Side by Side Comparison of: TruBind

I love Love LOVE my new binder! As a home school mom, it helps me organize and "professionalize" our school work. I use it to make school workbooks easier to use by spiral binding them instead of traditional binding. I have also used it to spiral bind school books purchased as downloads. I have only had the binder for a short time, but I really love it so far.

I find this machine to be superior to fancier models based on it's durability. While others have plenty of bells and whistles, I find that these are not necessary and sometimes so superfluous to manual ring-spinning for example that I wouldn't even recommend them. Save your money on silly add-ons and just do this basic yet functional machine. It's lasted me project and project and still going. I highly recommend.

So happy to finally have this! I wish these machines didn't cost so much, but I patiently waited for this one to go below $100, and my patience paid off. I love it! It works well. The first few punches left a black residue, but after that, each page was clean. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box and discovered that a crimper/cutter came with it.

Man this thing is addictive. Should come with a warning label: do not use if you are prone to procrastination and have OCD tendencies. You'll organize and tab and bind everything instead of actually working.Don't bother with the electric bind. It's just a motorized wheel that spins the spiral binding on. You can do it by hand in a few seconds without any trouble. Oh and don't throw out the box until you find the pair of crimping pliers hidden inside. Almost did that.

 I bought the TruBInd TB-S20 to bind our new 294 page guides. We have a laminated front and back cover that we punched on the machine as well as all of the inside pages. I couldn't be happier. I attached a video to show how easily the 1" spines went into the guide. I hope this helps anyone who is considering buying the machine.

I recommend this coil binding machine for anyone doing self publishing. It pays for itself with only a few books. Easy to use. Sturdy Maxine & clean hole punches. It makes the binding process quick and professional. There was no residue on the pages including the first few pages I punched for trial use. Great item. It was definitely worth the investment to purchase.

This is a great binding machine for the cost. I have been using a GBC binder for decades. The wire binding is much nicer and the TruBind TB-S20A Coil Binding Machine is easy to use. The puncher works well though it would be nice if it punched more pages, though not an issue. The coil spinning wheel does go fast but it only took a minute to figure out how to easily use it. Some manual guidance for the coil is necessary, but that is to be expected. It does get the job done. I highly recommend this binding machine for those who make a few booklets or manuals daily. It might be hard to use and time consuming for mass production.

This machine works wonderfully. I was going to fedex/kinko's to have them bind my work. That gets to be very expensive. I am very glad I invested in this binding machine. I am still trying to get the hang of the electric coiling, but even not using that and doing it by hand is very quick. I purchased several sizes of coils and clear and black plastic covers. If you do a lot of binding or projects, this is a great investment.

We were spending thousands of dollars every quarter to have FedEx/Kinkos print and bind football playbooks. I ordered this machine and am now able to make $3000 worth of playbooks from FedEx/Kinkos for just $300 including printing and supplies. I would like to note that we are a large program, so we have interns and a Xerox machine and with very inexpensive printing charges. However, if you compare your costs, it is likely that this will be a cheaper alternative for you too. Puncher is very easy to use. I prefer to hand coil, but the electronic coiling is an option. Once printed, I could punch and bind a 100 page notebook in about 2 minutes. Plus you can make notebooks and presentations on your own schedule - great for immediate deadlines and last minute business meetings

I bought this to punch calendars for our new line of themes we just released. It works great. We use 42lb and 60lb stock. I can do 4-5 42lb sheets at a time or 2 of the 60lb sheets, which I use for the cover. I don't advise trying to do more, as you sill over stress the mechanism and be fighting it the whole way in and out of the paper. It's not worth what you might consider to be time savings to possibly get your pages stuck in the assembly. It is serving its purpose nicely. I haven't tried the power feeder for the spiral bindings, as I find I can spin one into a calendar in under 10 seconds by hand.

I have been really happy with this binding machine. I like to read out of print books that I find on Google Books and elsewhere, but I prefer them in printed format where I can highlight and write old fashioned notes in the margin (yeah, I know you can do this on Kindle, but it is just not the same as having a book in your hands).In any event, the spiral binding makes it a lot easier to read the book, and this machine works perfectly.BTW . . . don't buy the special pliers for crimping the ends of the spirals . . . this machine comes with it!!Also, for what its worth, I have a Brother 8950 DW copier/printer that works great for two sided printing and I have a "Perfect Guillotine Paper Cutter" for trimming before binding. Makes a great combination for professional results. Also when printing an old yellowed Google Book file, I open it in the Mac ColorSync Utility and choose the black and white filter so that it does not waste toner by printing the entire background in gray.

I own a full printshop and this machine is quite amazing, I actually bought two of them and they have lastest way longer then my other one that I spent over $1k. GREAT BUY AND GREAT PRICE!

