Martin Yale 1217A Autofolder Heavy Duty Paper Folding Machine Product Review

Overview:

• For years, the Martin Yale 1217a Autofolder has been one of the most popular heavy duty tabletop paper folding machines on the market.
• It is designed for folding a huge variety of paper sizes including letter-size, legal-size, 11" x 17" and 12" x 18" sized paper. It can even fold many heavy duty paper stocks that will jam inside other paper folding machines.
• These features make the Martin Yale 1217a an excellent choice for medium to large mailrooms, small print shops and medium to large sized churches.

Strengths / Features:

• The Martin Yale 1217a Autofolder is one of the only paper folders available on the market that is capable of handling 12" x 18" sized sheets. This is important for many print shops and printers since 12" x 18" is a common digital press sheet size.
• For organizations that are looking to fold heavy card stocks and index weight papers the Martin Yale 1217a is one of the best options available on the market. It uses large heavy duty feed rollers to help handle heavier paper stocks and is capable of handling 90lb cover, 135lb index and 165lb offset papers. The large feed rollers on this machine also make it better suited for handling glossy and coated papers. However, coated sheets and glossy stocks should be tested with this machine to ensure that they will run smoothly and that marks will not be left on stock from the friction rollers.
• The Martin Yale 1217a runs at speeds of up to 10,300 letter sized sheets per hour. Depending on the fold pattern and sheet size that you are using you may not be able to achieve that benchmark. However, the 1217a should be fast enough to keep up with most pieces of high speed digital printing equipment. This means that you should be able to fold your documents at least as fast as you can print them.
• The 1217a Autofolder can also produce a huge variety of folding patterns including a: letter-fold, half-fold, z-fold, double parallel fold, right angle fold and baronial fold. Or if you need to fold a custom sized sheet of paper you can manually adjust the fold plates to produce almost any folding pattern that you can imagine.

Weaknesses / Limitations:

• The 1217a does not have a manual speed adjustment. If you want the ability to adjust the folding speed you need to look at the 2020VS which offers a similar feature set to the 1217a but includes a fully variable speed control. The ability to adjust the speed makes running glossy and coated stocks easier and can also help eliminate paper jamming issues and misfeeds.
• In order to feed paper into the 1217a autofolder you need to fan out the paper so that each sheet is separated from the next. This can be a little bit tricky. Many other larger paper folding machines do not require you to fan the paper for folding. It isn't a huge deal but it is slightly inconvenient.
• The Martin Yale 1217a is a manual setup paper folder. This means that you have to manually move the fold plates into the correct positions to change folding patterns. This can be a little bit difficult for inexperienced users, especially if you need to change folding patterns on a regular basis. If the fold plates are not set up correctly or are not completely square the paper folder may jam or cause the folds to come out crooked. If you expect that you will need to regularly change the fold plates and your operators are not mechanically inclined it may be a good idea to look at a larger auto setup folder such as the Martin Yale 2051 Smartfold.

Recommendation:

• The Martin Yale 1217a autofolder is what is sometimes referred to as a "bread and butter" folder. For years it has been one of the most popular folding machines chosen by quick printers, copy shops and in plant print shops.
• It offers the ability to fold large sheet sizes, heavy stocks and operates at high speeds. This makes it a great machine for medium to large sized churches, mailrooms and print shops.
• However, the fact that you have to manually set up the fold plates on this machine does not make it an ideal machine for applications where multiple fold patterns are required and inexperienced operators will be required to use the machine.

About The Author:
If you need more information or would like to purchase the Martin Yale 1217A Autofolder Heavy Duty Paper Folding Machine or any of the other Paper Folders that we carry please feel to visit our site or contact us with your questions.

This review was written by Jeff McRitchie who is the director of marketing for Mybinding.com. Jeff has written more than three hundred articles and more than two hundred reviews on Binding Machines, Binding Supplies, Report Covers, 3-Ring Binders, Index Tabs, Laminators, Laminating Supplies, Paper Shredders and Paper Handling Equipment