Gluing Machine & Jig

I’m interested in getting into the world of gluing/duplexing my prints after printing and the spray adhesive method is getting old really fast. I’m curious if anyone has used any of the manual gluing machines or recommendations for a first machine. The biggest sheet I’ll need to do, at this point, is 8.5x11.
Also what is your preferred way of registering the papers? What type of jig do you use?

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In my early days there were binders gluing machines built by a company called SWIFT , all they were ,a roller driven by a hand crank , the roller was partly suspended in glue ,a sheet was fed across the top and picked off the back of the roller by little fingers no mechanics at all !! I cant remember if the thickness of glue was governed at all .
I have a mini version of one ,this calls for friends to put a picture up if the interest is aroused as to the design of one of these . Mine i have to build a glue bath for it ,not got round to it yet .

I think if you are just stiffening up using one colour card you could print back and front in one pass laid head to head then crease through the middle ,glue the back and fold in half then just trim out to final size .
If you are printing for a red white red sandwich do the same as above with printed sheet glue back and wrap around the white for the sandwich and as above trim out at the end .

I’ve done both of those methods you described while using the spray. What is more difficult is if say, I need to print black ink on white stock, then silver on black, and glue those together. The registering the sheets becomes very important.

Unless you are trying to hide impression flaws on back why not clue the materials first and then print them ,that way glue register is not an issue.

From my research Potdevin machines are the way to go.

We have a Schaefer 32” Cementer and 32” Smoothing Press (similar to Potdevin), and do a whole lot of duplexing and specialty backing. We like the Schaefer as they are durable like the Potdevin, but easy to clean.

We also have an edge gluer for converting custom envelopes vs. using ATG.

Rontxhou, where are you located?

I dunno how much these cost, but heres a link to a promising site if you intend to do this work in small amounts and to small sheets:

http://www.gluemachinery.com/HandDrivenLabelGluer

Looks fairly similar to what Peter was describing.

That is the style of machine i was referring to only mine is somewhat more archaic and missing the glue bath .
Swift made larger more automated , driven versions .

Here is a miniature Pot Devin gluing machine. This machine handles a 8.5” wide sheet. It holds a cold (white) glue in its reservoir. I use it to duplex paper and card stock for letterpress printing and for making small book cases like the ones in the photos. I have a couple of these and they are for sale. from everything I have heard they go for about $100.00/inch so I am starting the price at $800.00??

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(regarding the manual machine) I inquired with them actually and it was almost $1k for the 12” model. Seemed like I could get a used potdevin for that range.

@HavenPress We are in Houston, TX

The price for new is really high. You need to be doing work for trade to justify or have a specialty need.

The key to a used machines is make sure that the roller which coats the sheet to be glued has none or really serious grooves. This is typically caused by the stripper fingers not being cleaned. The result is that some sheets tend to bubble or warp due to the difference in glue distribution. It is also really important to have the sheet press post glue.

I have a small one about 6” wide ,i would not pay 600 dollars for it , it actually cost about $20 dollars by luck !
these things are simple self builds . You can even make it out of wood !

We have one of the 8.5” gluers, but it doesn’t work nearly well enough. We got it in hopes of duplexing business cards, but a major problem in gluing them is that the water in the glue can soften the paper and reduce the impression. When you put it on a cutter you have to be really sure it is COMPLETELY dry.

Two problems we had with ours (and now are not using it): 1) we cannot get it to lay a smooth (AND THIN) layer of glue and 2) it shoots out the end of the machine making it hard to catch and there is no way to not get a fairly serious layer of glue on one of your hands which makes gluing them together in register hard.

We’ve looked for a glue that wasn’t water-based but haven’t found anything so far that seems like it is a decent option.

We were trying to use PVA which is pretty thick. I was inclined to thin it, but seems like going the wrong way with the problem of soaking the paper.

Most of the time we just use Xyron which generally works OK except for the price and it is pretty slow getting things to work efficiently.

I remember them with paste as opposed to pva ,starchy stuff like wallpaper paste !