The Powis Stitcher was released by Powis Parker Inc. as part of their studio photobook binding system. The studio photobook system offers a complete solution that allows small photographers, retail locations and image labs to quickly and easily produce photobooks on demand. However, binding books with high gloss printed papers can often cause a lot of problems. To solve these problems, the Powis Stitcher was introduced. This review will take a quick look the features / capabilities, limitations and construction of the Powis stitcher.
Features:
The Powis stitcher is not a true stitching machine in the sense that it does not actually uses spool wire. Instead, it is actually a modified heavy duty electric stapler. It is rated for stapling between three and thirty pages. However, the actual number of pages that you are able to staple is going to greatly depend on the type of paper that you are using. With twenty pound copy paper you could staple far more than thirty pages. However, with thick photopapers even thirty pages may be a stretch.
The Powis stitcher offers a few great features that you don't find on a standard heavy duty electric stapler. It includes a heavy duty metal book table. This specialty book table is ideal for use with landscape oriented documents. It also has convenient markings to help you know where to place the staples when binding photobooks and hard cover documents with your Fastback studio photobook system.
Depending on the type of paper that you are using and the number of sheets that you are binding, the staples may not cinch completely flat with this system. There is a setting to adjust the force with which the stapler operates. However, for best results, the staples need to be crimped closed. The Fastback Stitcher includes a pair of special crimping pliers that are designed to cinch the staples so that they are tight and completely flat. This helps to ensure that the quality of the bind for your photobooks is superior.
Limitations:
The primary limitation of the Powis stitcher is its binding capacity. Unfortunately, the stapler is simply limited in the number of sheets that it can penetrate. However, if you use the premium staples provided by Fastback you should be able to increase the capacity of the stapler by about twenty percent over the performance you would get from standard staples.
A heavier duty electric stapler
might be able to completely cinch the staples even when dealing with heavy papers. However, the powis stitcher cannot and thus the crimping pliers are necessary. If you don't use the crimping pliers, it is possible that your pages will be loose in your bound book or that the staples may not be completely hidden. This is a somewhat time consuming step in binding documents with the studio photobook system but it is a necessary one.
Construction:
The Powis Parker Fastback stitcher is extremely well built. It has a heavy duty metal book table and has plastic housing around the stapling head. The stapling unit is actually produced by Rapid (one of the highest quality electric stapler manufacturers on the market). With this in mind, I have no real concerns about the construction of this machine.
Recommendation:
The powis stitcher is an integral part of the Fastback studio photobook binding system. It allows you to bind books with any type of glossy paper, even heavy duty papers that won't work in most perfect bind or thermal binding systems. The staples produced by this machine are completely hidden from sight and produce some of the highest quality on demand hard covers that I have seen anywhere.
