Much less technological R&D effort has been directed towards the issue of binding. While there are several short-run adhesive binders suitable for on-demand bookbinding, they are intended only for softback or paperback binding and there is almost nothing aimed at the burgeoning market for on-demand hardback book binding. So Maping’s Fastbind Casematic range of table-top casemakers is a cause for some celebration among on-demand book printers.

It’s not that there has been no demand for single copies or ultra-short runs of hardcover books before now: student theses have been the backbone of this market for decades. Moving with the times, several trade bookbinders now offer an online ordering facility for thesis binding, with options ranging from two hours with cloth binding up to six days’ turnround and fine leather with foil binding.

But all these tomes have previously been hand-bound, a highly-skilled process using brushes dipped in PVA and special tools for rounding, smoothing and nipping. Because the run is often as short as just a single copy, using a machine has just not been feasible.

Enthusiastic reception
Finnish company Maping (pronounced “mapping”) launched its first Fastbind Casematic, an A4 model, at the end of last year, and brought it, together with the A3 Casematic XT, to Ipex in April where it was received “with enthusiasm”, according to John Price, managing director of Maping’s UK agent Ashgate Automation. Since Ipex, Price has sold seven machines to UK printers, “mainly to digital printers, but they’re doing some surprisingly long runs on it”, he says.

The A3 size of the XT has also attracted interest from photographers keen to produce albums where photos are printed directly onto the page, rather than mounted in pre-bound books. “We’re also seeing one printer using the extra size to offer an outsize book-on-demand service,” adds Price.

The Casematic casemakers are manual machines that do not require setting up because all registration, sizing and other parameters are done either by eye or with the aid of one of the included templates. Hence book production can be easily varied on a book-by-book basis.

The case begins life as a cover, self-adhesive on one side, that is usually printed by a digital press (but which can also be leather or cloth). Maping supplies the self-adhesive cover stock for either laser or inkjet printers. The cover is then usually laminated for durability, using a separate laminator.

After lamination, the cover is placed on the Casematic’s bed, which is basically a moderately-sized light table, and pre-printed registration marks are set to a template laid on the bed. The light table and registration mark system is used rather than a sidelay or other guide-based equivalent, in deference to the fact that digital print is notoriously inaccurate in its image placement on the sheet: if the cover were registered to its edges, there’s a good chance the spine might be off-centre by a millimetre or more. (Bookbinders using leather or cloth should note, though, that there is also a sidelay and backstop for opaque materials.)

Via a tiny compressor, the Casematic’s bed activates two suction cups that hold the cover in place – this is particularly useful for digitally printed, laminated sheets whose tendency to curl is well known. The operator then positions a front, back and spine section of greyboard into the clamp unit and lowers it onto the self-adhesive cover reverse.

Following this, the corners of the cover are cut off at a 45° angle using a jig on the side of the machine; then the cover’s edges are folded back over the greyboard using a set of motorised rollers at the front edge of the machine: these are activated by a footswitch. It only remains to apply an endpaper to each inside cover, and the case is ready to head towards the perfect binder, where it will be applied to the book block and nipped into place.

If the process sounds slow and labour intensive, it is. The Casematics are basically an assemblage of several different mechanical casemaking tools in a single tabletop workstation. But in the hands of a practised operator Ashgate quotes an “achievable, realistic” production speed of 100 cases an hour. This assumes that greyboards have been cut to size, and the cover has been pre-laminated.

One unusual attribute of the Casematic casemakers is their ability to produce lightweight board CD cases. The process is basically identical, but the mounting template is switched for a different format, with different gutters between the greyboards, and a plastic CD holding tray is mounted on the inside back cover.

Casemaking production line
A third Casematic in the series, the “Lite” version, basically comes without the corner cutter and the rollers for cover edge folding. Ashgate has not sold one yet in the UK and does not expect to. “Printers here prefer them to be fully spec’d up,” says Price. As for options for the Casematic and the XT, there’s just the one: extra spine guides to help with making CD cases.

The Casematic binders come as part of an overall package that can be as minimal or wide as the printer wants. Because the case-binding process involves cutting, laminating, casemaking and perfect binding, Ashgate offers a set of machines designed to work as a casemaking production line. An Ideal, Horizon or EBA guillotine will cut the greyboard to size, while a D&K Pulsar desktop laminator will laminate the
covers, and the book block itself can be bound by any one of Maping’s own Fastbind tabletop adhesive binders.

Binding materials, such as the self-adhesive cover, endpapers and laminating film, can also be supplied as part of the package. But Ashgate does not supply greyboards because printers “tend to prefer to source these from their paper merchant”, explains Price.

Maping’s prices are not cheap, but they’re also not astronomical: for an A4 book, a box of 50 covers is £38, while the endpapers cost £33 for 100 (ie, 50 books). The consumables price is, in any case, not particularly sensitive – as Price points out, on-demand printing of books is not a commodity market like general offset print, and the undeniable virtues of on-demand can still be charged at a premium.

The Casematics straddle the divide between on-demand, ultra-short-run and short-run book printing, and Price believes they have a bright future in the UK. “In this part of the bookbinding sector, binding has traditionally been done by hand, so anything that speeds it up and doesn’t rely too much on skill is going to be useful. The Casematics are going to find homes in lots of different places, for lots of applications,” he says.

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SPECIFICATIONS
Max book length x width
• Casematic: 302x240mm
• Casematic XT: 455x320mm
Min book length x width
• Any
Max spine thickness
• 50mm
Max speed
• 100 cases per hour
Price
• Casematic: £2,540
• Casematic XT: £2,795
Contact
• Ashgate Automation 0800 169 7521 www.ashgate-automation.co.uk

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THE ALTERNATIVES
Hand bookbinding
Not a machine, but the closest alternative to using a Casematic. Blissett Bookbinders in Acton can handle anything from a single copy up to runs of 250 books using traditional hand-binding techniques. Book blocks have PVA adhesive applied by hand using a double fanning technique, are then rounded and backed and given a lining to the spine for added strength and shape retention. Cases can be made from cloths, buckrams, leather and simulated leathers, and Blissett will also provide endsheets and headbands if required.
Max book length x width Any
Max spine thickness Any
Max speed From a six-hour service up to 48 hours
Price From £18 for one copy
Contact Blissett Bookbinders 020 8992 3965 www.blissetts.com

Bielomatik BookMaster 360
Bielomatik’s Bookmaster is not really an alternative to the Casematic in any comparable sense – it is simply another way of making a casebound book on-demand. It’s essentially an all-singing, all-dancing automated hard-case binding line incorporating the whole nine yards of case-bound production. In automation, cost, footprint and return on investment it’s a completely different proposition from the Casematic. There are currently none installed in the UK. Information from Bielomatik or UK agent Friedheim International is thin on the ground, but the Bookmaster is essentially a one-pass line with up to eight different process units combining the functions of adhesive binding, casemaking and case binding. It’s completely automated, which means there is no set-up time, and each book through the line can be completely different. Each book’s parameters are programmed into the front-end, and the line sets its own guides, lays, clamps and so on. It will match the maximum book
format of the Casematics.
Max book length x width 320x250mm
Max spine thickness 60mm
Max speed 360 books per hour
Price Not supplied
Contact Friedheim International 01442 206100 www.friedheim.co.uk