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Any of you has experience with DIY printing of books? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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There are some books and long texts that I would like to print since reading on electronic devices is distracting. Anyone of you has does this before?

I remember in college there were talks of how some print shops could print textbooks for you given the pdf but I never had to do that.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I've done this before. I took advantage of a work laser printer to print a bunch of books for free.

To save on paper (and get a manageable hand-held size), print 4 pages per A4 paper. Leave about 2 cm margin per page for binding. Then use an office paper cutter to cut the pages carefully.

Buy some wood glue or fish glue and some good string.

Use the glue to stick the pages together, using about 1 cm from the margins. Add a couple blank pages at the top and bottom. Place under something heavy and leave overnight.

Drill 4 holes per page. You can use a low-power electric drill for fast results.

Cover with some good quality hard paper or mixed plastic-paper. Glue the cover to the spine and on the outer blank pages. You can use a larger cover and fold its edges inwards, attaching them to the inner blank pages, to make it more resistant to wear and tear. Make holes on the cover to align with the previous holes.

Pass the string through the holes and lace the whole thing together to strengthen the spine.

Voila, you've got a book that will survive for years to come.

Edit: ideal size for this method is volumes of around 200-300 pages.