subject: Reviewing The Akiles Offibind 21d Plastic Comb Binding Machine [print this page] As the smallest of Akiles' comb binding systems, the Offibind 21D is intended for use in small or home offices, or for businesses on a very tight budget. Here is a short report on this machine, featuring a list of what we consider to be its relative strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths:
1.) The Offibind 21D appears to us to be more feature-rich than any of its similarly-priced competition. First of all, this machine offers the user a handy depth of margin control, which is important for ensuring the usability and durability of books and booklets no matter the size. We've discovered that this is a feature that is usually only found on machines costing much more than the Offibind 21D. With this function, the user can manually set the distance from the paper's edge in which the machine punches the hole in the paper in tiny increments, whereas other machines in this price range just have two to four presets. In practical terms, this gives you the option of using three-sixteenths plastic combs, a size that is not recommended for machines without this feature.
2.) Another feature that really adds to the flexibility of the Offibind 21D is the three disengageable pins which are located at the machine's end. Because Akiles saw fit to include these, you will be able to work not only with letter sized sheets, you can also use A4 European sized paper and oversized covers. For most jobs you will probably have pin numbers twenty and twenty one disengaged, but when you find that you need to work with larger sheets, you will have the ability to engage those pins for proper punching.
3.) Also fairly unusual for its price point, the Offibind 21D comes equipped with a binding punch that has a capacity of ten pages of 20lb paper at a time. Also, this machine has a comb opener that can be used with combs up to an inch in diameter, which is a great capacity for such a small machine. The Offibind 21D can bind books up to two hundred forty pages, which will get you by on the vast majority of projects.
Weaknesses:
1.) While it does include the aforementioned binding punch, the capacity is fairly small. Rated at ten sheets per lift, you will likely be limited to eight, depending upon the thickness of the sheets you are using. This will not be a problem for smaller productions, but if you find yourself having to break your projects into small sections just to get them punched, you will quickly find the whole thing pretty tedious.
2.) The lack of fully disengageable pins is a bit of a limitation for the Offibind 21D. You will be able to punch half letter size docs, but there is no way to do any custom lengths. This may or may not be a problem depending on what you intend to use the machine for.
3.) Another limitation to be aware of is that the Offibind 21D can only do comb binding up to one inch in diameter. You can use this machine to punch larger books (although it might take you a while) but the comb opener will have difficulty with larger oval shaped combs.
by: Jeffrey McRitchie
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