Overview: The Akiles Wiremac Combois one of the only binding machines available on market that is capableof binding both plastic combs and twin loop wire using the same machine.Thismachine is available in two different configurations. You can choosebetween a machine that will use plastic combs and 3:1 pitch wire-ospines or you can choose a machine that will use combs and 2:1 pitchwire.This heavy duty all metal binding machine is ideal fororganizations that are looking for durability, flexibility andversatility in binding their documents.

The Akiles Wiremac Combo is available in two different configurations: Oneconfiguration punches holes for plastic comb binding and holes for 3:1pitch wire binding. This machine is compatible with comb bindingspines, double loop wire, GBC Proclick, GBC Zipbind, Spiral-O Wire and3:1 pitch spiral coil. This provides a huge variety of binding optionsfor users and allows your organization to use different binding stylesfor different types or classes of reports or presentations.TheWiremac Combo is also available with a comb binding punch and a 2:1pitch wire binding punch. This machine is designed for bindingdocuments with 2:1 pitch wire binding spines, GBC Zipbind, Plasticcombs and Spiral-O Wire. Although this machine does not offer as manybinding options as the 3:1 version, it does provide the ability to bindlarger sized books using twin loop wire. The WireMac Combo is made almost entirely of heavy dutymetal components. These metal components are designed to last longerand be more durable than the components on binding machines that aremade of plastic. When compared to the GBC C500pro which offers similarpunching options, the metal construction is one of the things thathelps to set this machine apart.Both configurations of thismachine include a heavy duty double loop wire closer. This closer isconveniently located on the front of the machine and is designed toclose your "C" shaped wire spines so that they become round. The closeron the WireMac Combo is capable of closing all of the different sizesof twin loop wire that are available. This means that it can be usedwith small sized 2:1 pitch wire or that the 3:1 pitch version can alsobe used with larger sizes of spiral-o wire.The Wiremac Comboalso includes several other important features including: an openthroat for binding larger documents, fully disengageable dies forpunching custom sized sheets, adjustable depth of punch margin controlsfor binding extremely small and extremely large documents and a set ofhooks on the front of the machine to assist in hanging pages on yourwire spines.

Weaknesses / Limitations:

Althoughthe Wiremac Combo is one of the most versatile binding machinesavailable on the market, it is still a manual punch. This machine isdesigned to punch about twenty sheets of paper at a time. This makes ita great choice for small and medium sized companies. However, largeorganizations and companies that need to do a lot of binding will wantto consider an interchangeable die modular binding system. A modularpunch when combined with appropriate finishing equipment will be threeto four times more productive than this machine.AlthoughAkiles has done a magnificent job of placing a huge number of featuresinto one binding system, the resulting product isn't as pretty as somecustomers would like. The Wiremac Combo has two punching levers, ahandle to operate the comb opener and a handle to Tianxiang conical twin screw operate the wirecloser. It is also fairly large and takes up a fair amount of counterspace. These are things to keep in mind if you are considering acombination binding system such as this.

Recommendation:

TheAkiles Wiremac Combo is an excellent machine for users who are lookingto do multiple styles of binding within their organization. In fact,this machine can be used with more different styles of binding than anyother system on the market. This makes it a great machine for officesthat aren't sure what style of binding they want to use or for officesthat think that they may need to change the look of their reports andpresentations in the future.It is extremely durable andbuilt with high quality metal components and has all of the featuresthat you might need in a manual binding system.However, thisis still a manual binding machine and it is not ideal for high volumeapplications or applications where productivity is essential. It isalso important to make sure that you have the space for this type ofsystem in your office before making your purchase.