Finishing, Binding and Post-Press Operations
This section covers Finishing, Binding and Post-Press Operations, the domain that tests cutting, folding, surface finishing, binding selection and the sequence needed to turn printed sheets into usable products.
Core rules and concepts
- Cutting uses a guillotine; folding must respect grain direction, and creasing is needed before folding heavy card to prevent cracking.
- Surface finishing includes lamination, varnish, UV coating, foil stamping, embossing and die cutting; each adds cost and may affect recyclability.
- Binding methods include saddle stitching for booklets, perfect binding for thicker books, spiral or wire-o for flat opening, and hardcover for durable volumes.
- Saddle stitching requires pages in multiples of four and uses nested signatures; creep must be trimmed.
- Perfect binding spine width = number of leaves × paper caliper + cover and glue allowance.
- Post-press sequence is usually print, cut, fold or bind, trim, finish; check that operations do not damage earlier work.
Worked example
A 160-page book is perfect bound on 80 gsm paper with caliper 0.10 mm. Number of leaves = 160 ÷ 2 = 80. Text-block spine = 80 × 0.10 = 8 mm. Add about 1.5 mm for cover boards and glue, giving a spine width near 9.5 mm. The cover must be imposed with that spine width plus bleed and turn-in.
Traps
Do not fold card without creasing; do not ignore grain direction; do not saddle stitch a page count that is not a multiple of four; do not trim before folding; do not laminate a surface that will later be foil stamped without checking adhesion; do not forget spine width when designing a cover.