Polylith synthetic papers perform well with guillotining, slitting, die cutting, drilling, perforating, hole punching, grommeting, embossing, foil stamp or folding. Detailed processing recommendations are available upon request.

Guillotining
Polylith can be guillotined without difficulty to the same tolerances as paper. Blades should be kept sharp, and because of the compressibility of the material, light-clamping pressures should be used.

Die Cutting
Cutting dies with flame-hardened steel cutting edges up to 55 on the Rockwell "C" scale rather than the standard 45-- 48 used with papers are recommended. Use of base steel rule material supplied by material suppliers such as: Bohler (#75) and Sandvik (#XD-700) is best. The standard 60 degree included angle can be used when die cutting thin gauge film materials; 52 degree angle for gauges from 8 to 14 mil; long center bevel or 42 degree bevel is suggested for thicknesses over 14 mil.

Perforating
Polylith has an excellent perforation results range from 13 TPI to 70 TPI (ties per inch). Cuts must extend to the edge of the material to initiate tear.

Drilling, Punching & Cornering
Polylith can be drilled, punched and cornered. Cutting tools should be kept sharp as irregular cuts caused by blunt tools may greatly reduce initial tear strength. During drilling and cornering, it is important that a short dwell time be used in order to eliminate heat generation, which may cause fusion of the edge of the sheets. Drill bits must be kept sharp and do not exceed one-inch stack height when drilling.

Folding
Polylith can be folded like paper of equivalent bulk on normal sheet folding machines. For bookmaking, signatures of up to sixteen pages can be formed. However, if more pages are required, experimental trials should be undertaken.

Stitching
Polylith may be saddle stitched with wire or sewn on signature with sewing machines.

Scoring
Polylith performs well in most bindery operations; however, special attention must be paid to the fact that it does not accept conventional scoring methods like paper. It is important to ensure that scoring is performed in the cross machine direction as opposed to the machine direction.

Binding
Polylith can be used for case making through the use of plasticized animal glues or flexible synthetic emulsions. Special care must be taken where water is present, because the absorptive qualities are less. Polylith can be used as end papers, or alternatively, end-sheet papers may be bonded to the sheet covered cases.

Polylith can be used for perfect binding using suitable hot melt adhesive. The surface area for bonding may be increased by cutting a number of slots into the spine of the book. It may also be used for drawn-on covers. Polylith is suitable for ring binding; however the precautions given for drilling and punching should be observed.

Bonding
Polylith may be bonded to itself and to other substrates using various adhesives (synthetic, solvent or hot melt).

Heat-Sealing
Polylith is heat-sealable to itself. The heat-seal strength can reach 1563 grams at 150�C. Depending upon which grades are used, different heat-sealing processes can be applied.

Coatings and Varnishes
The following conditions and recommendations are a reference for the initial set up. Testing should be carried out prior to coating.