Back in May I enquired whether anyone had experimented with a hot melt glue gun to do perfect binding at home. Several people gave useful responses. Based on them and on other information found on the internet I did my own experiments and came up with the process I now document. This is an ongoing process. The next thing I want to try is double fan glueing using a PVA glue (i.e. no glue gun).
Very interesting that is. Well done that chap.
Si
The message from MM contains these words:
Excellent.
Now all I have to do is write a book. Or find all the others I've written and left lying around :-)
Mary
On Thu, 06 Jul 2006 10:11:52 +0100,it is alleged that MM spake thusly in uk.d-i-y:
going to be useful.
Nice work, thanks for the link!
I recently build my own double fan gluing press based on plans from Rupert Evans - it's quite similar to the one you can buy for !! $469 here:
Cheers Jon N
I believe double fan gluing is better than hot melt. Certainly something I want to try. The advantage with hot melt is that it's practically instantaneous, whereas with DFG you'd have to wait for several hours or overnight before touching the book.
If you are based in the UK, what PVA glue would you use, do you think? I have read that woodworker's glue is too brittle when dried.
MM
Yeah, I saw that a few weeks back! That price represents extreme optimism, I reckon.
MM
The message from "jkn" contains these words:
They have the cheek to charge /postage/ on top of that!
Hi there
Yes, I envisaged hot melt construction as being rather fragile due to the relative stiffness of the glue. And I fancied a little construction project...
I am in the UK, and plan to experiment with some PVA glues. I'd have thought that most of them were *less* brittle than hot glue, but I may be wrong.
A test I read was this: take a piece of cardboard, like an index card, and put some 'GUT' (Glue Under Test ;-) on it in a couple of ways: (i), a wavy trace, from the nozzle, (ii), a smeared out area, as though brushed on. Then allow to dry thoroughly. If you can flex the card fully without either of the glue samples 'delaminating', then it is suitable.
I tried this with some PVA glue I had to hand and according to this test it was fine. This was 'Unibond Exterior wood glue'. I haven't tried the canonical Evo-stik PVA.
The other thing is that fan-gluing uses a 'super'; a thin absorbent flexible cloth brushed onto the spine. A thin calico works well, I gather, and is relatively cheap from fabric shops.
HTH Jon N
...
Even the finest silk would be cheap for the amount you need :-)
Mary
MM
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