I've only used it once but it does the job! Four stars because as a few other reviews mentioned, it is leaving a greasy type residue after it punches. It doesn't bother me as I just keep a scrap sheet on top of whatever I punch and it's fine. The greasy marks aren't going through.

Wish I could better adjust placement of the holes. It would be perfect IF I could remove pins as needed. Not the smoothest operation, but it works, so why complain at that price!

This machine does not provide full support for A4 paper size. This only makes maximum of 43 holes which are enough for letter(11") size. For A4, normally 46 holes are required for professional quality. This machine only allows feeding A4 paper size through adjusting side guide, but still makes only 43 holes.

just what I needed to make covers for my planner

It's an overpriced hole-puncher but I get my work done with it. I gave it 4-stars because it's just a hole-puncher.

It works!

This cool binding machine is great for small projects! I had a slight bit of trouble with aligning the margin of the die punches for the size of paper I was using, but it was easy to correct after some trial and error. The coil threader on top of the machine is a little touchy, but that's also something that I was able to pick up quickly. For the price, you really can't beat the value. The project I had purchased this for was for 150 spiral bound booklets, 12 pages thick made from heavy cardstock. Since the machine is designed for thinner paper, we did 6 pages at a time punching the holes, and all 12 pages together when inserting the coil.

This machine works great and lets us produce professional looking books for training and other corporate presentations. It is easy to use and the supplies are readily available and reasonably priced. I like this spiral type binding much better than the thermal or GVC types bindings I have used in the past. Note that a coil crimper is included, so don't buy one separately!A couple of downsides that caused me to give 4 instead of 5 stars:1. The rollers to spin the spiral binding coil into the sheets run very fast and it takes quite a bit of practice to get the coil in without a misfeed.2. The machine comes with no useful instructions. It is not too hard to figure out, but I did need to use YouTube to learn how to use the coil crimper effectively

A little sketchy in the hole placements.. good if you don't have to adjust often. Sturdy.. I was actually sent the higher model, which might have been by accident (it has oval holes rather than circle, and sells for a bit more).It does the job and I'm happy. It is tricky to store away when not in use, but if you have a table it can stay on, it's alright.

The page capacity and hole-punching mechanism are the greatest features of this binding machine - the large handle makes it easier to punch out several sheets at a time (a lot of force isn't needed). I do agree with other reviewers who mention that the rotating rubber mechanism on the top is extremely fast (possibly too fast). I find myself to be able to figure things out pretty quickly, but I'm still having difficulties using the rotating rubber part to automatically insert the spiralized spine. Honestly speaking, it won't take much time to insert the spine manually. Also, please note - this set comes with crimpers, so save yourself $20+ and do NOT order is separately. Also, the only reason this unit comes with a power cord is to power up the rotating rubber part, so you don't even need to plug it in if you plan on primarily using this to punch holes.

This is a great machine! I love making books & this is the best priced macine out there that will punch 20 sheets (40 page numbers). I needed to make almost 100 books this month, & by the time I took it somewhere to do, I can pay for this machine, & make all the books I want. It is easier sometimes to just put the bindings on by hand, the electric roller doesn't always work very easily, it could be how I hold the book when trying to use it, but it doesn't always want to get the coil through all the sheets of paper, then I have to back it out part way & try again. Takes less time or same amount to do it by hand.

a way overpriced paper punch

Misleading description for this machine even though EVERY website says the same thing. Electric coil binding by this machine takes a MAXIMUM of 7/8" diameter coil....if you want to go bigger (i.e. the 2" it says it does) you will be doing it MANUALLY....and killing yourself if you have a lot of things to bind.

Was hoping for something a bit more sturdy... It punches only 2 or 3 sheets of 80lb weight cover stock at a time... Which is not equivalent to 2o sheets of 20lb paper... But it works ok. One big concern I have is that the dies leave a really gross residue on all the pages you punch around the holes... Grease I assume... But it didn't go away after 220 sheets and some test sheets... So I'm less than satisfied there...

The S20A is a great little binding machine, however the electric spinner to prone to easy damage with minor use. It's not attached really well and the plastic holding it in is not incredibly strong. I recommend hand-spinning and using the significantly cheaper TB-S20. It's not worth the extra money.

Not very sturdy, parts start to fail an broke. Perfect for very light work (home use).

When plugged in, this machine works when it wants to. I have only been using it as a hole punch. I do not use it to bind the coils through the holes, I do that by hand, because the machine only works when it wants.

