VWB Blog Wire-O (also known as double loop wire, ring wire, or twin loop) binding is a durable and functional form of binding that allows documents to lay flat and be opened 360 degrees. This makes it perfect for calendars, recipe books, and other practical documents.
This binding also works well with tabbed page dividers, making it ideal for manuals, workbooks, and journals.
Durability
With wire binding, a document’s pages can open up 360 degrees. This feature makes it easy to reference a booklet while reading and prevents essential information from becoming buried near the book’s spine. It also helps booklets like travel guides, atlases, and map books stay flat and easier to handle when traveling.
With the right size loops, wire binding can accommodate many page counts. Even a book with over 200 pages can lay completely flat while still providing the ease of turning you’d expect from this type of binding.
For added durability, we offer the option to add a clear plastic cover and black vinyl back to both spiral and wire-o bound documents. This option provides an extra layer of protection to the inside pages and can be used for titles with many full crossover images. These include annual reports, business financial reports, and development proposals. To keep your printed project looking its best, we offer the option to add raised spot UV for accents or highlights on text and images.
Ease of Turning
Unlike spiral and comb bindings, wire-o bound books allow pages to be opened 360 degrees. This feature makes it easier to flip through your booklet, especially when working with maps, recipes, or other practical guides. It also helps prevent overlapping information close to the spine, which can be challenging to read or understand.
It is also the ideal binding method for a booklet with index tabs. Since the pages can be turned easily, they can accommodate dividers with printed index tabs to make locating the needed page even more accessible. These tabs can be a variety of colors and coded numerically, making them an optimal solution for reference documents such as manuals, catalogs, or directories.
While printing on the spine with wire-o binding is impossible, a transparent cover and black vinyl back are available to protect your project. These additions can also give your book a professional, polished look, perfect for presentations, business financial reports, or development proposals. They are also great for cookbooks, workbooks, or other reference materials you use regularly.
No Spinal Tension
With wire-O binding (also known as coil or spiral), you get a professional, stylish look to your documents. This type of binding utilizes a plastic coil threaded through evenly spaced holes punched into the spine edge of your booklet’s cover and pages. Once fully inserted, both ends of the coil are crimped to prevent it from unraveling. Coils come in a wide range of diameters to accommodate books with varying thicknesses.
When open, the book pages bound with wire-O rotate around the coils with little resistance. This makes the pages of your booklet turn quickly and lie flat when open, making it ideal for a workbook, journal, or other project that requires flipping and writing on the page.
Because there is no spinal tension, your booklet can be opened to a full 360-degree rotation without closing onto itself or falling off the table. This feature also allows for problem-free use of index tabs. The wire-O binding method is often used with map booklets, travel guides, and other works designed to be handled frequently.
Flexibility
With its flexible spine, the wire-o binding allows pages to turn 360 degrees around on themselves without damage. This flexibility makes it well-suited for books that are heavily used or referenced. It also works well with overlays, including diagrams, floor plans, and infographics. Since it secures the pages in perfect registration, full crossover spreads (pages incorporating two inside-spread pages) can be printed with entirely bleeding images.
Wire-O also works well with tabbed pages. These dividers are ideal for reference books such as presentations, training manuals, and directories, as they allow users to locate the page or topic they require quickly. Often, the dividers are printed in varying colors or coded numerically for even more ease of use.
Wire-O binding also works well for wall calendars, as they can be turned and hung flat on a wall. They can also be printed with clear plastic covers or black vinyl backs to add durability and protect the book’s contents. We offer these options on all our products, so feel free to ask us for advice!
Easy to Clean
Like spiral binding, wire-o allows pages to rotate 360 degrees on themselves without damaging the spine. This makes it perfect for frequently used projects, like manuals, workbooks, planners, or journals. It also works well with tabs and indexes, making it easy to find specific pages quickly.
With wire-o binding, the cover and pages are inserted into a C-shaped spine with twin wires that run along it. The wires are then crimped together closer and closer until they form a round, tight circle, securely holding the book together while allowing it to open flat.
The flexible nature of this binding type also means it can be used for double-page spreads or crossovers. This allows overlays such as diagrams, floor plans, infographics, and site layouts to be incorporated into the book.
Wire-O binding is an excellent choice for more formal, professional presentations. It offers a clean, polished look ideal for projects such as fine art photography calendars, corporate reports, or cookbooks. It can also bind larger books and booklets with high page counts, as the correct wire gauge size and loop diameter can accommodate any document thickness.