SPIEL ASSOCIATES marked the 10th anniversary of their invention of the first automatic plastic coil binder: The STERLING® COILMASTER, celebrating with their Coilmaster customers at Graph Expo in Chicago. The company held a champagne reception at the end of each show day. "It was also our 40th Chicago show so I thought we'd celebrate,"says David Spiel. "It's a sobering thought that 10 years ago plastic coil could only be inserted manually. So we broke out the bubbly."

In 1996, SPIEL ASSOCIATES found a need for automatic plastic coil inserters. "All of our customers were complaining about the labor intensiveness of coil binding," says Norton Spiel. "In January 1997 we all came back from vacation and visited E & M Bindery to see how the first Coilmaster was operating. It blew us away," delares Saul Spiel. "It was running at about 500 BPH and it was not a thin book, it was 3/4". "The first Coilmaster had no spreader. This meant that the margin (the distance between the first hole & the head or foot of the book) could not exceed the bridge (the distance between the holes).

A SPREADER IS BORN
"Sometimes the margins were so razor thin, the job was rejected," states Saul Spiel. "We knew we had to come up with something and rather than have everyone buy brand new dies and hope that the pattern fit within the confines of the book, we came up with a spreading device." This patented device causes the coil to jump into the first and out of the last hole, even if the margin is larger than the pitch. The spreader caused a quantum leap in the quality of the books. Binders no longer had to trim the books down, use oval holes, or punch close to the edge as they had in the past or have to do now with other coil machines."

IN-LINE SAVINGS
Now that binding the book was solved, SPIEL partnered with PVC SPIRAL SUPPLY to build an economical coilformer to work in-line with the Coilmaster. The COILMASTER II PLASTIC COIL BINDING SYSTEM debuted at Graph Expo in 1999.

WHAT'S NEW?
The Coilmaster® III includes all the innovations developed by Spiel Associates throughout the years as well as a sleek new design. The machine can now bind books using up to a 40mm diameter coil. The newest addition to the Coilmaster family is the Coilmaster Junior. This made it's debut at Graph Expo in 2006. "This machine is designed for shorter runs." It's a table top inserter that's automatic. Just put the coil in the chute and let it fly," says Michael Spiel. "Our customers are getting upwards of 500 books per hour and it has the same benefits as The Coilmaster III in that the coil is spread automatically. You can use any pitch: 4:1, .2475, 6mm and you can use round or oval holes. Also, the machine is small enough to fit on your desk."

INDUSTRY FEEDBACK
Mike Lane of Tabs Plus in Auburn WA purchased one of the first Coilmaster Junior; "Being able to run 4:1 was a big selling point since I didn't have to replace $15,000 worth of dies and not all of my customers like those really big holes that you have to use on other machines. Also there's nothing else out there where you have to punch so close to the edge, especially in this price range. I especially appreciate all the free upgrades I have been given by Spiel as the machine has improved."

Brian Dyer of Keys Printing/Consolidated Graphics in Geenville, SC had this to say; "You can tell that the machine is built well just by listening to it. We bound ten thousand books in the first two weeks of owning it."

SPIEL ASSOCIATES invites you to their booth, #366 at ON DEMAND, March 4-6th or visit their NYC showroom. Call them at 718-392-7900 for a brochure or see the Coilmaster Jr. on line at: www.spielassociates.com