Duct Tape Book Binding – Cheepo Delux

https://www.instructables.com/Duck-Tape-Book-Binding-Cheepo-Delux/

by Tomte • 4 years ago

213 73 4 years ago

desindol• 4 years ago

When I was in my printing apprenticeship we had to sometimes bind notebooks from Makulatur. We used the same method but with other ingredients there is special book binding tape made out of linen ribbon which makes the back more sturdy and is just as cheap as good duct tape.

throwanem• 4 years ago

The author isn't wrong about tight clamping potentially limiting glue penetration, but that's what edge preparation is for. In the books I've bound thus far, I first scored the binding edge in crosshatches with a carving tool, then brushed on a first layer of glue and pressed a strip of cotton roll gauze into it, and finally gave that a second layer of glue.

It worked pretty well; I rarely have trouble with pages coming loose or bindings cracking in the books I've made. I have a few ideas for how to further improve the result, but those will have to wait for when I find time to pick up the hobby again; lately the most I've done is quick stitched bindings for small booklets when I want to include some essay or article as a supplement in my diary.

For spines I prefer black bookbinder's tape. It looks more handsome than duct tape, and takes silver paint pen very well for titling.

hjkl02• 4 years ago

Agreed, I’ve done something similar and had great success. Book are still around after four years of pretty active use.

That said, I’m curious to try this process, which seems like it would go significantly faster and require less tools and setup.

samatman2• 4 years ago

I have a real soft spot for this kind of instructable, and I've done enough bookbinding to say that this one will work.

That said, let me present my decision tree for using duct tape:

   if not closet.gaffer_tape then
      if task.urgent then
         online.order(gaffer_tape)
         return closet.duct_tape or bail("ing wire")
      else
         return obtain(gaffer_tape)
      end
   else 
      return closet.gaffer_tape 
   end

masukomi5• 4 years ago

For those who might not have caught the subtle distinction on line 4

While the terms are frequently used interchangeably "gaffer tape" and "duct tape" are very different tapes with very different glues, and very different stretch properties, for very different use cases.

That being said, I'm curious as to how bailing wire would be used in this scenario.

Mezzie• 4 years ago

There are two main ways of book binding. One uses glue/adhesive, the other uses string/wire/tying. I'd assume the bailing wire would be used for the second type in a pinch if for some reason duct tape wasn't usable.

samatman2• 4 years ago

A universal solvent doesn't exist, but there are three universal solutions: duct tape, baling [not sic] wire, and WD-40.

None are very good at their job, as it happens.

injidup• 4 years ago

I would suggest vacuum bagging. I've used it to fix soles to shoes and surfboard fins. You can buy the vacuum bag cheap on Amazon. I would first loosely fix the block of papers together. Add glue and tape to the binding edge then stick it in the bag, suck out the air and let atmospheric pressure fix it nicely.

kragen2• 4 years ago

Is this an alternative to the duct-tape method? Will the glue dry inside the bag?

khobragade2• 4 years ago

An alternative to the clamps! I think the glue will dry without issues, though it can make a mess if there's too much.

masukomi5• 4 years ago

gotta say, while a decent instructable, the completely unnecessary use of the r word near the beginning really turned me off. Almost stopped right there.

ftkftk• 4 years ago

Agreed.

krastanov• 4 years ago

This is probably a bit of a cultural difference. Not every English-speaking country considers the word "retarded" an ableist insult (as in, for many it has nothing to do semantically or etymologically with differently abled people). Same as the way Australians use the word "cunt" very differently than Americans.

ZeroGravitas• 4 years ago

Another related example is "spaz" which in UK English is basically synonymous with "retard" as used in US English.

As wiktionary notes, the offensiveness even within countries is variable:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spaz

But if you're writing for the wider english-speaking/reading internet, you probably want to be aware of these things to avoid unintentional offence, just as I assume Australians modulate their usage of 'cunt' for different audiences online.

corrral• 4 years ago

It's a pretty damn recent shift even in the US. Tons of movies from the 00s up to the early part of the 20-teens still used it freely and there was no major uproar over it—in general, no-one thought anything of it. Practically no-one bothered to write "r-word" when discussing it rather than just using the term.

