Knife and Buckle Folding Paper

An intro to paper folding techniques used in print shops. I also forgot to mention using a bone folder when folding by hand. I never had one so I forgot to mention it. Thanks for watching!

[@sky173]

Awesome video. My dad started a printing company in the late 60's. I started working there in the late 70's when I was 8 years old. I started by working the 3-hole drill and a really old 20 inch Stahl folder. Eventually, I went full time in the 80's in the bindery department. Over the years, the company became huge with countless employees and massive machines. Although I helped other printers in the area also, as the company grew I stayed with them full time until I recently retired. I've run/repaired nearly every piece of bindery equipment that you can imagine, from folders, cutters, collators, box folders, and every type of book binder imaginable. I'll admit that there's something special in my heart about folding. Back in the day, our knife folders were the size of cars. I'm not sure why I wrote all that. Maybe because I saw myself in the little girl. Maybe because I miss the industry. Regardless, it was a rewarding career and I hope she sticks with it. I'm glad I found your channel, and I wish you the best. I hope you keep producing videos as you grow. You have a new subscriber. Thanks for sharing.

[@justvisi]

I'm sure you miss that

[@markmiwurdz2248]

@sky173. Can you remember the make/name of your knife folding machines? Here in the U.K. I served my apprenticeship learning to fold 40 x 30 inch (quad Crown) and 40 x 25 inch (double Royal) sheets into 32page right angle signatures. We used mainly CAMCO (Canadian & American Machinery Company - so I’m told) and Cundall (a small U.K. folding machine manufacturer) all knife machines. Stay safe and well.

[@sky173]

@@markmiwurdz2248 Our shop had Stahl knife folders. The first folders that I worked on in the 70's/80's were 3-knife folders. While the machine was running the first fold was finished in a gate, then every fold thereafter was follow by knife folding. The timing of the knives was done through cams. There were no electronic sensors, except a jam detector. The years after, we switched to roll-away knife folding units. The shops in my area used Stahl and MBO equipment. I don't remember the exact model numbers, but they all run the same with small differences.

[@rickscott2928]

As a Bindery Operator myself I love this content.. Love using MBO folders

[@digitaldan7458]

Great channel, awesome info! I've been in printing all my adult life and have noticed printers have a language of their own. Thanks for your videos :-)

[@justaprinter]

Thanks! Yes we do, I don't notice it by my wife says that I talk a different language. :)

[@rickscott2928]

Update is amazing! I use them for everything

[@danzup3]

Great channel and great videos!! I'm pretty new to printing as a profession and I've been learning so much from your vids. You make them informative and fun. Thank you and keep em' coming!!

[@justaprinter]

Glad to hear it!

[@AlexKidd4Fun]

Yet another great video. Thanks Dan!

[@justaprinter]

You bet!

[@RICARDOLAM2011]

Congratulations, excellent assistant ...! 😊

[@justaprinter]

Thank you! 😃

[@UpdateLTD]

You are welcome for the shirts! We really appreciate you supporting the printing industry.

[@justaprinter]

You bet!

[@miketheprintman]

One trick I sometimes do on trifolds is to back trim the last panel by 1/16th of an inch. That way it tucks in properly. Usually just do that if the customer did not design the panels properly, but it works.

[@markmiwurdz202]

In the U.K. your "trifold" is called a "letter" or "roll fold". So when folding DIN A4 297 x 210 mm. to 1/3rd A4 100 x 210mm. it's good practice to fold the inside panel to 97mm. Then the back and front/title panel to 100mm respectively. This format fits the standard European DL or U.S. Legal (?) sized envelope. Believe it or not, you can trim too much paper off the inside panel. The curve of the fold rollers will caused the inside panel to "stand up"/not lay flat. When you try to fold the cover panel over, you can get the corners of the inside panel folding over - "dog ears" as they are called. A good idea would be to make a small scrape trim off the inside panel on a few sheets and test for the best result.

[@justaprinter]

Agreed, I have done that often!

[@cosmicmike_]

Hi just found your channel and loving it! I work for a B1 printers in the UK. I run a Heidelberg ST350 and Heidelberg Stahl folders. Love the print trade. Keep up the great videos 👍

[@justaprinter]

Will do!

