DIY Book Binding Equipment - Binding Jig For Perfect Bound Books
There are a lot of options available on the market for perfect bound bookbinding equipment. Most are expensive and geared toward companies running fulltime binderies. Others are pitched at the business market and focus on creating bound reports. There are even a few binding solutions aimed at small operations looking to create short runs of perfect bound books. But, they all cost thousands of dollars.
My first experiments in bookbinding involved some extremely low-tech bookbinding tools - paint stirrers and binding clamps. It was tricky to get the pages lined up, position the stirrers, and get the clamps on and they got in the way when applying glue. Finally, there was no good way to add the covers. I needed a better solution.
An important resource in my bookbinding journey is Nathan DeStephano’s Easy Bookbinding course. In addition to all of the information about designing, formatting, and printing books, he includes detailed instructions for a bookbinding jig that is cheap and easy to make. In my research I had seen a few similar products, such as the $135.95 version sold by GigaBooks, and decided to come up with a version of my own.
The main difference between my bookbinding jig and others available is that I made mine entirely out of scrap lumber (I’m a cheap guy!!!) The whole thing cost just a few dollars for the metal hardware. The first day I tried it I made 2 books - with covers - that were much better than any others I had made previously. The pages were all properly aligned, the spines were properly compressed for gluing, and the covers fit perfectly.
A bookbinding jig doesn’t have to be overly complicated. It’s main purpose is to provide 2 surfaces that are aligned at a 90 degree angle to make it easy to square up the pages you are gluing together (a process known as jogging), and clamping down the spine edge during gluing to keep the pages compressed together and stable as the glue is applied and dries.
I made all of my critical measurements by laying a sheet of paper from a project onto the main board and tracing the edges. From there I was able to work out the placement of the page guides and the press bar.
Here is a look at the jig in action as I bound my first book. The book block and cover are in the jig and the press bar is clamped down. I applied glue, folded over the cover, and let everything dry.
For this test book I used 5 minute epoxy for the glue and it produced a very sturdy binding - it’s just a little difficult to work with given the fast set time.
I hope these pictures provide inspiration for you as you design your own bookbinding jigs. If you are interested in a more detailed plan for how to create a jig, please leave a comment below.
If there is enough interest, I’ll draft a detailed set of plans along with assembly instructions and a materials list, and maybe even put together a demonstration video to show how to assemble everything and create a book.
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13 Comments on DIY Book Binding Equipment - Binding Jig For Perfect Bound Books »
July 14, 2008
Books and Magazines Blog » Archive » DIY Book Binding Equipment - Binding Jig For Perfect Bound Books @ 9:49 pm (Pingback)
[…] Original post by DIY Bookbinding […]
July 26, 2008
DIY Bookbinding » Bookbinding Demonstration - Glue Bound Paperback @ 10:45 pm (Pingback)
[…] jig to help speed up my efforts when creating paperback books (you can read more about the bookbinding jig in this article.) It worked extremely well (I’ve made 7 books so far) and I have been having […]
July 29, 2008
Louise @ 9:38 am:
Hi there,
It would be great to have plans to build a book binding jig like the one you show in your video. Any possibility of this?
Thanks,
Louise.
July 30, 2008
admin @ 1:46 pm:
Louise,
I’m thinking about putting together a set of plans and a video tutorial for building and using a bookbinding jig. Partly it’s a matter of time (a fulltime job, part-time business, pregnant wife, and 18 month old daughter don’t leave much time for new projects.)
I’ve also been doing more research to determine if there are improvements I can make to the basic design to make it easier and faster to use - without making it too complicated to create.
If you subscribe to the email update list (upper right side of this page), you’ll get an email when new content is published. Otherwise, check back with the site or subscribe to the RSS feed to get the latest information on this site.
Thanks for leaving a comment,
Andrew
August 6, 2008
Lacey @ 1:14 pm:
Just what I’ve been looking for! I think I’ll try to build one this weekend. Thank you!
admin @ 2:05 pm:
Lacey,
I’m glad you like this. If you haven’t already seen my Bookbinding Demonstration Video, make sure to check it out. It shows this jig in action as I bind up a paperback.
Just this morning I got an inspiration for a revised version with a few improvements. Don’t know when I’ll get access to a wood shop to build it, but the basic idea is down on paper so I won’t forget.
Have fun building your jig this weekend,
Andrew
August 12, 2008
sharon @ 1:15 pm:
Greetings! I made the jig and it came out great. My only problem if when I moisten the edges and apply the glue after it dries the back page is always loose when I open the book some of the pages want to break apart.
Help!
Enjoy The Day!
Thanks for the Jig
admin @ 1:56 pm:
Sharon,
Congratulations on building your own binding jig. You will definitely experience an improvement in the quality of the books you are able to make.
Since I wrote the first tutorial on bookbinding, I have stopped using Gorilla Glue (it’s too stiff and stains the cover paper) and also stopped wetting the book spine before applying the glue. If you are concerned about the glue adhering to the spine, get some course sandpaper or a steel brush and roughen up the paper to open up the fibers and create more gluing surface.
For the past 6 or 7 books I’ve made, I switched to PowerPoxy contact cement or 5 minute epoxy. I work the glue into the paper edges before folding over the cover and the results have been excellent. Check out my Video Demonstration of How To Bind a Book to see my current process in action.
One thing that might not be immediately obvious about the jig is that the depth of the paper backstop is positioned to allow the spine to stick out about 1/16″ - 1/8″ from the clamped edge so you can get the glue all the way to the edges without gluing the book to the jig (when I used the paint stirrers I was always getting bits of wood stuck to the spine that had to be trimmed away.) You could probably open up the gap even more and still get a tight spine.
I’m currently in the process of writing a comprehensive revision of my bookbinding process and creating detailed plans for the jig in this article and another design I’ve been working on. The whole thing will be part of a self-published book and I plan to hand-bind, number, and autograph the first edition.
I’m pretty far along in the writing and plan to publish excerpts of the book on this site as I go along. If you want to get updates on my progress and announcements when I post new articles, join the update list using the form in the upper right side of this page.
Thanks for writing in about your success,
Andrew
sharon @ 6:03 pm:
Greetings!
Thank You for your reply and update. when I printed my book on word it printed to where I have to cut the pages ie they are not folded.
will this work as well as the folded on?
Thanks Again.
admin @ 7:41 pm:
Sharon,
You shouldn’t have any problems if the spine consists of cut edges or folded edges. It is actually a little easier to press everything together for gluing with the cut edges, because the folds want to ‘puff up’.
Just make sure to rough up the spine a little and work the glue in well as you apply it. I break the end off of a Q-Tip and use the stick to work the glue around.
Another thing that will help is to glue the spine and apply the cover in one step so they bond well to each other. The jig makes this pretty easy to do.
I would love to feature your jig and one of your books on the site. Just send me some photos and a few words describing them. Post a note here and I’ll contact you via email.
Andrew
September 20, 2008
Hakim @ 5:00 pm:
I would like a more detailed draft. i think i got it. But detailed is always good. Thank you for the info.
November 1, 2008
James Pittaro @ 11:12 am:
Thanks a lot mate; I built one from your demonstration. Thank you I was sick of giving lulu.com £9.95 including postage for my books. Now I’m making my own. I can’t thank you enough.
November 3, 2008
admin @ 12:48 pm:
James,
I’m glad to help.
The basic binding jig is a very simple piece of equipment. There is lots of room for improvement, but it gets the job done quite well.
Andrew