Heat Sealed Covers

Heat sealed covers, also referred to as "welded" or "welded-edge" covers, can be an economical alternative to the more expensive turned edge, flush stitched or turned & stitched designs. The cover and liner materials are electronically sealed or "welded" together with binder's board in between.

One advantage of heat sealed covers is the availability of a number of exotic patterned materials that aren't suited to other methods of construction (see the "About Materials" section below).

Insert dimensions shown are height by width.

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Also available...

Cut and seal placemats in oval and octagonal shapes.

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Heat Seal vs. Cut and Seal

When expanded supported vinyl is used as the cover material, the process is then referred to as "cut and seal". Technically, the term "seal and cut" would be more accurate. After the cover and liner are welded, a sharp steel cutting rule is hydraulically forced down around the perimeter of the cover to cut through the backing of the supported vinyl and form the finished edge of the cover.

Cut & seal covers are more expensive than the heat seal equivalent - the exact price depends on the specific cover material used. The Sonoma and Napa covers shown above are available in both heat seal and cut and seal construction.

About Custom Sizes

Electronically welded covers utilize steel-rule dies to seal the cover and liner materials together. Each size and panel configuration requires its own die. Modifying existing dies to manufacture a custom size is not practical - the cost of such a modification would, in many cases, be greater than the cost to manufacture a custom die.

Making custom dies is a relatively expensive process (a die may cost several hundred dollars, depending on its size and complexity). For this reason, small orders for custom size welded covers are generally not cost-effective. If you're locked in to a small quantity of a custom size cover, you may want to consider another construction method that doesn't require this type of expensive tooling.

About Materials

Our standard cover and liner material for heat sealed covers is solid color 14 gauge unsupported vinyl in industry-standard suedene and French calf grains. If your cover artwork specification calls for debossing, expanded unsupported vinyl may be used as a cover material. The cost will fall somewhere in between standard 14 gauge heat seal and the more expensive cut & seal cover. Please contact our office for prices and material availability.

Other material options include 12 and 14 gauge print finish materials as well as a wide range of marble, holographic and other more exotic patterns (two of these materials can be seen in the photo at the top of this page). Again, please contact us for prices and material availability.