I want to give this product a five-star review but I just can't! I purchased this one above others because I liked the idea of the "electric coil inserter." But.. you guys.. it's a roller on crack! It seriously spins faster than NASCAR tires. Trying to get a coil to go into your pages is an exercise in frustration. I tried maybe a dozen times, then I gave up and started spinning them by hand.So that's fine, I just use it to punch the holes. But I'm just disappointed that I got it mainly because it advertised the electric coil inserter and it's totally out of control.Maybe it works on very small books. My workbook that I bind is 55 pages. I love another reviewer's suggestion of adding a speed setting to this sucker. It's just way too fast, in my opinion.ALSO! This machine comes WITH the little crimpers, so when Amazon shows you that you should buy them with the machine, don't! I still don't see it mentioned anywhere in this item's description but mine came with the crimpers, so I had to send back the crimpers I bought with the machine and lost $8 on my refund for the shipping.I now have my workbooks professionally printed and bound, but I love knowing that I have the tools to do it myself at home if need be. For the price I paid ~$150, it was still a good value for the usefulness it provides to me.

The machine itself seems to do the job. The case is plastic but seems substantial. The problem we had is that the power supply that came with it to power the coil inserter died after plugging it into the wall. Before I had a chance to plug it into the machine, the power supply gave two loud pops and the light went out. Since our only option was to return the entire package, I found a 12V supply to use with the machine. What puzzles me is that every power supply like this one that I have ever seen has come with a label with FCC approval UL approval and country of origin with input and output values. The supply that came with the TruBind unit had no label whatsoever, not even a voltage rating. Pretty poor. The machine came with very limited instructions. Glad I found a video on youtube showing use of the coil inserter.

The spinning wheel on the top is WAY TOO FAST to be usable. Over 50% of the time it misses pages or pulls the coil into itself, ruining part of the coil. It goes so darned fast, it even shot a coil right up under my fingernail like bamboo torture. Oh my God, that hurt. I'd file for workers comp if I wasn't the owner of the company! This machine would be WAAAAAAAAY better if there was simply SOME WAY to slow down the wheel on top.SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS:1. Slow down the wheel considerably or add a speed setting. Someone wasn't thinking right when they designed it.2. Allow us to remove the garbage tray from the front instead of the back. It's ridiculous how little it holds and how much effort it takes to unplug and turn the machine around just to empty the tray every 20 minutes.3. Widen the spinning wheel on top to at least 8.5" so I don't have to stop the machine and readjust as much.Really, there's gotta be a way to slow this wheel down. If anyone has any ideas, please LET US KNOW!!!

Every single time I penetrate those sweet white sheets, I'm left with a greasy, dirty brown hole.I've now pushed my way through an entire stack of pure, beautiful white sheets, front and back... top and bottom... from every angle. A whole ream is now used up and cast aside. All I'm left with is discarded, abused, gunky, greasy, gaping brown holes.Its just not my thing - no offense to those who like it this way.My arms and body are exhausted from all the exertion of penetrating these all these white sheets just so they can be left filthy and unusable by any man again. I tried yellow sheets. I even tried green ones. All the same.I even lubed up the sheets like it said to in the book, thinking maybe it would make the pushing easier and polish those dirty rods, but still... brown stains on my sheets.I'm off to the corner to buy a new stack.Maybe someday, my holes will be clean.DISSAPOINTED.

Says it works for up to A4 size paper but does not work for smaller size of paper. Cuts holes half way on ends. Can only be used for big sheets of paper 8.5x11" tried to make it work for smaller sizes but wasted my time and now I can't return it. It also only works for 5 pages or less of 20lb paper.

After using it for a while, I noticed that when the book was laid flat on a surface, it was noticeably out of line. It seems to bind okay and aligns correctly when closed, but when the book is open and lying flat or folded back, the pages are very uneven for all sizes and thickness of book.

It's pretty good machine. I wish I chould change out the punch sizes. SOme of the dies like to stick. IT can be hard to determine which punch pattern is right for what you are making. It will work for me for the year- but I anticipate I will buy a new one next year. I hardly use the coiling machine which is why I bought it- you really don't need the electric coiler at the top.

This machine is okay, but there is no way I would purchase it again. It does a decent job of punching the holes into the paper, but we have completely given up on using the electric coiler. I have had 5 employees now try it and every one decides to spin the coil around by hand after punching it with this machine. I personally experimented with 3-4 different sizes of coils and different sizes of stacks of sheets (including a small one with only about 15 sheets). It isn't good.

Just like the previous reviewer before me, mine came broken. The Amazon box was fine, but the product box had come apart. The metal roller bar that moves the coil inserter is broken on one side. The machine makes noise but wont spin. I paid extra for this model just for the coil inserter. I could have bought the one without it if I knew it would come broken.

Product box was broken and but outer box from Amazon was intact. The auto coiler makes noise with no movement could have saved $100 but not buying electric components.

I was ready to get to work on this machine. Unpacked it and noticed the metal roller that makes the coil rotate was broken completely on one side. Having to ship this machine back and find another alternative to complete my projects.

Broke almost immediately - the first pin won't release.

It says the maximum number of sheets is 20, but any number above 10 is a struggle to punch. I also find the electric powered coil-inserter to be a total waste. it is much faster to insert the coil manually than to use the electric-powered coil inserter.

rubber wheel does not work