[@markmiwurdz202]

@Just A Printer. Thank you for your explanation of the basic principles of folding. The fundamental difference between buckle folding versus knife folding is as follows. The buckle fold is made while the sheet is moving forward through the machine so it is usually a higher throughput process. With the knife fold, the sheet has to momentarily come to a stop position to register before the knife dips the sheet between the fold rollers. Since the sheet has to stop and change direction, then knife folding is slower. I have some experience in folding very thin paper e.g. bible paper (circa 28gms/m sq). Back then the only folding machines that would fold this weight of paper in sheet size 40 x 25 inches and bigger were all-knife folders. Machines like CAMCO (Canadian & American Machinery Co.) , Cundall (U.K. made) , Bonelli (Italian) were all renowned for folding these lightweight paper stocks. With a careful set-up, if you could get 1500 copies 1-up per hour off these machines folding bible paper, you were doing O.K. It was not unusual to have these folders surrounded by screens to prevent stray draughts from doors and windows causing sheets to lift and jam at the first fold position! I did notice that you do not use the paper strip setting callipers for the fold rollers on your MBO. Do you always set the roller pressures manually for your jobs? Your binder operator is coming on a bundle sir! Stay safe and well.

[@justaprinter]

Wow! That was very interesting. You caught me, I don't think I set the rolller pressure for this job. I know I should but I find that my rollers are so worn that for single fold I don;t bother.

[@bowler1862]

I am building a machine to make origami lol. These videos have tons of information about the subject. Thank you!

[@bowler1862]

I think I’ll need a plow folder for bending corners. Not sure yet tho

[@justaprinter]

That would be cool! Look up folder gluers or envelope making machines for ideas.

[@themadjem]

I worked at a place that printed and mailed credit union statements. We used MBO buckle folders attached to Bell & Howell inserters. On most machines you could fold 3-4 sheets at a time without problems. The well running machines could fold up to 6 sheets at once. Very neat machines, I loved running them.

[@justaprinter]

Interesting. Well engineered machines are fun to run!

[@eonejaya7111]

Reminds my of myself, saturday my son help me operates the cutting sticker machine... 😊

[@daleatkinson3453]

I have found that on a tri-fold brochure that people design on their own, which is fine, just let the computer software like word lay it out for them. And the software doesn't design it right and the normal person just doesn't know it. Thanks for the video. We have an old Bell & Howell buckle folder had it since the early 70. She still runs great. We did have the rollers rebuilt once and I have cleaned the vacuum pump twice but she still keeps running. Anoher good video. Fire brother from Ohio.

[@miketheprintman]

I have an InDesign template that has the third panel just a little short. Whenever I get a new job I drop the PDF into that template to make sure all the panels line up properly before printing. Alternately you can back trim the tail edge about a 1/16th of an inch so that panel tucks inside.

[@justaprinter]

Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@philanderson1200]

I’m thinking about looking into a square spine stitcher. I believe Morgana makes them. I like the way the book will lay flat with larger page count. Thanks for the video Dan

[@justaprinter]

I agreed, those squareback machines are nice!

[@agtgs6872]

Always nice and tidy

[@justaprinter]

I try. Busy times can get messy. :)

[@cygnus3632]

Ah the bane of a print finisher. Designers, designing leaflets and not understanding how it folds

[@justaprinter]

Ugh, seriously!

[@rajeshmani7848]

Nice to see your video sir

[@justaprinter]

Thanks!

[@204jtm]

At my workplace we have 5 Stahl folding stations an a single Stahl knife folder. It only gets used for the final fold of maps and for attaching to the end of one of our Muller saddle stitchers for folding finished stitched books in half, usually for mailing. Some books are quite thick and require a trip though a pressing unit to prevent the book from popping open.

[@justaprinter]

Neat! I wish I could visit everyone at their work. I love print shop tours!

[@markmiwurdz202]

@Jtm 204. When you endorse - fold saddle stitched books for mailing, do you offset/stagger the stitches on the thin(ner) products? We used to do this to reduce the "bump" going through the fold rollers of the mobile knife unit. Also to stop the stitches bursting through the spine and reduce the bulk of the product if it was to be inserted in an envelope. I knew of one company who specialised in this kind of finishing. They had a dedicated endorse fold mobile knife unit where they had the rollers grooved out where the spine/stitches passed through.

[@204jtm]

@@markmiwurdz202 I stagger the stitches on all books thick or thin, it also makes it easier for the person on the end to see that both stitches are there. Over time a groove developed on the rollers and works well for 8-1/2x11 size books which are mostly the size that is folded.

[@markmiwurdz202]

@Jtm 204. Thanks for the reply. A question. How do you stagger the stitches on a Muller Martini line where the books are stitched on the fly?