It can be jarring to hear in otherwise tame movies, now that we're conditioned to shun the word, but I'm pretty sure that conditioning is something that only a minority of people in the US have been exposed to, even today. Mostly those of us who are online too much, probably. Outside that sort of bubble I'm not sure how "problematic" it's actually considered to be, by the average person.

mhb• 4 years ago

"reports"?

the_third_wave• 4 years ago

Denim - from old trouser legs - is another good and long-lasting material for binding books. Back in the days of tractor-fed 9-pin dot matrix printers I made a number of books this way using a home-made book press, a bottle of PVA wood glue and strips of denim. These books still survive after some 35 years, the denim/PVA glue combination keeps up well without cracking or tearing.

codazoda• 4 years ago

For booklets, see 360 degree staplers.

You’re welcome.

bewaretheirs• 4 years ago

Or saddle staplers.

falcolas2• 4 years ago

When applying the glue, fan the spine end out by bending the pages out to one side, glue, then the other side, more glue, then clamp. That gives the glue more surface area to adhere to, making for a longer lasting binding.

The technique is called the double fan method, and would work fine with the rest of the techniques here.

yohannparis• 4 years ago

I think that's why they referred to in: > Step 3: Its All in the Flippidy Flap Flap

horsawlarway2• 4 years ago

Yeah... they said that, and then provided basically no details on what was actually meant in "the most important step".

ycombinete• 4 years ago

Yeah I came to the comments hoping someone could explain that. He was so busy trying to sound cute that he ended up unintelligible.

CodeWriter23• 4 years ago

Binder Clips is the correct term for the “lever clip thingies”

adhesive_wombat3• 4 years ago

Also called "Bulldog clips" in the UK.

gaetgu• 4 years ago

I live in the US but I have always called them/heard them called "Bulldog Clips" as well.

adhesive_wombat3• 4 years ago

This is brilliant. I've been planning to print and bind some old journals from the Internet Archive and other places (eg Analog Dialogue), and I've been putting it off because I couldn't bring myself to set up for more involved binding methods.

But as other comments say, I may go with the purpose-made spinetape and maybe a cardboard cover (but then I'll start procrastinating over cover design!)

aetherspawn• 4 years ago

I have always borrowed the sewing machine to bind small books quickly. It takes about 1 minute, less messy then glue perhaps, and doesn’t need to dry.

You can tape over the stitch if you don’t like the look of it, but I personally like the texture.

londons_explore4• 4 years ago

Paper destroys sewing machine needles. They get blunt and then you'll have jams and knots everywhere before long. Make sure you have a spare for actual sewing before doing this...

kevin_thibedeau• 4 years ago

You should use a tripoint needle typically sold for leather stitching to cut through paper. Regular needles are designed to push through a material that can be locally deformed with minimal resistance. It stresses consumer grade machines to shove a fabric needle through a non-fabric material.

esarbe• 4 years ago

Is there anything like instructables but for electronics? I did electrical engineering basics years ago but never really did anything with it. I'm looking for something to play around with leds and little motors and maybe some PV cells.

Any hints?

londons_explore4• 4 years ago

There are plenty of electronics projects on instructables. Or tiktok

meatmanek• 4 years ago

hackaday.io has people showing off their projects in a different but similar way (though usually people on hackaday don't write step-by-step instructions.)

bschne• 4 years ago

Oh man this brings backs memories! When I grew up, we had this one book with all kinds of DIY home improvement and house-building instructions I loved to leaf through. It got so much use (and I think had already been passed to my family used!) that it completely fell apart multiple times. We sort of re-bound it with a similar method involving glue and some kind of reinforced transparent adhesive film more than once!

xbar2• 4 years ago

I had a similar feeling: my original Deities and Demigods book endured a lovely duct tape re-binding.

fatbird4• 4 years ago

As someone who just completed my third and fourth courses in fine leather binding, I can say with authority that this is a very quick and sensible method of making a durable binding for this level of value. As Falcolas noted, this is partway to doing a double fan method, which specifically allows for the glue penetration the author is looking for.

What the author could also do is get some board (like, say, the cardboard on the back of legal pads), clamp all that together prior to gluing, extend the spine an inch off a countertop with heavy books on the rest of the book block to hold it still, and then use a hacksaw to saw into the spine at intervals, about 1/32nd of an inch deep, crosswise to the spine. Take a piece of thread, dental floss, or fine string, and after gluing, press it into the first channel, loop back into the second, then the third, etc. Wipe excess glue and then put the duct tape over the spine, pressing it down evenly--THEN you fold the tape over the front and back at the same time, taping down the thread loops to the front and back of the board. Now you have a semi-hardcover, depending on the thickness of the boards.

