Technical Articles

Effective Design And Planning For Wire-O Book Projects

Published in New England Printer & Publisher

by Frank Shear

Wire-O™ binding (Wire-O, also known as double loop wire, is a registered trademark of James Burn International) is the most versatile mechanical binding method available. Users appreciate that it lies flat-as-a-board and can be opened 360° for convenient one-hand holding. Designers like how attractive binding elements compliment their most beautiful book designs. There are many cover styles appropriate for any use. Choose Wire-O binding for manuals, calendars, cookbooks, children's books, reference materials, annual reports and many other applications.

Well-thought out cover designs can improve the appearance and functionality of your next Wire-O project. Although there are many possible cover styles, three of the most common are: Split-back (separate front and back leaves), semi-concealed and fully concealed wraparound designs.

Split-Back Covers. Attractive, two-piece split-back covers are a solid choice when battling limited budgets and quick turnaround times. As long as your book has common page dimensions, no tabs and a Wire-O diameter size of 5/8" or less, flush-cut split back covers are hard to beat. However, if thicker Wire-O is needed, design your two-piece cover with 1/8" overhang to compensate for text page push-out. If your books need to be displayed on a shelf, recognize that split-back covers don't permit spine printing and should be avoided.

FULLY-CONCEALED SEMI-CONCEALED

SPLIT-BACK

Fully-Concealed and Semi-Concealed Covers. If you need spine printing, choose a fully-concealed or semi-concealed design, either of which allows spine printing.

Wraparound covers hide Wire-O binding elements without sacrificing product functionality. It's up to graphic arts service providers to help their customers design covers that are pleasant to look at, yet retain all Wire-O advantages.

Job Planning

When you experience mechanical binding problems, poor cover planning is often at the root of the problem. Before beginning production on any Wire-O cover, carefully plan your entire job. For example, if you're working on a semi-concealed book, make a bulking dummy, choose the right Wire-O size and finalize height and width dimensions before laying out your cover. Unless you have complete job information first, you run a significant risk of making a very expensive production mistake.

If split-back Wire-O pages are printed in signature form, production usually begins in a remarkably similar way to perfect binding. The signatures need to be folded. All forms must be gathered, glued (only a skim coat of glue is applied) and three-knife trimmed on a perfect binder. At this point manufacturing processes diverge. The fourth side of the book blocks must be trimmed off. Finally, the collated stack of loose sheets is punched and individual books are Wire-O bound.

If your project has a low page count, small quantity, or uses variably-sized leaves, different stocks, foldouts, die cuts, tabs, or bind-ins, consider a second Wire-O manufacturing method. In cases such as these, consider cutting sheets to final size and collating them on a single sheet-style collating machine prior to punching and binding. The best way to start is by involving your bindery professional early in the job planning process so you make all the right decisions and get the details right.

Scoring your covers properly is another detail that needs to be considered. Semi-concealed covers should be scored in opposing directions. Non-glued, fully-concealed six-page covers (see graphic below) need all scores going the same way. However, if the back two panels are glued together - basically turning your cover into a four pager - an opposing fourth score now is necessary.

Fully concealed covers are more expensive than semi-concealed because they require more paper and slow down turnaround times. Longer six-page forms are more difficult to handle and frequently need to be hand punched because of their length. In contrast, four-page, semi-concealed covers usually can be automatically punched, as long as the cover is thin enough. One advantage of leaving fully-concealed covers unglued is that extra cover copy is available for easy reference or high priced advertising.

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When outsourcing your next Wire-O project, choose a post press services company with a variety of production methods at its disposal. Some of the more desirable options are:

Signature gathering and gluing / single sheet collating.
Automatic punching / manual punching
Automatic wire insertion / manual wire insertion
Shaped closing tools / flat closing tools
Alternative binding methods (i.e., plastic spiral, perfect binding, saddle stitching, etc.)

With options comes flexibility. If your bindery partner has multiple manufacturing methods available at their fingertips, you stand a better chance of getting precisely the right solution for your projects.

Frank Shear is President of Seaboard Bindery, a service-oriented trade bindery located in Woburn , Massachusetts . His company specializes in offering high quality perfect binding, PUR and layflat adhesive binding, saddle stitching, Wire-O™, plastic spiral, and other bindery solutions. Call Frank at (781) 932-3908 or e-mail him at frank@seaboardbindery.com.