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Planning a Hard Cover

With Casematic range it is possible to make covers from from Letterhalf to Letter sizes. Fastbind Casematic XT produces also large format covers up to 12 x 17" portrait or Letter landscape. Maximum thickness for the cardboards is 0.12".

Fastbind offers high quality tacking paper for cover printing

It is recommended to use Fastbind’s high quality tacking sheets for best results. The printable sheets are available for laser and inkjet printers. The laser sheet  Standard size is 12.95" x 19.69" and Large format 12.95" x 26". The inkjet sheet Standard size is 12.95" x 20.87" and Large format 12.95" x 26". Printable tacking sheets are first designed, then printed, laminated (recommended) and trimmed before making a hard cover.

Layout design

When designing a cover layout there are a few rules to keep in mind. Cover layout depends on books width, height and thickness and includes necessary allowances for proper folding. See the design graphic to understand required margins and proper placing. Note that some printers do not print on the whole paper area. Instead they leave usually a 0.12" margin on every side that is not printed on even though the file layout is designed to cover the whole surface.

! Verify the maximum sheet size for your printer from the technical specifications section of your printer’s operating manual!

The biggest possible printing sheet size (A3, SRA3, 488x329, Ledger or other)  may limit the book sizes you can produce. It is not possible to make an A4 or Letter sized hard cover book if your printer can only make A3 or SRA3.

Recommended layout design