Carefully lay out each sheet before you start cutting. Find the best cut pattern to give you the most pieces out of the sheet. If the sheet will be folded, be sure grain of the paper is running in the same direction as the fold or you will get a rough edge on the fold.

If an accurate cut is necessary for close register work, you MUST have a sharp blade in the cutter. A dull blade will pull or draw the paper and cause uneven cutting. Increased clamp pressure will not eliminate draw caused by a dull knife.

The correct clamping pressure varies from paper to paper. The general rule is that you should have enough pressure to hold the paper securely but not so much that it marks the surface of the paper excessively. Excessive pressure causes pile distortion and inaccurate cuts. Mark the gripper edge and the guide edge of printed paper and make sure the first cuts are with these guide edges against the backgauge. Measure printed paper to check for shrinkage or expansion of the paper from humidity. You may have to disregard the printed cut lines and make your own. When cutting narrow strips (1" or less), place lifts of equal height on opposite sides of the table to prevent wear of the clamp guides.

Important! To prevent the drill bit from overheating, always avoid drilling too slowly.

Bring the drilling machine head down (or the table up depending on the machine you have)as rapidly as possible allowing the drills to easily cut through the paper.

Also, adjust the vertical table guide to return the machine to the start position as rapidly as possible to avoid spinning the drills in the stock.

Slotted Holes - Instead of punching slotted holes for five and seven hole universal binding work, save time and cost by drilling a 1/2 inch diameter hole in place of the slot. The slot is only intended to allow the post or ring to be used in either location, and the large hole permits this.

Plastic Bindings - Drilling holes for plastic bindings, instead of punching them, is practical and saves a great deal of time, particularly on long run jobs.

Keep Drills Sharp - A dull drill is the major cause of drill breakage and production tie-ups. Usually after three hours of drilling, depending on the type of paper being processed, the drill should be sharpened. A dull drill results in poor quality work.

Keep Drills Clean - A dirty and rusty drill will not permit the free upward passage of the drill chips. Pressure built up by a clogged drill will split or break the drill. To keep it free from dirt or rust, clean the drill of all chips after each use and apply a light oil to the inside and outside. Drills should be cleaned out immediately after each use. This is particularly true if a coated or varnished stock has been drilled. On these jobs the coating on the chips frequently fuse the chips into one solid mass when the drill cools, causing breakage the next time the drill is used.

Lubricate Drills - Lubrication assists in the passage of the chips and helps avoid overheating of the drills. Use readily available stick lubricants for this purpose. Hold the end of the stick against the side of the rotating drill. Be sure to touch the cutting edge with the lubricant also. Wipe off excess oil before drilling. CARE MUST ALWAYS BE TAKEN WHEN HANDLING DRILLS.

Keep Spindle Clean - Clean out the drill spindle frequently. This will prevent any buildup in the spindle of the drill.

Set the Drills Correctly - Do not cut too deeply into the cutting block. The drill should just touch the block and cleanly cut through the bottom sheet. During drilling, do not set the drill deeper into the block but change the position of the block frequently. Drilling deeper into the block dulls the drills quickly. Use a piece of chipboard underneath your stock. This will make handling the stock easier and will ensure that the last sheet is cut cleanly through.

Check for Drill Bit movement or wobble - If spindles are badly worn or bent through misadjustment, have them replaced immediately. A wobbly or loosely held drill will break.

Check Your Drill Sharpener - The cutting edge of the sharpening bit should be inspected frequently to make certain that it is sharp and free of nicks. Never let a drill drop onto the sharpening bit. It will chip the sharpening edge. Use gentle pressure when sharpening - let the sharpening bit do the work. Check the sharpness of the drill after sharpening. The cutting edge should be razor sharp.

Just a little time and effort taken with each use of your paper drilling machine should result in trouble free operation over many years.

Your Goal As A Printer

• Reproduce jobs as close to the original as possible, and do so in quantities
• Finish jobs so appearance is not marred by "cracking" or splitting of sheet when folded

The Problem

• Faithful reproduction often requires coated papers which reproduce better than uncoated papers.
• Coated papers more prone to cracking
  • Coated layer may split
  • Thicker coating = greater danger
  • Fiber structure may break

Factors Affecting Tendency to Crack

• Paper structure determined during manufacturing
  • treatment of pulp
  • bleaching
  • bond between base and coating
  • length of fibers
  • high fiber content = more stability than low fiber (e.g. recycled, ‘triple coated’)
• Press room
  • printing makes paper less flexible
  • inks & coatings can add to brittleness
• Moisture (tougher problem with digital)

Folded Sheets at various humidity (Images courtesy of Sappi Paper)









1)Examine 3 factors (fewer options here with digital jobs) -   Test different papers -   Test different inks and coatings -   Evaluate Moisture

2)Examine creasing (scoring) solutions

Often used interchangeably

Scoring: any means of reducing paper stiffness along a line to aid in folding

Creasing: delamination of sheet by combination of compression and bending around a bead

Platen Die Cutter

Uses steel rule pressing sheet into a channel (Technique also used in modern knife creasing units).

Cylinder or Rotary Die Cutter

Paper passes between cylinders (web) or paper wraps around cylinder (sheetfed)

4 Variables to address for successful creasing


Variables should change with paper weight

Platen (the “gold standard”) & cylinder

Electronic Knife Creasing Units

1) Conventional steel vs. steel methods

By means of a creasing and folding test we have compared the quality of the creasing devices in respect of coating cracking. With higher basis weights the results of conventional creasing were not satisfactory.

The folding result could be improved by creasing against PU. In this case coating cracking was visible for the high basis weights.

Using the creasing device we achieved an optimal result in the creasing and folding test, even with high basis weights such as a 400 gsm Matt. The quality of this creasing is comparable with that produced in letterpress printing and retrofitting to the folding machine incurs relatively low costs.

For every creasing device it was found that our papers produce a better folding result if the creasing bulge faces inwards. The creasing knife should therefore be applied from the outside towards the inside.

For other folding machine manufacturers the descriptions of the folding device differ to some extent from the creasing devices presented in this brochure. Most of the folding machines normally used in the printing industry are either already fitted with scoring devices, or can be retrofitted.

Myth 1: Always plan a job to fold with the grain
False. Sappi reports that on stocks from about 7-15 pt (170gsm-300gsm) you get better results and a stronger crease when creasing against the grain. The packaging industry has known this for years.

Myth 2: You can’t “crease” in rotary form
False. Whatever the name, a good score/crease means no cracking on the outside + a good bead on the inside. So if the delamination & compression occurs in a rotary form, what difference does it make? It still happens. In rotary, the delamination is incremental. In platen style, the delamination is simultaneous.

Myth 3: If I don’t score on the letterpress, I can’t charge extra.
False...well maybe this is not a myth but a topic for discussion. You invest in tooling to deliver a premium job. Shouldn’t you get a return? Does the customer really care how it’s done?

Myth 4: You can’t use UV coating on a piece that is going to be folded.
False. A good crease will eliminate cracking, even on UV. Admittedly, some coatings are far more brittle than others, and sometimes formulations change for the worse. So test first. Our customers accomplish this every day.