Captain Dirty
Platinum Member
Just received the workshop manual for my tractor, a 1.5" high stack of looseleaf sheets. What binders do you recommend?
I remember relatively thick (3/16"?) pasteboard front and back covers wrapped in canvas from Viet-Nam-era service. Some even had metal hinges! If used in the field the covers would soil easily, but they were relatively durable. Usually the failure was mis-alignment of the rings. Apparently canvas has gone the way of the dodo to be replaced by plastic over thinner pasteboard. Office Depot, Staples, et al offer a range of prices, and presumably the more expensive are "better", but I would hesitate to say any are "good"; the plastic that serves as hinges tears, and the rings still mis-align, although the slant "D" rings are an improvement. Buyers' guides and reviews seem oriented toward sales presentations, not field or even shop use.
I have photocopied the few pages of an often-used procedure such as disconnecting or reconnecting the backhoe, put them in document protectors and then 1/2" all-plastic binders (can't find any brand markings on the binders; Acco?). The plastic is relatively robust and wipes clean, but the 1/2" size is too small even for the operator's manual.
There seem to be two choices--buy cheap with the aggravation of replacing often, OR buy dear with the hope of replacing less frequently. Are there robust binders out there?
Captain Dirty
I remember relatively thick (3/16"?) pasteboard front and back covers wrapped in canvas from Viet-Nam-era service. Some even had metal hinges! If used in the field the covers would soil easily, but they were relatively durable. Usually the failure was mis-alignment of the rings. Apparently canvas has gone the way of the dodo to be replaced by plastic over thinner pasteboard. Office Depot, Staples, et al offer a range of prices, and presumably the more expensive are "better", but I would hesitate to say any are "good"; the plastic that serves as hinges tears, and the rings still mis-align, although the slant "D" rings are an improvement. Buyers' guides and reviews seem oriented toward sales presentations, not field or even shop use.
I have photocopied the few pages of an often-used procedure such as disconnecting or reconnecting the backhoe, put them in document protectors and then 1/2" all-plastic binders (can't find any brand markings on the binders; Acco?). The plastic is relatively robust and wipes clean, but the 1/2" size is too small even for the operator's manual.
There seem to be two choices--buy cheap with the aggravation of replacing often, OR buy dear with the hope of replacing less frequently. Are there robust binders out there?
Captain Dirty
