The case study below describes a particularly challenging Seattle Bindery project. We hope you find it interesting and instructive. If you have questions about the equipment, techniques, or other details of the project, feel free to call us at 425-656-8210.

Sometimes it's good to question conventional wisdom or, for that matter, a manufacturer's pronouncement that its equipment is limited to certain restrictions. A recent project for a customer reinforced that lesson.

The customer was a local trade shop with whom we've worked for many years. The project was a turned-edge custom box that was oversized and needed a laminated parent sheet for the wraparound cover. Turned-edge, known also as case bound, products are ubiquitous in the tech industry, used for everything from binder and slipcase sets to boxes that hold products themselves. Problem was this turned-edge box required wraparound sheets that were 53-inches long, an unusual length for printers and finishers alike. After finding a local printer to print the sheets, the customer called on us to add the film laminate.

We have a very cool one-sided, pile-feed laminator that will handle 32-inch wide x 43-inch sheets and that uses a gas heated drum to heat the film, which avoids the potential scuffing that's common to the "hot shoe" style machines. Special NT rollers assure heat consistency and accuracy. When our operator called the vendor's tech support, he was told that the maximum length was 43 inches.

Seattle Bindery is definitely of the "can do" school. In fact, key to a trade shop's success is the ability to "figure something out." We were determined to find a way. Our operator, especially, took on the challenge, setting to work immediately to readjust settings to run the 53-inch sheets. After an exhaustive makeready and a few trial runs, he started running good sheets. We ordered the special laminate film and, once it was received, ran the job, meeting the deadline with flying colors and strengthening our belief that manufacturers' size guidelines are just that . . . guidelines.

We have recently added a third laminator to allow even more jobs to be completed in the short turn times that are expected by print buyers these days. We can apply single side or two side film laminating on sheets up to 32-inch wide for single sided and 30-inch wide for two sided. We stock 1.7 mil, 3 mil, 5 mil, and 10 mil clear film in a range of sizes, so we're set up for quick turn times. Matte and other finish films are also locally available as needed.

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Seattle  Bindery
6540 South Glacier Street, Suite 120
Seattle, WA 98188

Phone: 425-656-8210
Fax: 425-656-4400
miltvine@seattlebindery.com
www.seattlebindery.com

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