Applications
Glued fold binding, also called paste binding, is usually produced in long print runs. This binding technique works best with lower weight paper which is pasted together at the spine. This enables the printed products to be stacked easily. A glued fold is often preferred for printed products intended for short-term use, such as inserts, circulars, brochures, direct mailers or slim advertising catalogues. This binding method is commonly used for weekly groceries ads and supermarket flyers.
Paste bound brochures are more cost-effective than their saddled-stitched or spiral-bound relatives – especially in long print runs. This is because brochures with a glued fold can be produced using web-fed offset technology (see production methods) which is an economic and fast process. Glued fold binding is the perfect choice for wide distribution direct mail where a long durability isn't a priority.
The details of glued fold binding
Production technique
The sheets are folded mechanically and glued as they are folded. This means that a line of glue is applied to the spine of the folded sheets. This binding method usually requires the page count of brochures or booklets to be divisible by four as is the case with saddle stitch binding. Special machines are capable of processing page counts in multiples of two.
Ordering long print runs of glued fold brochures is particularly cost-effective because they can be produced using web-fed offset printing. This printing technology is even more efficient and faster than sheet-fed offset printing. All further processing steps are performed on the printing machine. The paper webs are folded and glued on special production lines (inline production) right after being printed. The finished brochures leave the machines printed and bound which saves time and costs. However, using web-fed offset printing is only cost-effective for long print runs. We at Onlineprinters offer web-fed offset printing starting from 50,000 brochures.
Recommended paper stocks and paper weights
We provide glued fold binding for the following paper types: art paper, offset paper, newsprint and recycled paper. This binding technique delivers the best results with thin paper stocks. At Onlineprinters, we process papers ranging between 52 gsm and 135 gsm in weight. Theoretically, glued fold binding also works with higher weight papers but this requires special machines.
Page counts in glued fold binding
The glued fold option is particularly well suited for low weight papers and low page counts. Usually, 8, 12 or 16 pages are printed, sometimes up to 24 or 32 pages. You can order glued fold brochures comprising up to 16 pages at Onlineprinters.
What to observe with glued fold binding
Opening behaviour
Products with a glued fold do not open flat without bending the paper near the crease. Moreover, some printed content is lost in the gutter because the pages are glued together just before the fold. So when setting up the artwork, keep important design elements 3 to 4 mm away from the fold since this is where the glue will be applied to join the sheets together. Any design elements near the fold line will not be visible in the final product. To achieve optimum adhesion, this area should be left entirely unprinted so that the blank paper pages are glued together. For the same reason, designs running across two facing pages should be avoided.
Imposition
We impose the inside pages of your printed product. Imposing consists of the arrangement of the pages of the catalogues, brochures and other printed products on the sheet. Therefore, please set up single pages in the artwork file instead of spreads or export consecutive singles pages to a PDF file if you have worked with spreads.
Alternatives to glued fold binding
A glued fold is very cost-effective for long print runs of short-lived products that do not get heavy use. This makes it the right choice to bind advertising brochures, inserts or customer mailings. Depending on the application and page count of the publication, other binding options may also be eligible. Here are some examples:
- If your advertising brochures have more than 16 pages, we recommend saddle stitch or perfect binding in the medium price range. Perfect binding is the method of choice to bind seasonal product catalogues, for example. These two binding types are a durable and lasting option also to bind higher weight paper.
- Glued pad binding is the best solution for printed products that let you easily remove pages (such as pads of carbonless copy paper or notepads).