[@204jtm]

@@markmiwurdz202 the heads on this stitcher are all independent so they can be moved anywhere. It’s quite common to run 4 heads when doing a double digest book with a punch out in the trimmer.

[@princelychafeh6076]

Thanks You just a nice man you help

[@justaprinter]

Thanks!

[@user-uh5nb8js8w]

We have a great alternative to scoring our covers and heavier stock. We got an Aerocut a couple years ago. So, we will take it right from the printer and put it in the aerocut. It cuts and creases the cover in the same spot every time. We found that some stocks tend to crack when we run it back through the machines if we score it. But, for some reason the creaser fixes the issue.

[@MrEklips1]

Uchida aerocuts are BEASTS!

[@justaprinter]

I never heard of that machine. It looks awesome. I'll need to do more research on that!

[@user-uh5nb8js8w]

@@justaprinter What makes that machine even better is we can set it to cut an entire sheet of business cards perfectly. If we have a business card run soon I will record it and send you a private link of it running.

[@justaprinter]

@@user-uh5nb8js8w Thanks!

[@hottscennessey]

Since you mentioned having a pretty standard setup shop I’d like to see a video on what jobs you outsource, who your outsource partners are, how you mark them up and what jobs you pass on and why.

[@justaprinter]

Wow, all great question. That will be a fun video, stay tuned.

[@rickscott2928]

My biggest pet peeve is designers that make tri fold panels all the same size! Or they don't add in bleed then I have to "Make it work"

[@ctecrwp]

Wow...that was a lot informative. The drum you got I believe it's CET brand, I can recognize by packing it's quite good but not as much as OEM.

[@justaprinter]

Thats what I figured. I wasn't going to get my hopes up, but also wanted to try it.

[@ChrysanthsMum]

Great video. Thank you. I always enjoy them. Do you have a video on your opinion of technology’s effect on the printing industry over the years…both positive and negative? Also, the difficulty in finding employees in the field. No issues in layout and design…but printing and post press is a bear.

[@justaprinter]

Wow, two great questions. I'll have to elaborate on that.

[@moderncopies9881]

Dan u are amazing

[@justaprinter]

Thanks!

[@david486038]

I do basic servicing (XPP) on our Xerox's even though we have a contract. Honestly it's not worth servicing a Xerox machine yourself without a contract as its very difficult if not impossible to get service manuals without their special software (Eureka). Finding parts is very hard on the higher end machines and you'll often pay a much higher price in the long run. Higher end Xerox machines are really geared for purchasing on a service contract. Although some of the entry level models are fairly simple on repairs and often cheaper on consumables.

[@justaprinter]

Agreed!

[@NuthinFancyCollectibles]

I only watched this video so far and I’m hooked. New subscriber. Nice Bizhub. It appears that you are doing a lot of your own service. Kudos to you.

[@justaprinter]

Welcome aboard!

[@leonperumal7597]

Always great to watch your videos, please can you tell me which digital creasing and folding machine (time 9:30) do you use? im in the market for one but cant make my mind up. Leaning towards a Morgana but the prices are crazy at the moment. Keep the videos coming

[@justaprinter]

I have a Morgana

[@claytonwade3570]

@justaprinter does different paper materials have an impact on how paper folds in a buckle folding machine?

[@BeatsByBendiksen]

It’s pretty hard to maintenance Xerox machines these days without have the service agreement with them. Even toner and drum cadridge is hard to get. The microchip in the toner does that you can’t even buy non original toner. That is for their Primekink, Versant, Iridesse, Igen etc. models. I guess it can work on Workcenter, Altalink series and so on. But they are just office machines..

[@justaprinter]

Good point. I could track down parts for my xerox 3535 back in the day, but there are many more options to buy Konica parts.

[@user-jt5vm3mi1w]

Yeah we have to buy these dodgy chips off Ebay just to run our own printer

[@RaymondReise]

I feel the same a about charging batteries, I´m a videographer so I have a lot of diferent kind of batteries so yeah, It would be easier to let them charge over night but no... I don´t want my office catching fire and loose my busines for a simple batery...

[@carlstereway4327]

Great video! I was wondering how do you do a Half fold after you've done the tri fold to create a brochure.

[@justaprinter]

I use the right angle attachment on my MBO folder.

[@carlstereway4327]

@@justaprinter anyway you could do a video next time you get the chance, would love to see how that works. Keep up the great work.

