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Duct Tape Book Binding - Cheepo Delux

Duct Tape Book Binding - Cheepo Delux
Quick and dirty, "cheepo delux" way of binding papers and reports in your home or office.

Save resources by saving gas, electricity and materials that are necessary for binding books together.No power tools, no trips to the store, no exotic materials. Impress your friends and peers, relax your mind, contribute to the instructables way of life, by adding your own enhansements to your very own, 5 minute, completely in-office/house binding method.

I often have papers that I cannot bind together with staples, because there are too many pages and the stapler is retarded. We have a power stapler in the office that will staple 200 pages together, but I dont like the fact that you loose the ability to open the paper or report with the pages fully extended.

Also, I'm finishing my thesis soon and I want to bind it myself, since I've been infected with the instructables way. But for starters I thought I'd tidy up some of the papers I have lying around and practice so I can improve on my binding skills.

This is the quickest, cheapest binding method that gives surprisingly sturdy results. None of these quick bindings have ever come apart, and they dont seem to want to in the future either.

In the next step, I list the things you need to prepare >>
 
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Step 1Things you Need

Things you Need
«
  • Duct Tape Binding 01.jpg
  • Duct Tape Binding 02.jpg
Things you will need:

1. Duct Tape. I like the silver kind with the threads. There is a black variety that would look cool too. Whatever you have around will do fine.
2. Elmer's Multi-purpose, or Wood Glue. Both these worked the same. The wood glue looked a bit yellow, that might help you achieve a vintage effect, if you care about that. The all-purpose was just fine for all my attempts.
3. Scisors and/or X-acto-Knife. Something that you can cut paper and duct tape with.
4. Lever paper clip things. I have no idea what they're called. Check the image. I use them to hold the book together while the glue is drying.
5. Ruler. Because they rule!
6. Some Thicker paper, if you want to make covers.
7. 5 minutes of your time.

Sorry about the nasty pictures - only had my phone camera available.

Next we get into a bind :) >>
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32 comments
Aug 21, 2011. 1:27 PMsforthewright says:
I'm wondering - Why not just print on the cardstock cover rather than cut the title gap?
May 2, 2010. 7:13 PMcamelsamba says:
Very entertaining instructable, plus it is just the approach I was looking for! (no stitching)
May 2, 2010. 7:10 PMcamelsamba says:
What, they don't warrant the tough edges? Don't you think they are going to be thumbing through it endlessly? :^)
May 2, 2010. 7:06 PMcamelsamba says:
Universe is still expanding - and that's WHY I am happy! :^)
Sep 23, 2009. 2:51 AMseck13 says:
Sep 15, 2009. 7:46 AMjrobinson says:
This is a great instructable. Not only was it informative and inspiring, but it also made me laugh. I enjoy laughing and learning. And duct tape was involved! YES!
Aug 5, 2009. 7:09 PMRotten194 says:
So i guess your thesis is on Physics then ;).
Jul 25, 2009. 12:23 PMstephNY says:
The clips in question are called "Binder clips" in the US. They do tend to indent, but scraps of cardboard from old pizza or facial tissue boxes placed between the clip and the paper (not in contact with the glue) will alleviate this problem, and actually make the binder clips grip just a tad tighter, as well. In fact, using two long strips of scrap cardboard long the binding edge will probably make the whole edge more secure, since the glue will spread more evenly inside the spine.
Jul 25, 2009. 12:37 PMstephNY says:
Great 'ible! I've been trying different methods of binding for scrap pads and small note and art pads, and I've been looking for something simple like this. I do have two ideas to add, though. 1- On your final images, the front bound edge looks a bit wrinkly. For a scrap pad, that's cool, but if you're presenting this to professors, they might be put off. I suggest binding the book face-down, since the bottom edge is manipulated less, and will maintain it's straightness. 2- If you are binding a book that is meant to be read, make sure you have each page numbered when you print it! Since we're using white glue or wood glue, we have no idea how long it will last compared to bookbinder's glues. I'd hate to think that ten or twenty years down the road, you pull out your thesis and it falls apart, and you have no way of re-ordering the pages!
May 26, 2009. 1:25 PMhydrnium.h2 says:
This doesn't seem like it would work on anything thicker than, say four inches.
May 30, 2009. 4:46 AMUltraMagnus says:
if you really need to bind something that thick 0_o then seperate it into volumes!
May 16, 2009. 9:58 AMAlpha2904 says:
Oh the lever paper clips are called binder clips just for your knowledge. Great Instructable by the way +5!
Apr 27, 2009. 10:37 AMSylverX says:
"I originally made a cover by destroying a file folder, but didn't use it in the end. Next day I found some thick paper to do the job."

