These are low cost, economical non-adjustable, manual feed paper folders for low volume use. Typically single sheets of paper are manually fed into the machine and folded one at a time.  They can only create basic fold types (usually 'C' fold) and offer a small paper feed hoppers (up to 20-30 sheets). Great for occasional use and ideal for desktops.

Friction Feed

Friction feed paper folders are excellent folding machines. They use rollers to pull the paper into the paper folding machine to be folded. Friction feed folders offer folding options for all folding volumes.

Semi-Automatic paper folders are designed for medium to high volume workloads. The folding plates are either manually adjusted or dials are turned to cater for the correct paper size and exact fold-type required. Load a tray with a stack of paper and each sheet will be automatically fed into the paper folder using motorised friction rollers. These friction feed paper folders can only handle plain, non-glossy stock. Automatic paper folders are often capable of multiple fold types and in some cases may accept up to 3-5 sheets of stapled or unstapled sheets of paper at once.

Automatic paper folders are also designed for medium to high volume workloads. The paper folder automatically self-adjusts to the type of fold you set. Friction rollers automatically pull paper in from the feed tray and fold it. Other features may include automatic paper out, automatic jam detection and digital LED status displays.

What are the different types of paper folds?

Paper Folder jargon

Automatic feed - The paper folder automatically pulls paper from a pile rather than the user having to manually feed each sheet individually.

Bottom feed - Roller pulls paper from the bottom of the pile rather than the top. This allows you to add more paper while the machine is running.

Catch tray - Several paper folders have a catch tray. The catch tray grabs or catches the folded papers as they come out of the paper folder.

Feed tray - Paper is placed in the feed tray (paper tray) before it is folded. Different folding machines have feed trays which hold different paper capacities.

Fold range - Different folders have different fold ranges. The fold range is the amount and variety of paper sizes a machine can fold.

Fold speed - the speed at which the paper folder folds paper. This may be expressed as sheets per minute or more commonly sheets per hour. 

Folding plate - What the paper folder uses to fold paper. Some paper folders must have their folding plates manually adjusted by the user while others automatically adjust.

Gsm -  refers to grams per square metre. This is the weight of metric paper. An A0 sized sheet is defined as exactly one square metre. There are sixteen A4 sized sheets in a square metre. For example, standard copy paper is generally 80 gsm.

Manual feed - Paper loaded into folder manually one sheet at a time.

Paper tray - Paper is placed in the paper tray (feed tray) before it is folded. Different folding machines have paper trays which hold different paper capacities.

Paper weight - The weight of a paper is its thickness (see 'gsm'). Different paper folders are capable of folding different paper weights. All machines can fold 80 gsm paper.

Pass - When paper runs through a paper folding machine one complete time.

Perforate - Some paper folders have a perforating feature. Perforators punch small holes in paper that allow the paper to be torn easily.

Score - Some paper folders have a scoring feature. Scoring paper leaves a crease that allows documents to be easily folded.

Stack capacity - The stack capacity of paper is the amount of paper that can be placed into the paper or feed tray.

Top feed - Roller pulls paper from the top of a stack. Most paper folders feature a top feed.