[@justaprinter]

@@carlstereway4327 Sure, I can do that. Thanks!

[@carlstereway4327]

@@justaprinter I really appreciate that. I’m also very interested in printing. It’s just amazing what humans can create. Printing will always exist as long as we live in the physical world. Would you agree?

[@iMaximus82]

Умные вещи глаголишь. Твоими устами да нашим бы клиентам всё обяснять! )

[@justaprinter]

Спасибо!

[@zagoaristides]

Bro, you're awsome! I want to know if that all in one Binder/trimmer machine worth the price in velocity, etc...

[@justaprinter]

Absolutely, but you need to keep it running!

Love from india

[@aman77rao20]

Hello sir which machine do u have

[@justaprinter]

Thanks for watching!

[@g.a.anderson5053]

Hi, love your videos! I have my employees watch them. Currently we have two Kmbs 6136. We cannot get toner! Some shortage. What would be your thoughts on buying kmbs toner for, say, a 1250 and refilling our old cartridges for our 6136’s? Or any other thoughts you may have on this? Thank you!

[@justaprinter]

As long as toners are the same inside. I have heard others say they do that with similar machines. Do what you need to do, but it could be bad if they were not compatible.

[@JonJonNeddo]

Dan, what company did you get that drum kit from? The 6500 needs a black drum.

[@justaprinter]

I got it on ebay. I wouldn't recommend it. OEM is best.

[@aman77rao20]

Sir pls let me know from where do u get ur toners and all

[@justaprinter]

I google the part number and buy from multiple websites

[@oliveirareinaldo5306]

Hey! Hi! I received the information that Konica's DU-104 DRUM has been discontinued! Do you know any other drum code that could replace it?

[@justaprinter]

Thats news to me. There are rebuild kits out there. That news is hard to believe!

[@ReggattaZenyatta]

The 1200 has more than 24 Million clicks on the counter? Wow - that's awesome! Is that one click no matter what page size? We had a KM 1200 some years ago but always had problems with the machine (toner dust on coated paper stock etc.). We're running our b/w stuff on a PRO 1100 now and are pretty happy with this one.

[@justaprinter]

Yes, I want to see how high it will go. :) That is for any page size, however I mostly print 11x17 or 12x18. I'd love to see it hit 30 million.

[@ReggattaZenyatta]

@@justaprinter Good luck then! But I don't think this is going to be a problem for you ;-D

[@PatrickDKing]

@@justaprinter It will!

[@jj2560]

Question about your press, is there a way to turn down the glossy shine some on the print?

[@justaprinter]

Not really, You can lower the fuser pressure, but thats about it.

[@jj2560]

Thanks. We are looking at a 14000. But my people don’t like the shiny print.

[@justaprinter]

@@jj2560 Yes, I have had some people complain about that too.

[@PeterChanJr]

hey there, I am looking to get some planners created. I am getting them done in china. But realized that the shipping times are not really worth it. Was wondering if you could create them for me or if you know anyone in the states that you can refer me to. Thanks

[@justaprinter]

Search for a printer near you. I'm sure they would love the business.

[@j04.05]

Hi bro I want to ask you I want to start small business copy and print business card &flyer& brocher&sticker Which print is good ? low cost ink &high Qulity print color

[@justaprinter]

I like the Konica Machines, however you can probably make just about any brand name work. Find whats available near you.

[@aman77rao20]

Hello sir Aman here from India I am having a canon image press c6010 I am not able to get spares here in India any other options to get spairs from ur place even generic will work From where do u get the generic spares

[@aman77rao20]

Hello sir any updates 😔

[@justaprinter]

I buy when they come available. Or search internet for what I need.

[@williamhuang5329]

Hanzhen harmonic drive gear , robot gear , over 30 years experience

[@justaprinter]

Nice!

[@yoelyyakob7408]

were can i buy wholesale paper?

[@justaprinter]

Not sure, I would love to do that too!

[@khaledbella2522]

hi sir, i have a little problem in my C3070L, how can i contact you if you can help me, please ?

[@justaprinter]

I'm don't know too much. You can email me at [e-mail]

[@justvisi]

i like your explanations, very easy to understand. i have been working for 16 years. can you find me a job, i will show you what i can do, i have videos

[@an_what]

In your video program that you do your videos on ya go in there and turn the f****** volume down😂 no seriously you want to blow a f****** eardrums out

[@justaprinter]

My apologies to you and your ear drums. I’ll do better.