The Perfect Bind T30 is a relatively newcomer to the thermal binding arena. It began appearing in the marketplace sometime near the beginning of 2007. It offers a simple design, a decent set of features and what appears to be a great value. However, the fact that the T30 is new to the market can be a little bit unnerving. With this in mind I decided to take a T30 out of its box and give it a try to test its features, limitations and construction. Here is what I discovered.

The first thing that I noticed after taking the T30 out of the box is that there is really not much to this machine. The box contained a simple one page sheet with instructions on it, the machine in a shrink wrapped package and two plastic brackets that attach to the back of the machine for cooling your documents. There were no buttons on the machine (apart from on on/off switch) and there were no settings to mess with. The T30 was incredibly simple.

After taking a closer look at the machine and binding a number of documents I was able to take note of a few features that are included with the T30. It has an indicator light that lets you know when the machine is ready to bind and both visual and auditory indicators that let you know when the binding cycle is finished (it beeps and the light flashes). The T-30 has a built in timer that helps you bind your documents for the right amount of time. It also has a cooling rack that you can use for holding your documents while you are binding the next set of covers.

The Perfectbind T-30 has a one inch capacity throat. This means that it can handle a single one inch document or multiple documents up to a total thickness of one inch. It has a 12 inch opening that is designed for binding letter sized documents and it works much like a toaster. You simply put your document in the cover, put the cover in the machine and wait for the light to come on and the machine to beep so that you know that the binding cycle is done.

Using the T30 I didn't really notice any glaring defects. However, users of the T-30 should recognize the fact that the machine does have limitations. It cannot be used to bind documents that are longer than twelve inches and it won't work for binding documents that are thicker than one inch. It also only has one heat setting which means that you will have to run hard covers through the machine two times to ensure that they receive enough heat to activate the glue. However, none of these things are really a major problem.

The Perfect Bind T 30 is made of molded plastic much like all of the other thermal binding machines in its class. Looking over the machine, I only had one concern about the construction. If you look inside the throat you will notice that it contains two pieces of plastic that push together and keep the thermal binding covers tight during the binding process. If you attempt to overload the T30 it might be possible to damage these plastic pieces. It is unlikely that they will become damaged. However, it is something to be aware of.

After using the T30 to bind a number of different documents I would strongly recommend it for individuals who are looking for an inexpensive thermal binding machine. The T30 is incredibly easy to use and there is really very little to go wrong. It isn't designed for high volume use and it isn't perfect for every user. However, if you are looking for a high quality thermal binding machine that will do the job and won't break the bank you should check out the T-30.