July 2007- Additional Otabind Applications

A few months ago, we detailed how the patented Otabind layflat adhesive binding method could uniquely benefit products such as music books and cookbooks. At Muscle Bound, we constantly see new ways printers and designers choose to use Otabind. Here are a couple additional applications that make use of Otabind:

Multimedia Projects
An increasing number of printed materials now include some form of digital media content, such as a CD or DVD disc. With this increase in popularity has come an increase in the available methods for including these materials in bound books.

Solutions such as plastic or paper fiber CD sleeves allow discs to be bound with the rest of the text block – a much more efficient solution that hand-affixing sleeves to the inside covers of books.

Multiple-Up Applications
One of the advantages of Otabind is it allows books of almost any size and format to lay completely flat. Even small-format applications such as pocket calendars and journals can be produced efficiently using the Otabind method. Multiple-up layouts can allow several books to be bound and trimmed in one pass and split offline with no loss of layflat capabilities.

Planning Tips
Knock out inks and coatings – To maximize adhesion, be sure to knock out inks and coatings at least 7/16” from the spine on both the first and last pages of the book block. This will also need to be done with the same dimensions on the inside covers if they contain inks and coatings.

Keep grain parallel to the spine – One of the surest ways to maximize the flexibility and longevity of an Otabind book is to ensure the grain direction of signature and cover paper stocks are parallel to the spine. Although the spines of Otabind books don’t suffer the same stress as those of perfect-bound books, spine-parallel grain direction helps avoid unsightly waviness at the hinges in the spine of the cover and in the gutter on the text, along with increased adhesion strength.

The Muscle Bound Advantage
At Muscle Bound Bindery, we’ve been offering customers the best of both binding worlds with Otabind since its inception decades ago. As one of the country’s foremost producers of Otabind books, we offer a wide variety of trim size and book thickness possibilities. We also offer high-quality perfect binding, case binding, library binding, folding, shrink wrapping, laminating and more. Give us a call today to begin planning your next successful project.