Note that the duct tape adds little to the structure. You could also use a piece of cotton or linen in its place, you just have to glue it down to the front and back. This would be stronger, longer term, because PVA will hold better than duct tape adhesive over the years. If you do, cut the cloth "on the bias" meaning at 45 degrees to the weave. This prevents fraying and increases overall strength, for the forces it will encounter. If you do this, you can add another layer of PVA to the spine on top of the cloth, which increases strength.

My wife is a teacher and we created something like this as an exercise for all of her art students to make their own journals, with the final step being covering it with kraft paper. They loved it, used it for their art journals all semester, and asked to do it again at the end so they could have another.

If you get the basic assembly and gluing right, you'll be very surprised at the durability of something like this, including a lot of punishment like opening the book flat and using your hand to "break" the spine. It'll hold together.

mongol2• 4 years ago

Does this hacksaw trick have a name? Would like to Google it to see if I can find it illustrated

fatbird4• 4 years ago

It's called "sawn-in cords", as in using a saw to make a channel to hold the cords. It was a very common technique in the 18th and 19th centuries in fine binding that allowed for faster sewing of the text block; the cords would be thicker hemp or linen cords, to which the boards of the book would be attached.

In "perfect binding", which is the name for the overall class of binding the linked article is describing, where individual sheets are glued together along one edge, it's still called sawn-in cords for lack of a better name. It's not a typical addition in perfect binding, but it's exactly the same technique with the same purpose: adding cords to increase strength.

Here's a video of a well-known binder, Sage Reynolds, doing it as I described it for a perfect bound book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMXHmXSYXso

JustSomeNobody• 4 years ago

I have a stapler that will go through about 120 sheets. I'm not printing anything longer than that usually.

It's not quite as pretty as duct tape, but it's fine for me.

cptskippy5• 4 years ago

When I worked at Office Max 24 years ago, they had a printing machine from IBM that looked like a photocopier with a PC on top. It took cassettes of wire and made it's own staples. I don't recall what the page limit was but I feel like it was several hundred pages.

tartoran2• 4 years ago

I staple as well but never go more than 30-40 pages and with double sided printing (sometimes 4 pages in one) gives me enough to read on the go. I like the format because it can take any abuse or scribbling and is just a print away from getting a new one.

xyclos• 4 years ago

I was in cub/boy scouts as a kid. One of the first things I did when I got my handbooks was cover the existing binding in duct tape. I even managed to get beige tape to match the color of the boy scout one. Many of the other kids had books with pages falling out of the binding. Mine, on the other hand, held strong. About 20 years later, I still have the books in decent condition with their original duct tape bindings.

adhesive_wombat3• 4 years ago

Similarly, I used to cover school books in brown paper and then over the top of that with sticky-backed plastic, which turn stuck Doreen only on the insides of the cover. Because it wasn't actually attached to the outside of the cover like just the plastic would be, and it would not tear like only brown paper (the actual required method) it formed an incredibly tough, slightly cushioned protective layer. Only my books came back at the end of the year without dog eared covers and dented spine ends.

One teacher had a moan because it wasn't strictly regulation but even they had to eventually concede it was a lot better.

dragontamer• 4 years ago

2-punch hole is my favorite cheepo book binding technique.

This duct-tape thing still requires a bit of manual effort. 2-hole punch is a bit less popular (3-hole punch is everywhere), but 2-hole punch is smaller: both the binding clips and the punch itself is just more compact.

2-hole punch has two choices: the "long-side" 11.5-inch binding like a more normal book, or the "top-side" 8-inch. The standard clip works in both positions quite well.

tartoran2• 4 years ago

I like it too especially for the reusable hardcovers. But glue bindings are quite more portable and could take more abuse. The punch holes take in some stress if you fuss a lot with the pages. For smaller booklets I just staple them together on the margin with like 12 staples 5mm from the edge. I often double side print myself a few articles or tutorials to read on the go and stapling never let me down.

hjkl02• 4 years ago

Worth noting, this is “loose leaf” binding - every paper is individually glued to its neighbors. Books are normally bound in booklets, with two pages on each sheet of paper, which is then folded in the middle. This requires that the pages be printed in a specific order, but many publishing tools support this, it’s usually called “imposition” or simply “booklet”. These booklets are then sewn and pasted together into books, but a very quick and easy thing you can do at home is use a booklet stapler with a swinging head, like this: https://a.co/d/bYfZUjj Booklets stapled in this way can open fully flat with no risk of damaging the binding.

Edit: Typo

Duct Tape Book Binding – Cheepo Delux

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