Saddle Stitching
Saddle stitching isn’t as mundane as it used to be. Ask us for samples of colored “Rainbow” wire stitches such as red, white, or black or our “Child-Proof Stitches” that won't scratch or injure a child’s hand. “Loop stitching” (in two sizes) is growing in popularity. We can in-line trim booklets 3-up, trim some books to 2 1/4” face to spine and 4 7/8” head to foot.
We can run small, multiple-up books with an overhanging front cover (the small yellow booklet in the picture) which can be automatically glued to pharmaceutical bottles, allowing the front stub to be peeled back and the booklet read while still attached to the container.
[insert the image from the SGF website that corresponds with this text: Products and Services/Saddlestitching]
The lower left booklet pictured is a “walk-down” style both front and back. The middle right white book is stepped cut. The open lower middle book was oblong trimmed from a multiple-up format. The middle upper book has the die-cut, pop-out folded tabs on each page and a double die-cut lock, locks the center closed cover. The book on the extreme left is embossed, highly foil stamped, with tight borders, cross-overs and fold-outs.
When saddle stitching, we can in-line “ink-jet” addresses inside and outside in one pass, or imprint, number and/or bar-code.
Saddle stitching has changed. Colored stitches, child-proof stitches, loop stitches, multiple-up, special foldouts, in-line glued sheet, ink-jet are just some of the possibilities.
Saddle-stitching is simply the art of inserting forms on top of other forms over a saddle and driving stitches through the gathered piece's backbone. Companion operations such as inline trimming, drilling, punching, inkjet printing, refolding, clip sealing, shrink wrapping, and packaging all increase the value of stitched products.
The world of saddle-stitching is much broader than simply stitching forms and trimming them to 8 ½ x 11-inch. One can produce sizes that can be smaller than 1x 1 ½- inch or as large as 14 3/4 x 18-inch. Fold outs, fold ups, self-mailers, business reply cards (BRC's) business reply envelopes (BRE's), diecut forms, tabs, and undersized and overhanging forms all add pizazz and real customer value. Glue opens even more options because it can be applied in trim-off areas allowing stitched products to have gatefolds and multiple fold outs. Our twelve pocket saddle-stitcher offers a variety of mixing and matching of forms and incredible design flexibility.
Job Planning
When executing projects with unfamiliar layouts, involve our saddle-stitching expertise early on because simple layout changes can make huge differences in time and cost. Many times your least expensive printing and prepress layout will end up costing you more because of downstream bindery inefficiency.
While there are very few saddle-stitching absolutes, most stitching machines can run one-up pieces from 5 x 6-inch to 12 x 17-inch. Our stitcher can run products as small as 3 x 3 7/8-inch, one-up. Although there are some exceptions, the smallest products usually need to be trimmed off-line. Typically, we can do many extremely small saddle-stitching jobs, as small as 2 x 2 ½-inch.
When your bound product is huge, there's no solution like oversized saddle-stitching. We frequently stitch large-format books complete with beautiful oversized posters. Our stitchers can accommodate a 14 ¾ x 18-inch final-size product. If you have an oversized stitching resource, selling large-format high-end products is practical.
For products that are smaller than standard machine minimums, run them multiple-up or bind them into larger size booklets. Either way, off-line trimming is necessary to get them to their final size. Remember that the minimum distance between our stitching heads is 1 5/8- inch.
Gluing in Trim-Off Areas
Six and eight page gatefolds with glue spots require us to constantly monitor and frequently pull samples to ensure accurate glue placement. For example, if glue spreads too far into a piece, it will not be removed in the final trimming process. Easy-release glue should be used in trim-off areas to keep the product functional, even if the glue oozes into the non-trimmed area. When applying glue in trim-off areas, make sure we can accommodate your trim-off margin choice. Generally speaking, we glue only one side of a fold out - either the top or bottom. While a ½ -inch trim-off margin is preferable, 3/8-inch is usually fine.
When planning jobs with bind-ins, check with us for overhang limits. Although the feeding sections and carrier chains of our saddle-stitchers can bind panels as short as 2-inch, not all five of our stitchers can work on a project of this size.
Stitching pre-personalized work requires us to maintain jobs in sequence. Doing this, however, requires many unusual manufacturing procedural steps. Because component staging, pocket loading, product packing and quality assurance are all essential in handling pre-personalized material, it is key to have one of our sales people with years of experience in doing this type of project, working with you.
If your job marks or scuffs during production, it is usually because the top of one signature rubs against the bottom of another during pocket feeding. Frequently, the culprit signatures are those with heavy ink coverage on one outside panel and light coverage on the other. If you suspect you’re going to have a scuffing problem, prudent planning would indicate varnishing the areas of concern. Signatures printed with reflex blue, silver, gold, or other metallic ink are of
particular concern.
The world of saddle-stitching is both beautiful and varied. Delight your customers by adding value to your saddle-stitched project.
