Tool families/Tri-Creaser
Eliminate fibre cracking on your folding machine — for good.
The Tri-Creaser replaces the OEM scoring blades on your folding machine with Tech-ni-Fold's patented rotary creasing — producing a clean, cylinder-quality crease inline, on stock from 85–350gsm, at full machine speed.
In daily use on book and brochure covers, greetings cards, menus, mailers and leaflets — anywhere a folded, printed cover would otherwise crack along the spine.
See it run
Watch the Tri-Creaser at work
The problem
The problem we solve
It's late on a Friday afternoon and the bindery manager is starting to panic: his best operator still can't get a clean score on a four-page brochure after two hours of trying. The stock is printed solid black with the grain running against the fold, and no matter what he does, it cracks.
During folding, enormous stress is placed on the stock as it's forced through the plates. On UV-varnished, gloss-finished or toner-based digital work the outer coat simply splits and breaks — fibre cracking — and the heavier the coating, the worse it gets. The hard truth is that the scoring device supplied with your folding machine was never designed to stop it.
The factory method
The Tri-Creaser wayWhy the OEM way fails
Why the standard factory method falls short
Your OEM scoring tools have barely changed since folding machines first appeared in 1850 — and there are four reasons they will never stop your folded work from cracking:
- 1The steel blade is too destructive. It was only ever meant to indent pre-folded sheets. Used to crease single sheets it crushes, splits or cuts the fibres — UV and gloss stocks are especially prone, and dry, brittle toner-based digital stocks are often cut clean in half.
- 2It produces a V-shaped impression. All the pressure is exerted at the point of the V — a "ploughing" motion that creates a sharp ridge and breaks fibres along the centre of the score. A V concentrates the stress exactly where the stock will burst.
- 3It produces only one score setting. A narrow score for paper falls short on 350gsm cover. The operator is left balancing two collars by hand, somewhere between cutting the sheet and leaving a useless impression.
- 4It scores the inside of the fold. Steel scoring works from the inside out — but on single-sheet cover stock that isn't enough to stop the outside fibres bursting open, and the outside is the critical area.
Rotary scoring vs Tech-ni-Fold rotary creasing. Scoring creates a line or indentation to make folding easier, using an all-steel collar, blade and bosses; it's designed to prepare pre-folded paper for cross-directional folding, and on single cover stock the steel blade is simply too harsh — it produces a V-shape that crushes and damages the fibres. Tech-ni-Fold creasing instead forms a prominent, U-shaped fibre-stretch channel using stainless-steel components and specially formulated rubber creasing ribs; it's built to prepare heavily-printed covers and leaflets to fold without the ink cracking open. A combination of pre-set crease choices and patented rubber technology out-performs even flatbed cylinder creasing, in both speed and quality.
Independently researched
Our creasing-versus-scoring findings were compiled alongside research by Sappi Fine Paper Europe (Brussels). During folding, stress is placed on the stock as it's forced through the plates — and the thicker the coating, the more it splits. A steel score concentrates that stress at the point of a V and breaks the outer coat; the Tri-Creaser's rounded, deeper crease stretches the fibres instead, so cracking simply can't happen — regardless of grain direction.
How it works
How the Tri-Creaser works
Where a steel blade crushes the fibres, the Tri-Creaser uses a softer, patented rubber creasing rib that penetrates the stock up to three times deeper without splitting or damaging it. Instead of a sharp V-shaped score, it forms a rounded U-shaped crease that spreads the pressure evenly across the whole fold, forcing the material into the shape of the matching female channel.
It works the way a letterpress cylinder does — applying the crease directly on top of the area prone to cracking (the outside of the fold) and gently pushing the fibres back inside. The result is a perfectly formed bead, no cracking on the outside, and a cylinder-quality crease produced inline on your folding machine.
Good creasing needs the right width and depth for every stock — a setting for 100gsm paper falls a long way short on 350gsm cover. The Tri-Creaser has up to 8 pre-set crease options built in, so there's no guesswork. The operator simply matches a colour-coded creasing rib to its dot-coded female channel; all the thinking is already done. Changing from one crease setting to another takes seconds, and even your least experienced operator becomes an instant creasing expert.
Tech-ni-Fold borrowed the proven reverse-crease method from letterpress cylinder creasing: the crease is applied directly on top of the area prone to cracking — the outside of the fold — gently pushing the fibres back inside. A perfect bead forms on the inside, highlighted when the product is reopened, proving the crease has penetrated right through. It was the first time the cylinder-creasing method had been replicated inline on a folding machine.
The patented split creasing-rib technology lets the operator snap the right setting into the male hub without removing the device from the folding machine's exit shafts — so a change of crease style takes seconds and set-up times drop dramatically.
Three colour-coded creasing ribs cover the full range of stock that runs through your folding machine:
- Orange — 85–200gsm
- Blue — 170–270gsm
- Yellow — 250–350gsm
Match the rib to its dot-coded female channel and the right crease width and depth is set automatically — no experimenting, no guesswork. Changing from one setting to another takes seconds, so even your least experienced operator becomes an instant creasing expert.
The Tri-Creaser produces a crease as good as, or better than, a flatbed cylinder impression — the letterpress standard printers have always trusted — but produced inline on your folding machine, at full running speed, with no second operation.