Try them! I'm interested in the results. . .
SylverX
Apr 7, 2009. 1:35 PMSylverX says:
Wow! This is a GREAT instructable-it is awesome. I may have to show this to my mom, who does a lot of trainer things. She would LOVE to be able to make these! SylverX
Mar 27, 2009. 2:13 PM15zhangfra says:
I WASTED 40 SHEETS OF GOOD QUALITY PAPER!!! so here's my question, what prevents your glue from gluing everything but the spine?
Mar 29, 2009. 2:51 PM15zhangfra says:
i see, and i thin k i know how it happened. when i was applying my glue i made sure that my paper was even, and i pressed hard so that the ends got sorta opened, in other words each sheet had a gap, just big enough to let the glue drip (cascade) through
Mar 30, 2009. 1:13 PM15zhangfra says:
thnx, and this time im going to use junk paper : P
Mar 23, 2009. 3:45 AMGorfram says:
(Ranting in Return)

1) Okay, you're a Math Guy, and they told us in back Engineering School that Math People are generally so involved in Deeply Conceptual Thought that they can't be expected to know things like the difference between efficiency and effectiveness, but I guess I'm just feeling grumpy tonight...

...Say that a direct descendant of King Cnut gets his hands on the most efficient water pump ever to exist in the universe, and takes it down to the beach at low tide. He gets the pump going and sets it to pumping water back out to sea. This is very efficient: he's getting a remarkably high water flow rate per unit of energy expended; but it is not at all effective: the tide is still coming in.

...Elsewhere, a direct descendant of Guy Fawkes lights a cigarette in a Non-Smoking Area. The authorites respond by turning on the building's fire sprinkler system, thoroughly dousing the cigarette, Fawkes's hapless progeny, and everyone and everything nearby. This is very effective: the cigarette is well and thoroughly out; but it is not at all efficient: there are ways to fully extinguish a cigarette that take considerably less effort & expense.

B) "...Optimize everything around you, every single action or utility..."
Um, that seems like kind of a tall order to me. In order to do that - or even to be capable of doing that - one would have to be Frank and/or Lillian Gilbreth, the world's best programmed robot/automaton, or a Bodhisattva.

III) Maybe it's just me, but the image above doesn't look so much like the result of inefficient science (US EPA standards relating to toxic materials, for instance, demonstrate that sort of thing very nicely) as that of a sudden suspension of the laws of gravity and friction during a stage production of Pink Floyd's rock opera "The Wall."

Hmm... "Do Not Deliberately Concentrate and Inhale" may be good advice even if there's no glue in sight. :) :) :)
Mar 24, 2009. 3:47 PMGorfram says:
First off, the First thing I should have said in my First comment:

Congratulation On Finishing Your Thesis!!!


I did a Master's Thesis once (way back in the era when people still thought that digital watches were a pretty neat idea), and have watched any number of friends and colleagues struggle with Doctoral Theses to the point where they would happily have changed places with Sisyphus. So, Congrats! Have a (virtual) pint on me! :)

I guess the idea of wanting to optimize everything in sight made me think "Math Guy." That, and as a Mechanical Engineer, I tend to think of Physics as involving things tangible enough that they could be dropped on one's foot, possibly with unpleasant consequences for said foot.

Glad you "like the way my mind works" - not everyone is, er, entirely prepared to appreciate it. :) It's nice to find someone to whom I can put something as technical as effectiveness vs. efficiency in terms of something as culturally abstruse (on this side of the pond, anyway) as King Cnut vs. the incoming tide. It'd be fun to be friends.

This site is great, although I'm finding it very addictive both to read and to dream up potential/planned/draft Instructables to write for. (I currently have 6 'ibles in the germ-of-an-idea stage and six in draft. I've published two, but neither one is going to knock anybody's socks off.) I've had to take an early retirement due to some rather troublesome health problems (nothing life-threatening, just boringly bothersome), and this gives me a chance to stretch my engineering/technical brain muscles.
Mar 26, 2009. 1:46 PMGorfram says:
I think the local vitual pub is called the "Private Message," I'll meet you there. (I'll be the one wearing the virtual pocket protector. :) Never did discover smoking, as I have always had a strong allergy to tobacco. Cannabis is priced beyond my range and I never did see the point in smoking cloves, so whatever oral fixation I might have had has fallen into disrepair. As for women - what may not be obvious from my screenname or chosen profession is that I discover at least one woman whenever I look into the mirror. In re the sex opposite to mine, a neighbor who hadn't seen me around the place recently (I was around, she just hadn't seen me) joked that she might have had to call the firemen and have them break down my front door to see if I was all right, and we agreed that having my apartment filled with hunky young men elbowing each other out of the way to check my vital signs might not be all bad. (That does make it sound like a little rediscovery might be in order, doesn't it? (No need to worry for yourself, though, protected as you are by the width of an ocean, the breadth of a continent, and the strength of a wedding ring.))) I am running very low on vices these days - never did smoke, and non-virtual drinking is heavily restricted by aforementioned physiological annoyances, leaving me only with cussing a brilliantly blue streak from time to time. I may have to make up the lack by buying one for my worktable, where it would also be very handy for clamping things down securely. ;)
Mar 23, 2009. 2:07 AMGorfram says:
"Lever paper clip things" are also known as "binder clips (but "lever paper clip" does have a nice ring to it. :)

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