All Metal Stapler

Details

A stapler pressed from cold-rolled steel sheet, with a hardened two-position anvil and a hardened spring steel wire spring. All metal is the most abused phrase in this aisle. It is printed on staplers whose visible shell is steel and whose base, magazine channel and pivot are zinc die-cast, an alloy that is cheap to cast and cracks at the pivot boss after a few thousand cycles, which is the single commonest way a stapler dies. It is also printed on staplers with a moulded magazine channel under a metal skin, where the staple track wears an oval into the plastic and the machine begins to jam every fifth staple. So this listing names the alloy in every part that carries load, and names the two parts that are not metal at all rather than letting the phrase cover them.

• Body, base, magazine and channel are all pressed from 1.0 mm cold-rolled low carbon steel sheet to IS 513, the BIS specification for cold reduced low carbon steel sheet and strip
• No zinc die-cast anywhere in the load path. No moulded channel under a metal skin
• The only non-metal parts are the base pad and the two thumb pads, and they are moulded rubber. That is the whole list
• Anvil is hardened steel with two positions, pinning and clinching, and it turns with a detent so it does not drift out of position under load
• Spring is hardened spring steel wire. Pusher spring force measured across 20,000 cycles with no measurable loss
• Nickel plated, coating thickness measured at 8 micron to ISO 1463, and 48 hours neutral salt spray to ISO 9227 with no red rust. A stapler lives on a desk under a ceiling fan in a humid town, and plating thickness is the whole of its corrosion life
• Capacity measured on 70 GSM sheets, which is the honest way to state it, because a capacity quoted on 60 GSM is a different machine. No. 10 does 20 sheets. 24/6 does 25 sheets. Heavy duty 23/13 does 100 sheets
• Jam rate under 1 in 500 across a 20,000 staple test, measured rather than claimed
• Staples: the No. 10 takes No. 10 mini staples. The 24/6 machine takes 24/6 and 26/6 interchangeably. The 23/13 takes 23/13, and also 23/8 and 23/10 for thinner stacks
• There is no BIS product specification for an office stapler, so what is named here is the sheet steel standard, the plating and salt spray methods, and a measured cycle test
• It is heavier than a plastic stapler by a lot. That is the trade: 340 g for the No. 10 and 1.1 kg for the heavy duty, and neither will slide across a desk when you press it