The martin Yale Intimus BCS410 desktop business card slitting machine is designed for cutting business cards that are printed ten up on a page and for scoring or perforating your printed documents. Using this machine to cut business cards is a two step process. The machine first cuts a letter sized sheet into two strips that are 3.5" x 11". You then feed those strips back through the machine to produce ten perfect 3.5" x 2" business cards.
However, the Intimus BCS410 is not only designed for slitting business cards. It also includes a scoring and perforating station that is designed to allow you to create high quality tickets, tent style business cards, occasion cards and more.
Strengths / Features:
The Martin Yale Intimus BCS410 can create up to 375 business cards per minute. This allows users to create a run of 500 cards in less than two minutes and a run of 1000 cards in less than four minutes. This high level of productivity is ideal for organizations that are looking for the ability to produce short run ones on demand.
In addition to the business card slitting abilities of the BCS410 you can also use this machine as a desktop perforator or scoring machine. This feature is ideal for printers and copy shops who are looking for a fast and easy way to create event tickets, tent style business cards, coupon books and occasion cards.
The blades used on the BCS410 are self sharpening. They are designed for years of maintenance free operation. However, if they do become dull or damaged for some reason, replacement blades are available for reasonable prices.
The BCS-410 is designed to cut business cards that are printed ten up on a letter sized sheet. However, with a little bit of work, it can be used to cut full bleed business cards that are printed six up on a sheet. The machine still cuts your letter sized sheet into ten business cards but overprinting the cards for a full bleed will result in four cards being wasted.
The small footprint of the BCS410 makes it ideal for organizations where space is at a premium. It is designed to sit on a counter and can even be neatly stored away when it is not in use.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
The slitter on the BCS410 is designed for slitting cards that are printed ten up on a page. It can be adjusted slightly to ensure straight cuts and to adjust for slight variances in printing. However, the BCS410 cannot be adjusted to cut custom sized cards or to cut business cards that are printed either 8 up or 12 up on a page.
The scoring and perforating features of the BCS-410 use specialized wheels to perform their functions. The unit comes with one scoring wheel and one perforating wheel and additional wheels can be purchased and added to the machine. However, it is important to note that using a scoring wheel on digitally printed output may result in cracking. If you need to score items that are digitally printed you should test a sample and see if it is a problem. If it is a problem you may end up needing to buy a completely separate compression scoring device to finish your documents.
The productivity offered by the BCS-410 is not as high as is offered by the BCS-412 which can cut up to 12 cards at a time. Additionally, it is important to note that using this machine for creating full bleed business cards will require sorting through the finished cards to remove the 40% of cards that are ruined during the cutting process.
It is also important to remember that the BCS-410 is designed primarily for letter sized papers and paper stocks. It cannot cut business cards printed on larger sheet sizes and has a maximum throat width of eleven inches for perforating or scoring documents.
Recommendation:
The Martin Yale Intimus BCS410 is an incredibly versatile machine that is ideal for small printers, in plant print shops and copy shops.
This machine offers the ability to produce your own on demand business cards, to cut short run full bleed cards and to both perforate and score documents.
Together, these capabilities can be used to create a huge variety of items for your customers. However, the BCS410 is still a desktop unit and is not designed for large paper sizes or for extremely high volume operations.
Overview:
The Martin Yale BCS212 is a tabletop business card slitting machine that is designed to slit business cards that are printed twelve up on the page.
It uses a two part process. First it slits your letter sized sheet into three strips that are 3.5" x 8.5" and then you feed those strips back through the machine to cut them into perfect 2" x 3.5" business cards.
The BCS 212 allows you to get 20% more cards out of every printed letter sized sheets as compared a similar 10up business card slitting machine.
Strengths / Features:
The BCS212 is capable of creating 375 cards per minute which translates to more than twenty two thousand business cards per hour. This means that you can potentially cut a run of five hundred business cards in less than two minutes and a run of one thousand business cards in less than four minutes. That type of productivity is excellent for on demand applications.
The blades used by the BCS212 are semi-self sharpening. When used normally, the blades on the BCS-212 are designed to be used for years without the need for replacement. However, over time if you do damage or wear out the blades on this machine it is possible to replace them.
The BCS212 can accept a stack of documents that is up to 5/8" thick. This means that you can place a stack of sheets into the machine and let it do its work. If you are using letter sized sheets it takes a two step process to cut each card. However, the BCS-212 is also designed to cut cards that are printed four up on a 3-1/2" x 8-1/2" strip in a one step process for added productivity.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
The BCS212 does have adjustable paper guides that will allow you to adjust the feeding of your sheets slightly for variances in your printing. However, it is really only designed to cut twelve up business cards. This means that it cannot be customized to cut special card sizes or be adjusted for gutter cutting.
Unlike some of the larger business-card slitters that are available on the market, the BCS-212 does not have the ability to perforate or score documents. If you need these features you will want to look at the Intimus BCS-412 which is a twelve up business card slitter with the ability to score and perforate cards.
In testing the BCS-212 I found that it did an excellent job with heavy stocks and with coated stocks (at least the ones I tried). However, it was a little bit tricky to get it to work with laminated papers. I was able to get it to work with a little bit of trying but it probably isn't ideal for paper that has been laminated before cutting.
Recommendation:
The BCS-212 is an excellent choice for small copy shops, human resource departments and small printers who want to produce short run business cards without waiting days or weeks for an outside organization to do the job.
It is great for companies who need to create between a few hundred and a few thousand business cards per day and have a high quality color copier or digital color printer.
The BCS-212 will make producing business cards both fast and easy.
However, it is probably not the best fit for a large print house or production facility that is dedicated to printing tens of thousands of business cards per day.