Fellowes Binding Machine Star+ Comb Binding (5006501), 3.1" x 17.7" x 9.8"

Homeschooling must have!!This is a 19 hole binding machine for standard letter size paper. I highly recommend it works extremely well! Some of the top positives of this machine is size, lid, compact, heavy duty, 2 hand punching handle, etc. I have only 1 negative and that is that it only goes up to 19 holes. If you plan to laminate the pages it will not fit in the machine to punch holes. You will need a cutter to trim the bottom of laminated projects to fit into the machine. If laminating you will also want to only punch one or two pages at a time. Photo attached to show how much needed to be trimmed off from each page, which isn’t a lot. So I still highly recommend even if you need to trim.

I needed to build a few manuals for work so I priced what it would cost to hire a print shop. At anywhere from $500-900 to print from a pdf file and bind the pages it was a little insane. I found this machine on my own and bought it based on the other reviews. It is an outstanding value. What it does is very simple; it just punches the holes in pages and holds the comb open to bind the pages. However, it does these things incredibly well. It is a very well built machines with all parts having a quality feel and nice finish assembly. The plastic is thick and high quality while parts (punching handle and comb retainer) that are subject to load are made of metal. You will get ripped off on the binding supplies like combs and covers since they mostly come in bulk quantities. My total project came in at under $150 with the machine, binding supplies, dividers, and fancy linen paper so I am not complaining at all. If you are a student or have kids in school this is a must have. It takes your work product to the next level making things look professionally produced.

I purchased this product to bind a cookbook I was making for our +50 church group. It worked as expected. Easy to operate and I like the compact design. I purchased the Fellows brand as i know that is a brand that produces quality products. I was 100% satisfied with this purchase.

Really debated whether getting this model or one of the cheaper non-brand comb binders that cost about half as much. I suspect you get what you pay for with this machine. I can't give you a direct comparison, but the Fellowes is quite heavy with a steel frame and a very secure hole punch mechanism. The comb binder works very smoothly.The 19 comb binding holes require a lot of force to punch -- you have to respect the limits of the machine. This one's rated at 15 pages but if you're doing heavy weight stock (I like 28 pound paper for sheet music), aim for 8-10 pages max. If you learn to use it efficiently, it's not a big deal to punch in 2 or 3 batches.For small reports, once you get the hang of it, punch + binding takes under 2 minutes.To get something stronger for larger reports you would need to spend a lot more money, several times the cost of this machine.

My first reaction, as an engineer, was "what a bizarre little machine". It's oddly designed, but in the end, it works well. The paper cutter loads into a top slot after you lift both the lid and the handle which almost interfere with each other. This was quite different from other machines I've used. You'll have to hold the paper with one hand to keep it from falling out of the slot, while you start the punching motion with your other hand using the handle. There are no paper support guides and gravity doesn't help you; it tends to remove the paper from where it needs to be. Does the paper stack belong in front of or behind the handle? I guess it doesn't matter. Once you try the punching process a few times, you'll soon have the hang of it. The instructions are truly terrible, as others have noted. Come on Fellowes! An intern there could document the instructions better in a couple of hours. The pictures are vague and useless. It took me a little while to figure out how to load a plastic comb into the comb-opening mechanism, to pull it apart for document loading. The instructions were totally useless for this purpose. I am pretty clever with mechanical things, and it took me a while to sort it out. I can imagine a rushed clerk in an office being confounded by it. The comb must feed in from BEHIND the vertical tangs, with the comb loops protruding through the spaces between the tangs. The open side of the comb must be up (not mentioned in the manual). You must then rotate the comb around a bit while pressing the comb into the mechanism (toward the user) until it seats deeply into the mechanism enough to allow the hooks to open the loops. Again, once you've done this a time or two, you'll know what to do next time; although it's still fidgety. The machine is designed to be stored horizontally or vertically, but in vertical mode you must slide it up against a surface, else the handle and lid will flop open. There is no closure latch.If I sound negative, I must say that I came around to finding this weird little machine to be quite acceptable. It did easily punch clean, well-aligned holes, as long as one loads only a few sheets at a time, per the specs. After getting acquainted with it, I am happy with it. It is very well made of quality metal and plastic materials. Looks like it will last a long time. The comb and waste trays are nicely done. So, overall, a positive review despite my criticisms. I'm glad I bought it for my occasional light-duty needs.

Years ago I bought a binding machine to use at school and it was hundreds of dollars. When I wanted one to use for Sunday school classes I dreaded the cost. I was pleasantly surprised at how the cost has come down all these years later! But does it work as well? Yes! I used it this week to assemble books for our preschoolers. We used card stock so I limited to punching five pages at a time. You can then add the pages together to bind all of them. It might have been able to cut more pages but it just wasn’t worth the attempt to me. We had a ten page book so it was easy to just divide in two. The top loading to punch is a little more awkward (to me) to load than the front but the small inconvenience is worth it for my purposes for the sleek fold down cover. Very easy to store.If you are using a binder constantly for a business or doing hundred page documents you probably would be happier with a more heavy duty machine but for home, school class, Scouts, etc this does the job.