Before
AfterWhat you get
Every Tri-Creaser delivers
- Completely eliminates fibre cracking on stock from 85–350gsm
- Produces a crease as good as, or better than, a flatbed cylinder impression
- Works just as well against the grain as with it
- Runs as fast as your folding machine can go — no speed limit (up to 30,000 sheets/hour on a Stahl folder)
- Sets up in minutes; change crease settings in seconds
- Pays for itself within 1–3 job runs
- Ends expensive outsourcing and cylinder time — you keep control of your own work
The Easy Fit "gripper-crease" adds depth and support — its more robust gripper-crease cushions uneven shaft pressure, adding greater crease depth and enhanced sheet support (a real help on lighter stocks that struggle on a letterpress cylinder), and lasts up to 75% longer than the previous model.
Folding stays 100% consistent with the crease — the deep, well-formed crease guides every sheet to fold exactly on the line, make-ready after make-ready.
It works just as well against the grain as with it — so cracking on centre spreads and covers running the wrong grain direction is no longer a gamble.
It runs as fast as your folding machine can go — up to 30,000 sheets an hour on a Stahl folder — with no speed penalty for creasing inline.
Set-up takes minutes and a change of crease takes seconds — the colour-coding does the thinking, so even your least experienced operator becomes an instant creasing expert, with no guesswork.
The payback
It pays for itself in 1–3 runs
The Tri-Creaser pays for itself within one to three job runs. One printer recovered their entire investment in four weeks and expected to save £20,000 over the following twelve months. Every cover you crease in-house is one you don't send out to a letterpress cylinder — no transport, no cylinder time, no waiting on another operation, and no risk of it coming back creased in the wrong place. You keep control of your own work.
Proven worldwide
What printers say
“Witherby's have purchased a full range of Tech-ni-Fold products over the years and I can honestly say they have paid for themselves many times over. The quality of the product and the results we have achieved on folders and Muller lines have been superb. I honestly cannot recommend these products highly enough.”
“We received the Spine-Creaser attachment this morning and it went right in without any problems. The before and after on the cover spines is so dramatic that everyone from our sales department is floored!”
“Just a line to say we have done two jobs using the CP Applicator. Delighted! Saved 15 hours work on the Heidelberg cylinder between them, and it frees up a man.”
“This is the first thing I've ever found that lives up to its billing 100%. I recently bought one to try — and now I have nine!”
“We have just completed our second job with the Micro-Perforator and have already recovered the cost we paid for it. Now we can complete work quicker, with superior results than previously, and with a lot more control.”
“We purchased the Tri-creaser Easy Fit in August and it has only taken us four weeks to recover our investment. Now that we know the system works so well we estimate that it may save us £20,000 in the next 12 months. We are looking to place an order for another three units in the next two months.”
For digital printers
Built for digital print finishing
For digital and sensitive stocks: the Tri-Creaser Advance. As paper and digital print have changed, a new problem has appeared — inside-fold toner flaking, where toner lifts either side of the crease line after folding, whatever creasing method is used.
The Tri-Creaser Advance is the world's first and only folding-machine solution designed to prevent fibre cracking on the outside of the fold and tackle inside-fold toner flaking at the same time. It uses softer, more gentle creasing ribs and a female hub fitted with double scoring rings that iron out the problem areas either side of the main crease.
It's available as a complete tool, or as an upgrade that works with your existing Tri-Creaser Fast-Fit or Easy-Fit male component — so your products look great on the inside and the outside.
Versions & fitting
Tri-Creaser versions
Tri-Creaser Easy Fit is the value version. Instead of the Fast Fit's split ribs it uses circular rubber creasing ribs loaded from a side storage channel in the male hub — which also houses two of the three ribs as spares — changed by opening the hub. It delivers the same high-standard creasing as the Fast Fit on 100–350gsm stock, but because operators may need to take the shafts out of the folding machine to insert the circular ribs, setting takes a little longer, which is reflected in its lower price.
How the Tri-Creaser Advance kills inside-fold flaking: its female hub holds a series of plastic double-scoring ribs that not only form the crease width but apply a light score either side of the underside bead — ironing out the fold areas that flake on digital stock. With three super-soft male creasing ribs and three female split double-scoring rings, it makes products look great inside and out.
The Advance comes two ways: a complete tool for first-time users, or an upgrade female that drops onto your existing Fast-Fit or Easy-Fit male component — so you can add inside-flaking protection without replacing what you already have.
Fits your machine
Engineered for the world's machines
We make a Tri-Creaser to fit machines from 37 manufacturers, including:
Risk-free
The Tech-ni-Fold five-tier risk-free guarantee — no one in the industry offers anything as powerful: 1. If our products are not as easy to use as we say, and don't save you hours of time, send them back for a full refund. 2. If our creasing products do not eliminate fibre cracking on materials from 85–350gsm, send them back for a full refund. 3. If after three whole months you are not satisfied for any reason — or no reason at all — send them back for a full refund. 4. If after 12 months the product hasn't saved you more than five times its cost, return it for a full refund (just photograph it on your machine first to show you tried it). 5. Every product carries a full 3-year workmanship guarantee — if a device malfunctions in any way in the first three years, we replace it immediately at no cost.