Adhesive Binders — Short and Sweet

* Make sure the spine is not rounded (often caused by improper adjustments and evident in low-quality machines).

* Look for "nail heads" (where the corners of a book flare out) and excessive wrinkling of a spine, caused during pressing and trimming. Both indicate quality problems.

* To measure overall bind strength, hold the book upside down by a center page and shake the book. As you pull harder, the page should tear before the bind releases. A strong bind securely holds every page, even the inside front and rear pages, which are the most difficult to adhere properly.