subject: What's Great - and Not So Great - About the DFG Coil Ultimate E Binding Machine [print this page] What's Great - and Not So Great - About the DFG Coil Ultimate E Binding Machine
Coil binding is a terrific document finishing method and there are a lot of great machines available that can help you produce professional-looking documents. One of the newest coil binders available is the Coil Ultimate E from DFG. We recently took a look at this product to find out what's great - and not so great - about it. Here's what we discovered....
What's great:
The Ultimate E has an excellent punching capacity. It's capable of punching up to 30 sheets at a time so you'll be able to get your documents prepared in very little time. The punch is operated by a foot pedal so you can keep your hands free.
All of this machine's punching dies are disengageable and it has an open punching throat. This will enable you to work with documents of different sizes. You definitely won't be limited to working with letter-sized paper which will give you a lot of flexibility.
You can adjust both the side and punching margins. This will help you punch your paper as accurately as possible.
This device is compatible with color coils of all sizes (More on that in a moment.) These supplies are available in dozens of colors and can bind documents that are up to 440 pages long.
The Ultimate E is equipped with an electric coil inserter to make things easier. (This is also known as the SERVOGROVE binding system.) When you use the inserter, you can bind books that contain up to 7/8" thick. If you want to bind documents larger than that, you can do so manually.
This machine has been designed so it won't jam up during use. This applies whether you're punching or binding.
Overall, the Ultimate E is extremely well-constructed. Its punching dies are made out of solid steel and the body has been fashioned out of die cast metal. There aren't many other coil binding machines that are as well-made as this one.
This machine comes with a one-year warranty and a pair of crimping pliers. You'll need the pliers to finish off your documents so make sure you hang on to them.
What's not so great:
The Ultimate E is one of the bulkier machines on the market. Its has dimensions of 21" x 19" x 14" and it weighs 60 pounds. This is definitely not a lightweight device.
It would be nice if the electric inserter could handle all coil sizes, but that's a minor complaint since it will handle supplies up to 7/8".
From reading this article, it's pretty clear that the DFG Coil Ultimate E only has a couple of drawbacks, namely its rather imposing size. However, the drawbacks are outnumbered by everything that's great about this device from its punching capacity to its all-metal construction. This is a sturdy machine that will help you punch and bind all of your documents, and give you great results consistently. If coil binding is your thing, look at the Ultimate E today.
