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

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.

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.

The Star Plus manual binding machine was my first purchase of its kind. I went for the cheapest model ($60) because I wasn't sure how easy or practical it would be for everyday use... It just arrived and I am happy to report that I am in love! I remember using one of these in a grade school class once, it seemed huge and hard to use at the time. The Star Plus is very compact and takes up minimal space on my crafting desk. The Packaging: A The shipment arrived in a huge box but packed well enough that the box inside did not move around. Once I took the 2nd brown box out of the brown Amazon box, I was greeted with the ACTUAL white box of the binding machine nestled between two packing egg-cartons that kept it secure. There was not much inside, just the machine and 2 slips of paper (warranty and a very useless starter guide). The Machine: A- The Star Plus was surprisingly heavy for its size; a good thing. It gives off that feeling of "I'll last for years!" every time I touch or lift of pull on anything. The only thing I dislike is the high gloss finish on the white parts of the machine, but I'll get over it. I've also read reviews where this particular model does wear down over time for others... I'm not sure how heavy they used it, but I'll wait and see. From what I can tell from handling mine, I think it should last long enough to pay for itself. Instructions: F The instructions that came in the box are pretty useless. I went on YouTube and watched a 5 minute video to figure out how to use the machine. Ease of Operation: A+ My favorite part of the whole thing is how easy (and fast) it is for me to bind my own books. This is how simple it is to use: 1) Lift the handle and lid up 2) Slip the covers/papers into the slot 3) Pull the handle down and back up again to punch your holes 4) Place the comb behind the teeth and push it towards you so that they take up the space between each teeth. Make sure that the opening is facing up and that solid spine part is facing down 5) Pull the left lever toward you until it opens the comb wide enough for you to slip the paper in 6) Slip the punched papers into the teeth 7) Push the lever away from you to close the comb and finish binding I love that I can put a bound book back between the teeth to open and edit the pages freely! There is also a tray that holds all the punched mess. There are probably other features I haven't tried yet, but for now, this is all I need to get my book done in a couple minutes. The Cost: A+ Buying from Amazon was the best option. It was about 50% off retail. But more importantly, the component materials were also very cheap on Amazon. There were 8 sizes of combs available to my 150 page capacity machine. The first 4 boxes of 100 each were around $5 each. The other 4 boxes of 100s were about $10 each. They retail for about $15. I also ordered the clear plastic covers but may just look for some heavy cardstock to make my own covers in the future. This was a much cheaper alternative to the thermal (Helios) machines I was looking at. Those thermal covers cost so much! Plus, I like the ability to remove/add to my books with the comb system. And the fact that I don't have to plug anything in or worry about heating problems. If my Star Plus ever breaks down or if I ever feel the need to bind more than 150 pages at a time, I won't hesitate to purchase the higher models. Just wish I'd bought one of these things sooner.

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.

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.

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.

I am an elementqry school teacher and finally bought my own binder for my classroom. Our district did away with workbooks so we print a lot of copies of pretty much anything, from math problems to writing curricula. I use this binding machine almost daily to make booklets for my students. While it takes more effort than stapling papers together, it is much more durable and I am able to bind a whole mulitplication station or vocabulary sheets in one sitting instead of making copies after copies each week. I use cardstock for the front and back and design fronts ob Google slides that I then print so students can easily distinguish between packets/folders. Pay close attention to the comb size and when using cardstock, factor the thickness in as well. Other than that, I recommend buying the combs on amazon instead of the big box store that starts with office. The combs are much cheaper on here. I use a variety of sizes but I found 3/8 to be the most versatile so far. 1/4 is really too small to get anything on as 25 pages are a stretch. I really like the ease of use and that it is light enough to carry, yet still stable enough. One downside is the fact that it does not fit as many papers to punch at one time as advertised. I batch 5-7 pages at a time as this leads to fewer punching mistakes.

The price was right, so I tried out the Fellows Star 150 to punch holes on 2000 pages for a sales project. With just a little practice, watching your online video and reviewing the manual as I did each step the first time. I became very efficient over time. With lots of practice I became quick and accurate. I plan to store this gen nearby as I have a possible money make to do for myself. I make books for the grandkids and notebooks for myself to keep track of facts I loose, but need . It handles mid weight cardstock, 2 sheets at a time very cleanly, but one trick I discovered is a thumb on my right hand holding the cards down tightly makes for straight cuts every time. I marked on the lid with a silver marker where the cards should be placed so I didn't have to measure or guess. It was quick, strong, yet convernient with no plug to worry about. It is safe enough I taught our 4 and 8 year old grandkids how to safely use it with me assisting them. They loved it. I enjoyed watching them love it. After 2000 cards, it's a bit dusty, but no signs of wear. AND did I mention the price was great and a bonus of 100 combs came with this. I love it. L.Lynne