*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.