoMac 421 can punch two completely different hole-patterns. It can produce a round hole patter with four holes per inch. This is designed for use with four to one pitch spiral coil binding. It can also produce a 2:1 pitch rectangular hole-pattern which is designed for use with 2:1 pitch twin loop wire. The 2:1 pitch pattern can also be used to bind thick books using 0.400 pitch spiral coils. Thus, the two hole patterns allow the Duomac 421 to bind documents using three different binding styles.
The 4:1 pitch punching throat on this machine has a thirteen inch throat with five disengageable punching pins. Using these five disengageable dies it is possible to bind documents with all of the most common paper sizes including: letter, legal, A4, half letter, and A5 papers.
The 2:1 pitch punch is 14" inches long and offers fully disengageable punching pins. This means it is possible to punch any size document up to fourteen inches in length with a 2:1 pitch rectangular hole pattern.
Both punches on the DuoMac 421 have open throats. Using the open throat design, it is possible to punch documents that are longer than 13" or 14" with a two step punching process.
This DuoMac-421 includes a heavy duty wire closer on the front of the machine. The closer is capable of handling two to one pitch wires that are between 3/16" and 1-1/4" in diameter. The wire closer on this system is made of high quality steel components and should have no problem remaining accurate over time.
The 421 Duomac also includes a pair of coil crimpers. These crimping pliers are designed to cut and crimp the ends of your coil to finish your spiral bound documents.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
One thing that the Duomac-421 is missing is a spiral coil inserter. Users who need to bind a few documents with coil will have no problem spinning the coils on by hand. However, inserting coils by hand is very time consuming and tedious. Organizations that need to bind documents using 4:1 pitch coil on a daily or weekly basis should definitely consider purchasing a modular coil inserter. Akiles recommends that this machine be purchased and used in conjunction with the Akiles Roll @ Coil.
Because 2.5:1 pitch coils are so large and there is a slight variance in the pitch between the holes and the coil, they will need to be inserted by hand. This isn't a huge deal since most large coil books are assembled by hand anyway. Large sized 4:1 pitch books with also need to be inserted by hand.
Each of the three binding styles offered by this machine have limitations in the size of books that they can bind. Four to one spiral coil is the most versatile and can be used to bind documents that are between 6mm and 50mm. However, inserting large sized 4:1 pitch coils onto your books is much like trying to insert a slinky onto the edge of a book. Two to one pitch wire binding spines are available in sizes ranging from 1/4" up to 1-1/4" (1-1/2" spines are available but the wire closer on the Duomac 421 isn't compatible with spines that large). Spiral coils that are 2.5:1 pitch (also known as 0.400 pitch coils) are available in sizes from 20mm up to 56mm and use larger filament to make inserting easier.
The DuoMac 421 has a lot of great features. However, including so many features on one binding machine has the tendency to make that machine fairly large and somewhat confusing. Although the Duomac421 is clearly labeled , it can be a little bit intimidating to inexperienced users.
Recommendation:
The DuoMac 421 is the only combination binding system that can handle both 2:1 double loop wire and 4:1 spiral coil.
It gives users the ability to choose between multiple binding styles for the documents and reports that they produce.
Both spiral coil binding and twin loop wire provide the ability to finish documents in a highly professional manner. Plus this system allows you to bind almost any thickness of document that you can image.
However, the Duomac-421 is still a manual binding machine is really best suited for small and medium sized organizations. High volume users and large organizations should consider a interchangeable die modular binding punch with separate finishing equipment.
Overview:
The Akiles DuoMac 431 is a combination binding system that is designed for binding documents with more than one style of binding.
In fact, this machine allows users to produce high quality professional reports and presentations using one of two different hole patterns.
These two hole patterns allow users to choose one of four different binding styles to finish their documents, presentations and proposals.
This makes the DuoMac431 ideal for companies that want to customize the look of different types of documents or who want to distinguish their internal and external presentations.
