Office Equipment Blog from Office Zone

You may have noticed that some of the products on our Web site carry a Customer Choice label. These items have earned this special designation because of their excellent track record and reliability.

The Rotatrim Rotary paper cutters have earned this status, thanks to their robustness and reliability. Rotatrim trimmers were originally designed to meet the exacting requirements of professional photographers. Today, thousands of Rotatrim machines are used in professional darkrooms, photo labs, design houses, schools and colleges.

Our customers tell us they prefer Rotatrim cutters because of their silent glide cutting action. They also report how pleased they are with the trimmer’s extreme accuracy. That’s because of the machine’s twin chrome-plated steel guide rail and hand-finished tungsten steel rotary blades. The blade assembly delivers a virtually maintenance-free, self-sharpening system that ensures low maintenance costs and ease of use.

Solingen steel is produced in Solingen, Germany. The town is known as the “City of Blades” because it is world famous for manufacturing excellent blades, knives, scissors razors, surgical instruments and other similar items. The knife producers in Solingen have been around for more than 100 years.

The cutting blade in the new Ideal Kutrimmer 1135 is made of Solingen steel. This highly durable blade may be re-sharpened, allowing you to obtain several years of use out of this paper cutter. Compare that to several paper cutters and trimmers available today that merely offer disposable blades.

The Kutrimmer 1135 arm cutter delivers a safe, yet effective way to cut up to 25 sheets of paper at a time. Kutrimmer cutters are known for their durability and accuracy.

The 1135 model is easy to set up, thanks to a built-in clamp that firmly holds down the stack of paper while trimming. This ensures the most clean cut possible. The model 1135 Kutrimmer also includes a transparent Lexan safety guard, with an integrated cutting line indicator.

(Sources: Wikipedia.org, http://www.worldknives.com/info/knives-of-solingen-germany-43.html)

From time to time, we are asked about the differences between the MBM Sprint 3000 and 5000 model bookletmakers. The machines look nearly identical, yet there are some key differences. The model Sprint 5000 Booklet Maker is a high-production, professional-grade bookletmaking machine. It uses a staple cartridge system, with each cartridge holding up to 5,000 staples to ensure long-running jobs.

This type of system, however does not allow the staples to penetrate as deep as its sibling, the model Sprint 3000 bookletmaker. The model 5000 will fold and staple up to 22 sheets of 20 lb. bond. You can also use the model 5000 to work in tandem with several collator systems. And, the 5000 will perform a corner staple (if desired) where the model 3000 will not.

The Sprint 3000 is a professional-grade machine as well. Its staple heads hold only 200 staples at a time. However, its staples will penetrate deeper than the model 5000. This machine is capable of folding and stapling up to 25 sheets of 20 lb. bond.

The Little Money Counter/Counterfeit Detector That Could!

The ABC V-10 bill counter is really an amazing little machine. For under $120, you get a money counter that not only quickly and accurately counts a stack of bills, but it also helps you easily identify counterfeit money.

This bill counter is rated to handle low volumes of money, ideal for most small businesses. It’s especially useful if you need to take the unit out into the field because it also operates on batteries. The ABC V-10 compact bill counter verifies the authenticity of U.S. notes, thanks to three integrated counterfeit detection devices. These include a UV light, watermark light and magnetic ink sensor. The ABC V-10 delivers a lot of value for relatively little money, and is ideal for any business or organization that needs to eliminate fraud, count money, save time, and labor costs. You can view a short video demonstration of the ABC V-10 bill counter here.

Magnetic encoders, or writers, write data onto credit cards, gift cards, ID cards, and such. The encoder transfers information onto the three tracks of the magnetic stripe on the card. Magnetic stripes are typically located on the back side of a card and are available in high and low coercivity varieties.

High coercivity stripes last longer and are black in appearance. They are designed to store data for a long period of time. Low coercivity stripes are brown in color and are designed to be rewritten multiple times.

Office Zone carries a magnetic encoder machine that also serves as a card reader: The model 3170 Magnetic Stripe Encoder/Reader. The 3170 encodes only low coercivity magnetic stripes, but reads both high and low coercivity cards.

Here’s a holiday shopping tip you may find useful: Office Zone recently announced the availability of some select re-certified bill counting machines. The model ABC 1150 bill counter is now only $147 in the open box/re-certified version.

