The Rubicoil is a low priced Vibratory Tumbling Media Factory

The Rubicoil is a low priced Vibratory Tumbling Media Factory introductory level 4:1 pitch spiral coil binding machine produced by Akiles Inc.The Rubicoil is designed for the home office or

small office environment for users who need to bind a few documents per

day or per week.This machine offers an excellent value for

your money but is still a personal binding machine and thus has some

limitations that should be noted.

Overview: The Rubicoil is a low priced introductory level 4:1 pitch spiral coil binding machine produced by Akiles Inc.Akiles

Products Incorporated is based out of Ontario California and has been a

leading manufacturer of binding equipment for almost fifteen years.

They are best known for their CoilMac spiral coil binding machines and

Wiremac double loop wire binding machines. However, all of their

equipment is known throughout the industry for its quality and

durability.The Rubicoil is designed for the home office or

small office environment for users who need to bind a few documents per

day or per week.This machine offers an excellent value for

your money but is still a personal binding machine and thus has some

limitations that should be noted.

Strengths / Features:

One

of the best things about the Akiles Rubicoil is its price. This machine

is available for under $200 making it one of the least expensive coil

binding machines on the market. For a small office or a home user that

is looking to begin binding their own documents with coil this is often

a great starting place. It allows you to experiment with spiral coil

binding without having to spend a fortune.This machine

includes a "U" shaped punching handle that offers ergonomic punching

for both left and right handed users. Many other coil binding machines

have a handle that is located on the right side of the machine. That

configuration works well for right handed users but is considerably

more difficult to use for left-handed operators.The Rubicoil

uses hardened steel dies that are capable of punching up to ten sheets

of 20lb paper and one or two clear covers or plastic cover sheets at a

time. Considering the price of this machine, that punching capacity

isn't actually too bad.In pictures on the internet, the

Rubicoil looks like it is made of plastic. However, it is actually made

of metal and is a stronger and more durable machine than you might

think. It certainly isn't a production grade machine. However, the

Rubicoil shouldn't break or have any problems if it is used for light

volume punching and binding.

Weaknesses / Limitations:

This

machine includes a punch but does not include a motorized roller to

help insert the coils through the holes in your documents. It does have

a groove in the document table to help in the inserting process.

However, I find that it is actually easier to simply hold the document

with one hand and spin the coil on with the other. For light volume

applications this shouldn't be too bad. However, spinning more than a

few coils onto your documents by hand will get old really fast.The

Rubicoil does not have any disengageable dies. It is strictly designed

for punching letter sized sheets. With the holes of this punch so close

together it will be nearly impossible to use this machine for binding

any other sheet sizes without ending up with a half hole on the edge of

your page. The only exception to this is A4. You can purchase extra

punching pins that can be added to the rubicoil in order to punch

documents that are A4 sized. This isn't really common but it is

possible.This machine also does not include a depth of punch

margin control. The manual nature of this machine is such that it is

really best suited for binding small documents. For that reason, Akiles

did not include the ability to move the holes further away from the

edge of the paper. This is a feature that would be used to bind thicker

documents.The only other limitation of the Rubicoil is that

it does not include a pair of coil crimping pliers. With the price

point of this machine you can purchase a pair of crimpers and the cost

will still be less than other comparable coil binding machines.

However, it is highly recommended that you do buy crimping pliers since

it is very difficult to cut and crimp the ends of the coil without this

special tool.