Repairing Binding on Parts Manuals

[Dave Erickson]

I have some 356 parts manuals that I want to restore. I use them as a reference, and they all have binding problems. I'd like to fix the bindings but I don't want to do anything that would not be appropriate, considering the value some of these older parts books have.

The oldest one uses a plastic spine, with teeth, and the spine appears to be similar to those you can still get from a copy shop. Which is surprising considering it was published in 1953 in Germany. It is missing the piece of fabric that goes from front to rear cover over the spine, but the tabs are still intact in the covers. Functionally all it needs is a new plastic spine and some reinforcements on one or two pages that have stripped tabs, but it would also be nice to have a fabric cover over the plastic spine that joins the two covers.

The next set of books have a two-post binding, and the covers have a cloth hinge that flexes when the cover is opened. The covers are separating at the hinges or are falling off. Some are missing the original cover over the spine, which is a separate piece that has holes for the posts and goes from front to rear around the spine.

The newest books with binding problems are those with vinyl covers, that also use the two post system. The vinyl has broken at the hinge.

I found a book repair shop locally that can do the repairs, but their materials don't look like the original. The best they can do is match the colors.

Looking for some ideas. If I could find someone to do the repairs in a more original fashion that would be good. If anyone has experience doing this work and can suggest a do-it-yourself approach that might yield better results, that would also be good.

-Dave

[Mike Wilson]

Dave: A couple of thoughts:

Have you talked with your local library? They might be a resource for someone that repairs bindings. The other place to try would be a print shop as they might have the spiral binding or know where you might obtain it. Please keep us posted on your endeavor.

Mike Wilson
Lomita, CA
'63 B coupe

[Roy Lock]

Dave, I have a couple of old manuals in the same condition. I have scanned my entire set of manuals and use the scans. I left the original manuals alone and only pull them out as reference.

PM me and maybe I can help you out.

[Thomas McWhorter]

We were discussing this in the projects section. Here is the link;
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=38019

I found the red cloth tape at Texas Art Supply here in Houston and it was a pretty close match to the original stuff. The stuff was called Lineco bookcloth. Lineco was also the brand name of the screwposts and book binding glue that I bought for the project. The glue was supposed to be some fancy Ph neutral glue, but it looked, smelled and stuck to my fingers EXACTLY like Elmer's glue.

[Dave Erickson]

Just an update on where things stand. I found a local bookbinder, Monterey Book Works, and the owner, Tamara, is a former librarian. She didn't blink when I said I wanted to get some binders repaired. She pulled out fabric and found some that matched the 356B hinges almost exactly, and I left the 356B and A parts manuals with her. She is going to make new hinges, repair the edges of the cardboard covers where the fabric has disappeared, and for the 356B, make a cover for the spine and a pull loop exactly like the original. She is even going to stitch the pull loop! The A manual will get new black fabric hinges, but it will keep the existing cover for the spine.

The pre-A parts manual was a different story. Tamara doesn't do binding comb repairs, and the local copy shops do not have binding combs with the correct pitch. It turns out that the older European standard was a 12mm pitch, but now the standard is 14mm (9/16") pitch in both the USA and Europe. I have some inquiries out to UK binding shops to see if they can source the 12mm comb, but if anyone knows of a source, please let me know. I found plenty of plastic spiral with a 12mm pitch, but it wouldn't look right or fit well.

-Dave

[Charlie White]

Years ago, in the late 70's/early 80's I started collecting Porsche
factory workshop manuals and parts books. I also ran into the problem
of heavily worn or torn covers and bindings. I too went to a Book Binding
firm. I had them make the binders exactly like they were originally, i.e.
pin binders, to put the manual pages inside. I even had them made to
Euro dimensions. Biggest problem was finding a material to put on the
covers that matched the originals, back then almost impossible. I tried a
maroon color that was pretty close. I have to say that they came out
looking pretty good. I figured that this would NOT affect the value of the
manual, but WOW was I wrong. Anything, in my experience, that isn't
original, seriously reduces the value of a manual, and rarely increases the
value very much, unless you have a really uninformed buyer! I use my
"recovered" manuals all the time, and to the unknowing eye, they look
great in my book case. The exteriors of the manuals are embossed in gold
lettering, which unfortunately does not exactly match the lettering on the
originals. If you decide to do this for your own use purpose, its a great idea,
but if you think you're going to be able to sell them for anything like prices
for nice original books, well, you'll find out.