These are machines that were originally ordered by customers, but returned in unused, like-new condition. These machines are essentially brand new, but we must sell them as used/open box, simply because the product box was opened.

At only $147, you will save an additional $25 off the sale price. And, the bill counting machine is still covered by Office Zone’s standard, 90-day warranty. The ABC 1150’s have been tested by our service technician and are certified to be in optimum working order. Be sure to take a look at our ABC 1150 re-certified bill counters today.

We have extensively used and tested the MiniPack model MVS 31 vacuum sealer for about two years now. When we first received a brand new machine from the factory, everyone on our office products testing team had the same thought. This vacuum sealer, at first glance, looks almost identical to its older brother the model MVS 45.

Although the MVS 31 is basically a smaller version of the MiniPack MVS 45, it still performs like an industrial-strength machine. It’s designed to vacuum-pack a wide variety of food products and other items in a very short amount of time. The MVS 31 quickly removes oxygen, and other biological or chemical pollutants in the surrounding air.

This tough little vacuum sealer does an excellent job preserving  taste, flavor, color, and nutrition value of all food products for an extended length of time. The model MVS 31 table top chamber vacuum sealer is flexible, easily programmable and relatively inexpensive.

Once a model leaves our warehouse, we rarely hear of any complaints or problems from our customers. Be sure to visit our Web site for more details and technical specifications regarding our vacuum sealer review of the MiniPack MVS 31.

Question

I AM LOOKING FOR A PERFORATING MACHINE TO MAKE WINDOWS IN CARD STOCK SO WHEN IT IS BENT THE WINDOW OPENS

Answer

The Lassco-Wizer W635 Score II paper perforator and scorer should do the trick. This is a manually operated scoring and perforating machine. It will handle your card stock or cover stock paper. This machine works much like a rotary trimmer with a perforating head, instead of a cutting head, that slides along a bar from one end of the machine to the other.

Paper perforators are basically are designed to create perforations in paper, making it simple to fold or tear paper. Perforating machines are ideal for creating coupons, fliers and other marketing materials. They can also perforate large sheets of printed material for a variety of applications. You can view our entire selection of perforating machines here.

A coil binding machine is a device that punches and binds spring-like coils into the spine of a document. The coils are often referred to as spirals. They are very similar to the old spiral notebooks you may have used to used in school.

Coil, or spiral binding is rapidly growing in popularity. A big reason is coil binding looks good and is relatively easy to do. Once the holes are punched, the binding element is literally spun through the holes with the aid of an electric coil inserter, located on the front of the coil binding machine. And, another benefit of coil binding is the coil-bound pages can wrap around for easy access and reading. A coil-bound booklet can lie flat on a table or desk without closing.

This is the essential element that binds the sheets of paper and cover stock together. The end result looks like a professionally produced booklet. The biggest difference between plastic coil binding and old-style spiral notebooks is the binding element itself. Coil binding pieces are manufactured from PVC plastic rather than metal.

PVC plastic coils are highly durable, are almost impossible to crush, and do not bend or easily stretch with use. Plastic binding coils are also available in a wide array of colors, diameters and lengths. Coil binding supplies are made in two different patterns. These include 4:1 and 5:1 pitch. The hole pattern, or pitch for a 4:1 coil binding machine simply punched four holes per inch. The 5:1 pitch coil is used with machines that punch five holes per inch.

It’s a good thing to note that 4:1 and 5:1 pitch supplies are not interchangeable between machines. Once a coil binding machine has been purchased, the end-user must purchase the right pitch binding supplies for the machine. So, why are two hole patterns offered? A 4:1 pitch machine binds more paper than 5:1. That’s because the punched holes are spaced farther apart, making it easier to turn the pages of a larger document.

Office Zone has a large selection of hand trucks, dollies and carts, platform trucks and other heavy lifting equipment. We carry a wide variety of various hand truck models from the standard Easy Unloader by Interthor, to the unique, versatile Hide Away Hand Truck from Safco.

Our durable hand trucks and moving carts are engineered to last. Even better, they are easy to use. Most models have wheels equipped with heavy-duty ball bearings. This means you’ll enjoy a smooth, safe process of lifting and transporting a wide array of materials. Our hand trucks may be easily used on a wide variety of surfaces as well. Be sure to take a closer look at our wide selection of hand trucks, dollies and platform trucks today.