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The Wirebind W400 is a
manual 3:1 pitch twin loop wire binding machine that is produced by the
General Binding Corporation of Hannover Park Illinois. Formerly known
as the TL200 this machine has been part of the GBC and Ibico line of
binding equipment for a number of years.It
is often chosen by small and medium sized offices because of its
stylish appearance and because of the reputation of the GBC brand.

Overview:

• The Wirebind W400 is a
  manual 3:1 pitch twin loop wire binding machine that is produced by the
  General Binding Corporation of Hannover Park Illinois. Formerly known
  as the TL200 this machine has been part of the GBC and Ibico line of
  binding equipment for a number of years.
• This machine is designed to bind small sized books using twin loop, double loop, wire-o and double-o wire binding spines.
• It
  is often chosen by small and medium sized offices because of its
  stylish appearance and because of the reputation of the GBC brand.

Strengths / Features:

• The
  GBC W400 is a 3:1 pitch wire binding machine. This simply means that It
  produces a hole pattern with three holes per inch. This pattern is
  designed for use with 3:1 pitch wire spines that range from 1/4″ up to
  9/16″ in diameter. However, it is also possible to use this machine
  with special 3:1 pitch spiral coils and with GBC Proclick binding
  spines.
• This machine has a decent punching capacity of up to
  20 sheets of 20lb paper per lift. For a manual wire binding machine
  that is pretty good. Considering that this machine is primarily
  designed for smaller users who need to bind smaller books, this
  punching capacity should be adequate for most users.
• The W400
  has a convenient wire holder on the back of the machine that is
  designed to hold your spine in place while you hang the pages onto your
  document. This is a great feature to have and the design of the wire
  holder a lot easier than many of the machines that use a clamp style
  wire holder.
• The sleek and stylish design of the W400 is
  built on the same platform as many of the older GBC and Ibico Docubind
  binding machines. The design makes it easy to use and helps to ensure
  that it doesn’t look out of place in your office.

Weaknesses / Limitations:

• The
  main problem with the W400 is with its wire closer. When you first
  receive the W400 you most likely won’t have any problems with the wire
  closer. However, the closer is operated using plastic gears and a metal
  drive chain. If this machine is used more than a few times a week the
  plastic gear or the drive chain will slip causing the closer to close
  inaccurately, the wire to be closed unevenly or the wire closer to stop
  working altogether.
• The W400 does not have any disengageable
  dies. It can be used to punch letter sized documents and oversize
  covers. However, it cannot be used to punch half letter sheets, A4
  paper, legal sized items or any custom sized documents. There is a
  small compartment where it looks like you should be able to disengage
  some of the punching pins but they removed that feature from this
  machine.
• The fact that the GBC W400 is a 3:1 pitch wire
  binding machine means that it cannot be used to bind documents that are
  larger than 9/16″ (about 125 sheets) using wire binding spines. This is
  something that is important to remember with all 3:1 pitch wire binding
  systems. If your organization needs to bind both small and large
  documents you might want to consider a machine that punches both 2:1
  and 3:1 hole patterns such as the Akiles Wiremac Duo Combo.

Recommendation:

• Although the GBC W400 looks nice and has a decent set of features, it is only suitable for the smallest volume users.
• The
  problems with the wire closer on this machine are significant enough
  that over time you will most certainly end up needing to replace the
  machine or buy a standalone wire closer to use with it.
• For
  the price, there are several other excellent and more durable wire
  binding machines available. Check out the Akiles Wiremac, or the
  Wiremac Duo Combo. They have more features , are built better and you
  won’t have the issues with the wire closer.

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