Introduction: Fast and Easy Hot Glue Book Binding
In this Instructable I will be sharing my experiences on using hot glue as the primary adhesive in making books. I must give much credit to DIY Bookbinding 's website for their initial inspiration in binding books.
Background (skip ahead if you just want to learn the steps!)
I became interested in bookbinding because I tend to read a lot of technical manuals in .pdf format. They tend to be several hundred pages long and are hard on the eyes to read on the computer. I purchased a Kindle DX to read them on, which was a real pleasure, but it was still very difficult to use the books as reference books. I finally realized I had to get the darn things in print! However, these books are not published anywhere and getting Kinkos to make them into books would cost 30-50 dollars a pop!! Ouch!
After looking into several different methods of printing and binding my own books, I recognized that most easy methods of book binding have several disadvantages.
1. They take FOREVER! I hate waiting for glue to dry.
2. The fumes make me want to pass out!!
3. They don't really work for large books (400+ pages).
So I finally started playing around with hot glue. The advantages of hot glue:
1. Fast drying
2. No fumes
3. Surprisingly strong if applied as outlined below
After ruining several good books, I finally have the technique down and I'm excited to share it with you! I hope it helps, and happy bookbinding!
Background (skip ahead if you just want to learn the steps!)
I became interested in bookbinding because I tend to read a lot of technical manuals in .pdf format. They tend to be several hundred pages long and are hard on the eyes to read on the computer. I purchased a Kindle DX to read them on, which was a real pleasure, but it was still very difficult to use the books as reference books. I finally realized I had to get the darn things in print! However, these books are not published anywhere and getting Kinkos to make them into books would cost 30-50 dollars a pop!! Ouch!
After looking into several different methods of printing and binding my own books, I recognized that most easy methods of book binding have several disadvantages.
1. They take FOREVER! I hate waiting for glue to dry.
2. The fumes make me want to pass out!!
3. They don't really work for large books (400+ pages).
So I finally started playing around with hot glue. The advantages of hot glue:
1. Fast drying
2. No fumes
3. Surprisingly strong if applied as outlined below
After ruining several good books, I finally have the technique down and I'm excited to share it with you! I hope it helps, and happy bookbinding!