James Burn BB400P Speedbind Automatic Inline Punch & Wire-O® Binding Machine

The BB400 Speedbind System is the most advanced Wire-O® system in the James Burn line of automatic punching and binding machines, providing the ultimate in Wire-O® binding productivity. Offered in three models, the BB400 Wire-O® binder, the BB400P, and the BB400SP punch and bind system. The BB400 Speedbind is one of the fastest automatic wire binding machines in its category, with an output of up to 3,000 documents per hour.

The operator loads documents into the machine, where they are transported to the wire feeding section. The wire element is automatically cut to length, fed, and inserted into the document to be bound. Once the wire is inserted, the documents automatically travel to the closing station, and are stacked onto a reception conveyor.

The BB400 will close 3:1 and 2:1 pitch wire from ¼” to 1”. It can bind documents using flush cut, oversized covers, and tabbed sheets. The BB400 handles book sizes as small as 4 ⅝” x 4 ⅝” up to 15 ⅝” x 15 ⅝”. The BB400 can use traditional spooled Wire-O®, or SnakeSkin Wire-O®, which will increase the machine’s efficiency. The control panel is simple and easy to use. Mechanical adjustments and closing tool changes are performed from the front of the machine. A nail hole punch option is available for wall hanging calendar applications.

For even higher production capacity, the upgraded BB400P or BB400SP are available. They offer both automatic punch and Wire-O® closing in one unit. The BB400P unit will punch and bind up to ¼” thick documents in one pass, and can also bind offline punched materials up to 1” thick.

The BB400 Speedbind systems offer the best available production and value in its class, for those applications that require versatility and bind productivity.

James Burn BB400 Automatic Wire-O Binding machines frequently asked questions, featuring Bob Cooke, the James Burn automatic punching and binding expert.


Q) What options can I add to the BB400 to expand capabilities?
A) You could add a punch in. There’s two ways of doing the punch. There is a single punch where it would come in, punch it in one shot, and that would be the maximum that it could do. We’re also making it an SP where is it a double-sided die (an upper and lower die). The book is divided in half, the two sections are punched, put back together, and then move onto the wire binder. We also add a nail hole option, so if you are doing calendars with a nail hole, you can punch the two sides with the nail hole, and the book would move on. So this way you could drop your calendar in, it would run forward, be punched, the nail hole would be punched, it moves on, goes to the binder, and you come out the end with a finished calendar.

Q) What is involved in wire size change overs?
A) There are three parts that you change out: there is the mandrel that the wire travels down that gets driven in by the pitch wheel, then there is the turning in device that turns the wire into the book as it is travelling along, and then there is the closing bar that gets screwed onto the closing mechanism that closes the wire to the book once it reaches that station. It takes about 15 minutes to do a complete change over from one size to the other.

Q) What are the average production speeds?
A) For the production volumes, you can get up to 3,000 books per hour out of this machine. But what I see from customers that are running this machine is that it depends a lot on how fast the operator puts the books into the machine. Usually I see somewhere between 1,600/1,800 up to 2,600 books an hour – it is the average speed that people will see out of it. But with a perfect book and a fast operator, you can see the 3,000 books per hour.

Q) How do you keep the book aligned properly throughout the production cycle?
A) The machine jogs just before it goes into every station. This way it keeps the holes aligned in the book so that the wire can be inserted properly. After the wire is inserted, at that point it moves itself down and you don’t need to jog it because the wire is already in the book; so at that point the jogging stops and it moves forward, goes to the closing station, goes out to the conveyor at the end of the machine.

Q) How is the wire fed into the holes of the book?
A) The turning-in device on the machine will turn the wire into the book as the book is travelling along. SO it kind of goes like this and turns the wire into the book until the narrow and the broad loop are sitting flat against the bottom of the platform. And then it moves onto the closing station where the closing bar comes in and closes that wire.

Q) What are the power and air requirements for the BB400 machines?
A) There are two different configurations for this machine for power. If you have the punch included (BB400P or SP), you need to have 223 phase. If there is no punch with the machine like it is right now (BB400), then all you need is 220 single phase. Air is required for both machines.

Q) What are the differences between the BB400 and the competitor’s machines?
A) The difference between this machine and the competitor’s machine is that we offer different options to our machine that are not offered on other machines. With this machine we can offer a board feeder so that you can feed in easels, we offer a punch so that you can punch the product inline and then bring it out, we offer split punching where you can punch a thicker book so it allows you to do different books on the machine, and we also offer a nail hole option. So if you are doing calendars with nail holes, we can also put the nail hole in; all inline. So all your operator is doing is dropping the calendar or the book in, it moves through the machine, gets punched, nail hole put in, gets bound, then it’s finished and out the end.