subject: Reviewing The Akiles Duomac 431 Combination 4:1 Pitch Coil And 3:1 Pitch Wire Binding Machine [print this page] The Akiles DuoMac 431 is designed to provide businesses and organizations with a single machine that can produce up to four different styles of documents. Here is a list of the strengths and weaknesses of the DuoMac 431 as we see them.
Strengths:
1.) The DuoMac 431 features two different punching throats. One produces a four to one pitch round pattern, and the other, a three to one square hole. The four to one pattern is used for spiral coil binding and the three to one can be used with twin loop wire, spiral coil, and GBC Proclick binding spines. All told, it is possible to bind your documents using four different styles with the DuoMac 431, and we consider that to be some pretty nice diversity for a combination binding system machine at this price point.)
2.) On the four to one side of things, you will find an open throat design that features five disengageable dies that are placed in a way that makes it possible to punch paper that is letter, A4, A5, and half-letter sized. You can then put these documents together using spiral coil. The three to one side also features an open throat, but on this side you will find fully disengageable dies that allow for any pattern you choose, and for any length of paper up to fourteen inches. In fact with either punching mechanism, you can punch documents of virtually any length is using a two punch process. All the user needs to do is to punch one side, flip the book over, and punch the other side. To make this easy and more accurate, there is a continuous punching guide on the side of the machine.
3.) While they are only a thirty dollar value, the inclusion of high quality crimping pliers is a big plus. Inexperienced users might otherwise not be aware of how very important it is to crimp the ends of your spiral coil so that the coils will not twist off the booklet entirely.
4.) The depth of punch margin control is also a great feature and will help you ensure that your documents are both durable and usable by keeping the pages from being easily torn off. Larger documents, for example require that punches be made further from the edge of the sheets, and smaller sized documents are best served with holes that are closer to the edge.
5.) We found the wire closer that is at the front of the DuoMac 431 to be of a very high quality, and see no reason why it shouldn't stay accurate after many years of use. We also found the wire hanger very useful.
Weaknesses:
1.) For all its strengths, we do wish that the DuoMac 431 included a spiral coil inserter. Akiles recommends that this machine be paired with their Roll @ Coil for that purpose. The Roll @ Coil is not a terribly expensive machine, but the extra expense is something that you should be aware of, unless you want to end up inserting your wire spines by hand.
by: Jeffrey McRitchie
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