Binditek Thermal Binding Machine, 500-Sheet Capacity, 110V Heating, for A4/A5/Letter Documents, Universal Thermal Binding Machine, No Assembly Required

After a basement flood that forced us to go through a LOT of storage items, my adult children and I found all sorts of poems, short stories, drawings, etc. that they had written/made when they were young children. Everything we've found so far is in old, worn binders or just haphazardly thrown in boxes/crates. I got this so that I could bind each child's works into a keepsake for them. Have I done that yet? Heck no. But I have used this binding machine for a church project/Christmas gift for the youth I serve in our congregation. After making 30 books, I have adults who now want a copy of what I wrote and bound "If you do another run." I told them I did it all myself, no publishing "run" and they were shocked. Maybe someday I'll have enough pages of something to try binding in hardback, which I haven't done yet. But for the soft cover projects? This has been exactly what I needed.

Heavy construction. All metal. Instructions not all that great as terms change.

So far so good. It works pretty slick.

This produces excellent binding quality and the encourage the vendor to offer supplies suitable for thick book binding

I was so hesitant to try this out; it seemed so intimidating, but I am happy to report it is the simplest thing in the world. The instructions are easy to understand and have each part labeled, but honestly even if it didn't, the machine itself is very intuitive. It comes with a variety of sizes of document holders to practice with. It's super simple - you pick the best size based on how many pages you are including, make sure they're all lined up against the glue strips inside, and turn the machine on. Let it preheat, adjust the time as needed (most documents are fine at 60 seconds but for thicker pages or more pages you can go higher), and let it work. It will beep when it's done, and then you just put the booklet in the back resting area for it to cool. I found that doing that helps it bind better when you let it rest binding side down so the pages kind of "sink" into it. I made around ~9 books my very first time using it and it was super easy to do. They seem to be held together well and were a huge help. There was one that I even needed to rebind, and it was as easy as heating it up again and taking the pages out while it was still hot. It re-binded with no issues. I love this machine and will be using it to make all kinds of goodies! I can't wait.

If I’m basing my rating on the product description which is 100% accurate, this should get a five star rating. It’s metal, not cheap plastic, it includes 10 covers to get you started. I needed more than 10 covers. I invested in Cloth Bookbinding tape and Thermal Glue Strip. I had a 30 page document. Using the thermal binding machine is okay but not impressive. The document I produced was described as frail, easy for the pages to be unglued. I would have returned the machine except I used some of the covers. I’m giving this a one star rating. This machine did not match my needs. I spent time searching Amazon, lots of other options than this binding machine. At the end I used an awl, dental floss and the cloth bookbinding tape.

I homeschool my 5 kids, and so recently I bought a spiral binding machine. LOVE IT! It's really not that high tech, but you can't spiral bind without being able to punch the correctly spaced and sized holes, so it's definitely required. Also there are some adjustments that make it suitable for different sized pages, so I can even punch small little booklets for them. So nice. As a result of doing my own spiral binding for my family, I've begun spiral binding for my homeschool friends as well. It's a nice way to make the machine have a little extra value--and I can do it way more afffordably than even Staples, and way faster than one of the online homeschool binding companies (nothing against them--they're just super busy). When I saw this, I thought it would be great in addition to the spiral binding machine. I've always been into bookmaking, and in college as a PR major I was pretty obsessed with having super professional looking reports to turn in. This thermal binder tracks with that past. I wanted something that was a little more... permanent, for certain applications. A lot of homeschool material is WAY cheaper to print at home, but if you don't bind it you will end up with 5000 pieces of loose paper. Trust me I've been there. The thermal binder works pretty well, but I have found that letting it sit through two cycles works better than just one. You also have to be careful getting the right sized cover for your material. Thankfully it comes with several sizes, and there is reference right on the front of the machine. It's really easy use and works great. Once bound and cooled, it is easy to have your books lay flat. Most recently I bound a printable set of CVC worksheets for my young son. I was worried it would interfere with his writing, but so far it hasn't at all, and the pages lie nice and flat for him. I did try to bind a larger booklet for my older daughter, and I thought I put in the correctly sized cover, however the cover was too small and while it did technically all bind, the pages weren't all flush with the cover and ended up a bit wonky. Not a problem of the machine, just a beginner's error. All it all, it works really well, and I am excited to continue to use it. It's actually a lot easier to use than a spiral binder, so if everything sticks well, I may end up using this more than the spiral binder. But the spiral binder also has great uses that just can't be understated. I look forward to using this more and getting some larger covers so I can bind and protect bigger files.

Will never make good books the glue won’t work. The papers fall out