BMS Manuals: Homemade Books!
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A few suggestions:
1. Make the “book” protrude from the binding device by about 0.5cm or so. Maybe even less if you’re brave! As you have discovered, this makes gluing easier.
2. I used to “score” the spine of the book with a hacksaw. About 1-2mm depth is enough and I would do 4-5 of these evenly-spaced along the spine. When applying glue, I would put several strands of thread into them.
3. After the first or second layer of glue (depending on how thick the application is), before it dries, I would put a bit of cloth over the spine. Something like gauze (google “gauze cloth” to see what I mean), although true craftsmen use something else. Anyway, this cloth would just be slightly wider than the spine and slightly shorter. I would work this into the glue, put another thin layer over the top, and wait for it to dry. Then I would trim off the excess gauze and threads.
4. Apply a few more thin layers of glue to the spine, then proceed with the rest of the binding process (depends whether going for softcover or hardcover)The whole idea there is that the ridges and the threads and the gauze reinforce the spine and also strengthen the bond between the paper and the glue/spine.
Hope that helps!
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-Ice that is great information! I will do that with the next manual!
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Excellent work.
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Very nice!
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I use Adobe Acrobat’s “booklet printing” feature to print a “half letter” size booklet on a b/w laser printer. After cutting the pages in half, I then use a hole punch and insert the book into a 3- or 7-ring binder. It has served me very well.
I have also picked up the half-letter sized sheet protectors from Office depot and used them with a single ring to keep my checklists and approach plates handy while flying. Just my two cents. -
+1 to the ring bind option.
While the perfect-bound version looks cool, when the updated manuals come out, you’ll have to re-print all pages and bind them again. With ring-bound stuff, just take out the “old” pages and replace them with the new ones and you’re done!
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To each their own! If the main manual and training manual get updated then I’ll make them into books. My charts book will be in a small kneeboard (also home-made) and use ring binders for storage. I’m betting I can get away with not having to print the whole book again for at least another year. Imagine if I had spent the $$$ for a Lulu book that went out of date! I like doing stuff like this so it doesn’t bother me to redo it even several times a year!
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Depends on how many times the PDFs get revised. BMS 4.33 might be updated 10 times but the PDFs only get revised once.
To each their own indeed! Good luck with the binding and continue to post pics!
If you plan to make your own hardcover versions, one very good advice – get a bone folder! -
Any suggestions where to find one?
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Usual stores that sell bookbinding equipment.
The reason I recommend it is because for so long I thought I could do without. Maybe use an old credit card or bit of cardboard… didn’t really know what I was missing until I got one.
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I’m about to post another completed book. Should I make it apart of the original post or just make it the next comment?
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Both! If the thread gets long, it can be hard to find where each update is. Alternatively people sometimes miss the first post having updated.
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As you have seen in previous posts, I have been working to get the largest of the manuals complete. There was really no complication and after looking at a few more tutorials on book making I made a slight improvement over my Training Manual results.
We pick up on this manual after the text binding was complete in Part #2:
I took the text block to Office Depot today and had the pages cut down to minimum dimensions keeping all printed area included. I think the cut worked out much better after binding the pages. I did notice the text block was bigger (about 2mm taller and 1mm wider) than the Training Manual but they are close enough that it will look great side by side.
I had the cover for the Manual printed on the heaviest photo paper available which made a very nice mat as a cover on the Training Manual. Only one extra print was needed to get the dimensions correct this time as I already knew what would need to be done. I slightly over sized the print because I found that even in Photoshop CS6 at Office Depot the layers had been combined (flattened) so I could not moved or adjust the type on the back of the manual.
When I got home I laid the text block on the cover, aligning the front cover and front side of the book to a flush fit. I used a pencil to mark the back of the binding. I then stood text block up and marked the width. You will get a jagged line while doing this so I used a ruler to give a clean straight edge for the scoring process.
Measure five millimeters from the scoring towards the end of the covers at both the top and bottom of the cover:
Mark the line with pencil then scored with five medium pressure passes:
The purpose of this 5 mm gap is to bind the cover to the front and back inside pages. This allows the book to hold shape better and keeps the binding more square over time.
Its time for glue again and a good thick bead of the PVA glue should suffice. Use the brush to get the glue fully to the edge of the 5 mm binding extension but stay on the inside of the line. Patience is key in this book making process and the more time you spend setting up and gluing properly, the better the result will be!
Set the bound edge first (just like the Training Manual) getting it centered and aligned before making the fold and binding the 5 mm extension. It will be important to note that for both manuals the scoring was more than enough to get the cover to fold properly while binding. No pre-bending was done to the edges before glue was applied. Bending the edges prior to the gluing could potentially cause problems as you will want the bend to perfectly match the actual book and not separate while gluing.
*Glue is allowed to tack up slightly before setting the text block inside. The time it takes to properly and carefully move the glue around with the brush is all the time that is really needed. Approximately three minutes passed while I worked the glue around which was nearly perfect as the glue was very tacky and ready to adhere to the text block quickly. Setting the text block quickly, without allowing the tackiness to build up, could lead to movement as you make folds and creases in the fitting process which will cause glue to smear and the binding could be weakened.
The back cover is slightly longer than is needed which is exactly what was planned. Take your pencil and very lightly run it along the overhung edge of the back cover. Place the straight edge between the back cover and the text block along the line. Run a sharp Exacto knife along the straight edge using light pressure for the first three passes. Medium pressure passes can now be done until the excess is cut off. If the top and bottom edge need more than 1 mm of adjustment it would be best to use the same method to correct the problem.
If less than 1 mm of overhang is protruding then a simple touch up with 220 grit or higher (i.e. 600/800 grit) will feather the edge down to size properly. I decided to sand the top and outside edges of the book as the cutter left very noticeable tooling marks. I placed the book in the vice with about 1/8th of and inch handing over the side for sanding. Placing a wood block that is slightly larger than the size of the binding helps to keep the binding intact while the press clamps the outer edge. The block is not seen but is used to protect the binding during each phase of sanding. I put a fresh piece of 220 grit sand paper on a Block Sander. Do not use power tools on books as monitoring precise pressure and depth can not be easily done.
After about 30 seconds of sanding the majority of the blemishes are removed. The cleanliness of the final product can start to be seen:
More sanding and feathering are done until the final edge was reduced enough to match all surfaces.
This process is repeated for each side of the book that needs a touch up. Here are several final photos of the Manual next to the Training Manual at my computer desk. The edges of the Training Manual have not been feathered and the difference can be seen clearly. The top and bottom edge of the binding looks about perfect!
Happy Hunting and Clear Skies!
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Two more books almost complete. I’ll post about them tomorrow!