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OT: plastic ring binders

I picked up a 300 page manual on the wrong side. The self weight of the paper in freefall meant the spine unzipped leading to a cascade of loose sheets. a/ anyone know how to open up the spine, introduce the sheets and let it roll up again , without access to a binder machine. ? Doing each tyne, one by one, the self curve makes it want to break out of the punch holes and straightening destroys the binding action.

b/ this spine was in proper working order but any old broken ones I come across I will do the following as well as all thick/heavy manuals. Darning needle and some cable-loom lacing cord/tape threaded through the pages, looped a few times and knotted, when aligned with a couple of small screwdrivers, repeated a few places down the spine. Then replace the spine or a new one. Then it does not matter if the spine breaks or tries to unzip itself

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

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Reply to
N Cook
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It's called "plastic comb binding". 500 pages is the limit for plastic comb binding. If you pickup anything over about 250 pages by the backing, it will fall apart, especially if the cover and back are heavy cardboard. That's why I prefer Velobind. That doesn't happen. Someone makes very stiff plastic comb that does a better job with fat binding but I couldn't find it.

If you use lots of these, you might consider buying a machine. Search eBay for "comb binding machine". You can also find them at literally every copy shop or print shop. If you buy one, make sure it can handle 300 sheets. Some of the small ones will only do about 100.

Well, if you insist on doing it by hand... find two boards or stiff books that are the same size. Build a sandwitch with your 300 pages in between. Wrap with big rubber bands, straps, bungi cord, belt, or whatever it takes to keep everything in place. Align the holes. The idea is to keep the pages and holes all aligned, thus freeing both hands to uncurl the Velobind backing.

Next, find a stiff piece of metal, that will fit in one of the slots, that can be used to guide curly backing strip into the holes. A ground down kitchen knife should work. The rest is obvious and rather tedious. Use the stiff metal blade to straighten the curly strip and shove it PARTLY through the slot from the opposite side. I did a few like this with some success. Then, I bought a machine.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

For a one-off 'restore' like this, I'd simply employ a half dozen or more tie wraps and move on with my life.

I repaired a 200-300 page cookbook for the First Wife that-a-way and it is holding up well. (But, I did toss out the eggplant recipes...)

Jonesy

--
  Marvin L Jones    | jonz          | W3DHJ  | linux
   38.24N  104.55W  |  @ config.com | Jonesy |  OS/2
    *** Killfiling google posts:
Reply to
Allodoxaphobia

As others have said, there are various painful manual ways to do it, but most copy shops have the binder and replacment comb binder spines, and will do it for a price that should make you smile.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

Zip ties are a great idea. I'll try that if i ever have one of these fall apart.

Reply to
Michael Kennedy

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