The Martin Yale 101 is a paper drill that can drill a hole in stacks of paper up to one inch in thickness. If you have ever seen a drill press in operation, you have the gist of how the 101 works. Paper drills are handy devices that enable users to place custom sized holes in virtually any location on their documents. The 101 is meant to be used in a smaller print and copy shop, on site document production floor, or a company mail room.
Strengths:
The 101 has a very nice clamping system in place, so that when we drilled our holes, the stack of paper did not move at all. This is a big help in ensuring accuracy and consistency.
Though the 101 does have a system of presets that allow the user to drill the most commonly used hole sizes and patterns, You can also manually adjust the 101 to drill holes anywhere you choose, on sheet lengths up to eleven and five eighths in length. Using this, we were able to easily drill any patter we wanted on our test sheets.
The 101 comes with a quarter inch drill bit, but you can order custom bits in sizes up to nine thirty-seconds of an inch in length. That gives you a lot of options.
Weaknesses:
As we stated above, the 101 is limited to drilling holes in stacks of paper up to one inch thick, and can only drill one hole at a time. While this is great for use in smaller productions, if you are going to be binding larger documents on a regular basis, you might want to find a drill with a higher capacity or multiple spindles.
Also as stated above, the 101 works like a drill press, and like a drill press, you will have to be careful of breaking or burning up the drill bits. These problems can generally be avoided if the user remembers to lube the bits regularly and to work slowly. Trying to drill the hole too fast will just cause problems. A recommended additional purchase is Drill Ease lubricant for use with your drill bits. You will probably also want to consider purchasing a drill bit sharpener to cut down on consumable costs with this system.
The quarter inch bit is included, but you are definitely going to want to pick up extra drill bits in different sizes, some extra drill blocks and lubricants. There is an accessory package that Martin Yale makes that is designed to go with the 101, and it is probably a must. It also might be a good idea to order these parts right when you order the 101 so you don't find yourself hung up on projects while you wait for parts to arrive in the mail.
Recommendation:
Drill Electric
If used and cared for properly, the 101 is a great entry-level paper drilling machine. Smaller businesses or business service shops will likely find that it suits most of their needs for smaller projects. If you are regularly going to want to drill stacks of paper that are thicker than one inch, or will need to drill more than one hole at a time, you might want to look for a drill with higher capacity.