Turned edge binders are made by gluing your choice of material to the chipboard, wrapping the edges around the board, and gluing them on the inside. These are also available in padded or non-padded styles. Imitation leather and bonded leather are the most common when using foil stamping or debossing on the front cover and the litho-wrapped binder is great for a 4-color process application. Self-adhesive interior pockets and business card holders are also an option.

Vinyl binders are made by heat sealing sheets of vinyl together around the chipboard, with or without a padding material in between. They can be foil stamped, silk screened or spot printed for your cover decoration. Interior pockets and business card holders are also an option.

Paper binders are made from 20 or 24 pt. C1S semi-gloss white stock. Rings sizes available are ¾” and 1” only. They can be coated with a simple aqueous coating or a gloss, matte or soft-touch lamination. They can be foil stamped, PMS spot printed or printed in a 4-color process. You can add pockets, card slots and brochure slits to them if you like.

Poly binders are made of polyethylene sheets, a form of plastic. Polyethylene is available in many different thicknesses from fully bendable to stiff and rigid. These sheets are cut and scored to form the product and mount the ring metal. These are offered in many colors and in shiny or matte finishes and can be silk screened and spot printed. They are durable and have a long shelf life.

Ring metals are made of nickel coated metal and can be powder coated in a variety of colors. They are available in various sizes, from ½” to 3” capacity. They are also available in a round ring, straight D ring, or angle D ring. D ring metals tend to hold slightly more paper than a round ring does. All ring styles are available with or without boosters to open and close the binder. 3 ring metals are most common but 2, 4 and 6 ring metals are available in limited sizes. Below is a guide to help you decide what ring size you may need.

• ½” round ring only – holds approx. 130 pages
• ¾” round ring only – holds approx. 140 pages
• 1” round ring – holds approx. 170 pages
• 1” D ring – holds approx. 220 pages
• 1 ½” round ring – holds approx. 240 pages
• 1 ½” D ring – holds approx. 330 pages
• 2” round ring – holds approx. 390 pages
• 2” D ring – holds approx. 450 pages
• 2 ½” round ring – holds approx. 450 pages
• 2 ½” D ring – holds approx. 530 pages
• 3” round ring – holds approx. 600 pages
• 3” D ring – holds approx. 660 pages

The pages above refer to sheets of copy paper, so keep that in mind if you are using index tabs, they use up more space than a sheet of copy. Generally, that won’t be enough to affect the estimated pages but if you are using a large quantity of tabs, please allow a little extra room for them.