Strengths / Features:
The Akiles DuoMac 431 is capable of producing two completely different hole-patterns. One punching throat is designed for producing a 4:1 pitch round hole pattern. This pattern is used with 4:1 pitch spiral coil binding supplies. The other punching throat on this machine produces a 3:1 pitch square hole pattern. This hole pattern can be used with 3:1 pitch twin loop wire, GBC Proclick binding spines and 3:1 Spiral Coil. All together, the two hole patterns produced by this machine can be used to bind documents with four different binding styles.
The 4:1 pitch round hole punch included on this machine is thirteen inches in length and has five strategically placed disengageable punching pins. These punching pins allow users to punch all of the most common sizes of paper using the four to one hole pattern. Specifically, the DuoMac 431 can punch letter size, A4, legal size, A5 and half letter sheets for binding with 4:1 pitch spiral coil.
The 3:1 pitch punch on the DuoMac-431 has fully disengageable punching pins and a fourteen inch punching throat. This allows for punching virtually any length of paper up to 14".
Both the 4:1 and 3:1 punches on this machine have open punching throats. This allows for punching documents that are longer than thirteen or fourteen inches using a two step punching process. You simply punch one end of the document and then flip the document over and punch the other side. There is even a continuous punching guide to help you get the holes aligned correctly.
The DuoMac 431 also includes a pair of spiral coil crimping pliers. These coil crimping pliers will help you to cut and crimp the ends of your 4:1 and 3:1 pitch coil so that the coils don't spin off your bound books.
On the right hand side of the DuoMac-431 there are two small knobs. These knobs allow you to adjust the distance of the holes from the edge of your paper. When binding small sized documents it is a good idea to set the holes so that they are close to the edge of the paper. This helps the pages to move smoothly inside the bind. For larger documents, you can add strength to the binding by setting the holes further away from the edge of your sheets.
The Duomac431 has a high quality wire closer and wire hanger on the front of the machine. This wire closer is made from high quality steel and should have not problem maintaining its accuracy over time. The wire hanger is extremely helpful for assembling your wire bound presentations and proposals during the binding process.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
Although this machine includes a huge number of great features, it does not include a coil inserter. Akiles suggests that this machine be paired with the Roll @ Coil modular inserter. The Roll @ Coil is reasonably priced and would certainly help to increase the coil binding productivity offered by this machine.
Each of the binding styles that can be used with the DuoMac 431 have their limitations. In fact none of these binding styles is a good choice for organizations that bind a lot of documents larger than 1" thick. GBC Proclick is only available in three sizes ranging from 5/16" up to 5/8". Three to one pitch wire binding is available in sizes from 3/16" up to 9/16" and cannot be used for larger documents. Four to one pitch coil is available in sizes from 6mm up to 50mm. However, sizes above 25mm are very difficult to insert onto the edge of your books (imagine trying to spin a slinky onto the edge of your book). Three to one pitch spiral coil is available in the same sizes as 4:1 coil but has the same problems when you try to insert larger sized spines onto your documents.
The Duomac-431 includes a lot of great features. However, with so many features and options on one machine, this piece of equipment begins to look a little bit intimidating to many users. Inexperienced users may not know where to begin with a machine such as this. It isn't that hard to figure out, as long as you are brave enough to try.
Recommendation:
Of all the machines in the Akiles DuoMac line of equipment the 431 is one of the most useful. It combines the ability to bind documents with 4:1 pitch coil and 3:1 pitch wire which are two of the most popular and elegant binding styles used by organizations around the world.
This is a great machine for small copy shop or professional organization that is looking to bind documents with several different binding styles without having to buy multiple binding machines.
However, this is still a manual binding machine and is not designed for high volume production environments. If you need to bind more than fifty documents per week you may benefit from a modular electric binding system.
Additionally, users who want to use the Duomac 431 for coil binding should really consider purchasing a coil inserter to help spin the coils onto their documents. An inserter will help to save time and can quickly pay for itself in most professional settings.