Tips to Run Your Saddle Stitching Jobs More Efficiently
[insert the image from the SGF website that corresponds with this text: Products and Services/Saddlestitching]
The lower left booklet pictured is a “walk-down” style both front and back. The middle right white book is stepped cut. The open lower middle book was oblong trimmed from a multiple-up format. The middle upper book has the die-cut, pop-out folded tabs on each page and a double die-cut lock, locks the center closed cover. The book on the extreme left is embossed, highly foil stamped, with tight borders, cross-overs and fold-outs.
When saddle stitching, we can in-line “ink-jet” addresses inside and outside in one pass, or imprint, number and/or bar-code.
Saddle stitching has changed. Colored stitches, child-proof stitches, loop stitches, multiple-up, special foldouts, in-line glued sheet, ink-jet are just some of the possibilities.
Saddle-stitching is simply the art of inserting forms on top of other forms over a saddle and driving stitches through the gathered piece's backbone. Companion operations such as inline trimming, drilling, punching, inkjet printing, refolding, clip sealing, shrink wrapping, and packaging all increase the value of stitched products.
The world of saddle-stitching is much broader than simply stitching forms and trimming them to 8 ½ x 11-inch. One can produce sizes that can be smaller than 1x 1 ½- inch or as large as 14 3/4 x 18-inch. Fold outs, fold ups, self-mailers, business reply cards (BRC's) business reply envelopes (BRE's), diecut forms, tabs, and undersized and overhanging forms all add pizazz and real customer value. Glue opens even more options because it can be applied in trim-off areas allowing stitched products to have gatefolds and multiple fold outs. Our twelve pocket saddle-stitcher offers a variety of mixing and matching of forms and incredible design flexibility.
Job Planning
When executing projects with unfamiliar layouts, involve our saddle-stitching expertise early on because simple layout changes can make huge differences in time and cost. Many times your least expensive printing and prepress layout will end up costing you more because of downstream bindery inefficiency.
While there are very few saddle-stitching absolutes, most stitching machines can run one-up pieces from 5 x 6-inch to 12 x 17-inch. Our stitcher can run products as small as 3 x 3 7/8-inch, one-up. Although there are some exceptions, the smallest products usually need to be trimmed off-line. Typically, we can do many extremely small saddle-stitching jobs, as small as 2 x 2 ½-inch.
When your bound product is huge, there's no solution like oversized saddle-stitching. We frequently stitch large-format books complete with beautiful oversized posters. Our stitchers can accommodate a 14 ¾ x 18-inch final-size product. If you have an oversized stitching resource, selling large-format high-end products is practical.
For products that are smaller than standard machine minimums, run them multiple-up or bind them into larger size booklets. Either way, off-line trimming is necessary to get them to their final size. Remember that the minimum distance between our stitching heads is 1 5/8- inch.
Gluing in Trim-Off Areas
Six and eight page gatefolds with glue spots require us to constantly monitor and frequently pull samples to ensure accurate glue placement. For example, if glue spreads too far into a piece, it will not be removed in the final trimming process. Easy-release glue should be used in trim-off areas to keep the product functional, even if the glue oozes into the non-trimmed area. When applying glue in trim-off areas, make sure we can accommodate your trim-off margin choice. Generally speaking, we glue only one side of a fold out - either the top or bottom. While a ½ -inch trim-off margin is preferable, 3/8-inch is usually fine.
When planning jobs with bind-ins, check with us for overhang limits. Although the feeding sections and carrier chains of our saddle-stitchers can bind panels as short as 2-inch, not all five of our stitchers can work on a project of this size.
Stitching pre-personalized work requires us to maintain jobs in sequence. Doing this, however, requires many unusual manufacturing procedural steps. Because component staging, pocket loading, product packing and quality assurance are all essential in handling pre-personalized material, it is key to have one of our sales people with years of experience in doing this type of project, working with you.
If your job marks or scuffs during production, it is usually because the top of one signature rubs against the bottom of another during pocket feeding. Frequently, the culprit signatures are those with heavy ink coverage on one outside panel and light coverage on the other. If you suspect you’re going to have a scuffing problem, prudent planning would indicate varnishing the areas of concern. Signatures printed with reflex blue, silver, gold, or other metallic ink are of
particular concern.
The world of saddle-stitching is both beautiful and varied. Delight your customers by adding value to your saddle-stitched project.
Tips to Run Your Saddle Stitching Jobs More Efficiently
- Avoid having a single sheet or a thin signature sticking out of either the head or foot because it will be crushed when joggers position the product for final head and foot trims.
- For jobs with really light or porous stock, such as onion-skin, expect slow production rates because reduced machine cycle speeds are needed to avoid pulling doubles.
- Reverse laps on a job will cause slow production rates. Try to keep all of your folios the same size and heading in
- the same direction. Your jogging-end trim margins should be consistently sized and your “off-end” trim margins should be sized within 1/8-inch of each other to ensure adequate production rates.
- When using suction opening, either the head or foot must be closed so suction applied to the outside page of a signature will open to the centre every time.
- On thick books, a little tear in the rounded section of the backbone is normal. Because the spine edge isn't fully supported during trimming, knives cut through the supported top pages, but not completely through the bottom pages, causing a small rip at the backbone. With the laws of physics at work here, there is no practical way to eliminate this minor problem.
- When working with a diecut form, carefully plan your job so that nothing catches on our machinery.