Charlie White

[Dave Erickson]

Tamara just delivered the manuals, and I think she did a fabulous job. I'm happy with it anyway. Here are some photos of the A & B parts manuals that she repaired. On the inside covers she even took pains to peel back the end paper and glue the hinges below. The before shots are in the first posting.

-Dave

[Dave Erickson]

Also, the search for 12mm binding comb goes on. I was thinking of buying some plastic and cutting my own comb with an exacto knife, but I have no idea what kind of plastic or how to get it to curl.

-Dave

[Mark Sabbann]

Also, the search for 12mm binding comb goes on. I was thinking of buying some plastic and cutting my own comb with an exacto knife, but I have no idea what kind of plastic or how to get it to curl.

-Dave

Dave, I am always up for an Internet search challenge and went hunting for binder comb info. One would think that 'pitch' for these plastic combs would be similar to that for gear teeth, pretty much center-to-center. But the chart here (it references wire bindings but appears to be German) seems to define the comb teeth spacing differently as a ratio between the teeth spacing and the tooth width: http://www.pfequip.com/specsheet/bielo_p196.html Given that, have you measured your combs to determine the pitch ratio? It seems in looking for a '14mm' comb, the 12mm or other dimensions that come up generally refer to the diameter of the coil rather than a pitch designation.
These products from the UK are made from polypropylene: http://www.printfinishingsuperstore.co. ... -565-p.asp
Hopefully you don't have too many books to re-bind. I've used the binder machines to help bind a stack of pages and it really speeds up assembly, but using a different 'pitch/ratio' comb would require a different machine altogether. Manual assembly without a machine is putzy but possible.

If any of this helps, Great!. If not, Nevermind.

[Dave Erickson]

Mark, thanks for trying to help. I agree the German machine for binding combs has an interesting definition of pitch! I couldn't quite figure it out.

Also thanks for finding out that the combs are polypropylene. I will order some and see what kind of results I get, if I can't find a source for the 12mm product.

I just have the one 1953 pre-A parts manual to repair, so I haven't investigated whether or not I can get a special order made. I spoke to one mfr. who suggested they could make them to order, but the minimum quantity was at least 1000.

Dave

[Charlie White]

Here are some pictures of an original factory 356-A workshop
manual that I repaired probably over thirty years ago and use
all the time. I have one in mint perfect unused condition, but it
stays put away!

CW

PS: Not the original owner's name on the first page!

[Dave Erickson]

Charlie, those are nice. Why is the 356A parts manual so thick? You can see mine in the first few photos and it is much thinner, probably only 1 ½" thick.

Dave

[Charlie White]

Here are two 356-A factory parts books, both dated
May 1957. The smaller one is the early one. Over time
the manual grew in size rather substantially. Explanation
in the next post.

CW

[Charlie White]

Here is a comparison of the later factory 356-A parts
book, and the Stoddard 356-A reproduction parts book.
Stoddard reproduction is on top in each photo. More
to come.

CW

[Dick Douglass]

What about a 3D Printer? If you can think of a design somewhere it can be made.

Every NASCAR Racing teams has at least 3 printers running 24/7. They can make anything using an AUTOCAD program. They found that in order to stay with the pack they need to save time and money in research. Sending ideas Out to someone to create a strong, light weight,and inexpensive part takes too long. They can make the part in 2 hours and try it out and make adjustments and have it in a race car on the track before the outsider had a mold made.

We have 2 printers at The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. "The admissions process is a Supportive Advisory Sessions". http://www.artcenter.edu. Most Universities now have 3 D printers on campus.

I see that many plastic parts on new cars are made from 3 D Printers. An example is the shift handle for the Bentley, which is owned by Volkswagen.

Will parts for a Pre A and knobs for "A " cars be made by a 3 D Printer in the future? Will someone bring a 3 D printer to the Lit Meet and make plastic parts for customer on the spot in the future? Metal no problem. Molds for parts no problem.

We know that Car Dealers will not stock all the parts they stock now. They will have 3 D printers in the parts department and as a customer needs parts for the car they will order the parts on line and pick them up at the dealer with in a hour. This will cut cost and shipping and time. Why not the 356 market?

Cost for a printer is less than you think. The software and computer drive the innovation.

Our youth will go faster than we ever though of.

my $ .02