Here is a different type of question - is it possible to melt a tiny strip down an album page in ord

frankhardy

... make an unusual card size fit so that the card won't move around? Did the question make sense? If it didn't, I will try to clarify.

alifaxwa2

it can be done, but if you heat it too much it will burn and turn black.

You may be able to do it with a soldering iron or the edge of a regular iron.

digicat

Grab a binder page and give it a shot. You'd probably want to get something red-hot and drive it through the plastic a bit. That should be enough to melt the two sides together and form a kind of rivet.

frankhardy

Instead of a "rivet", I was thinking more along the lines of trying to replicate how the pages are divided originally - you know - like a straight line. I was thinking maybe using a straight edge and getting something small and pointed that I could get how and sort of run it down the straight edge to make a line and melt the two sides together. Anybody got an idea of what I can use? A soldering iron would be perfect except for the fact that it probably gets too hot and would turn it black. Maybe if I ran it down the straight edge quick enough, it might work. Any better ideas on what I could use?

originalisbest

They make heat sealers that would do the trick, but unless you're thinking of making quite a few of these for yourself, it'd not be worth the purchase of a heat sealer for just a couple pages. Plus, the idea of running a hot something in a straight line to weld the plastic together will probably not result in the professional look you'd want.

What I'd suggest is this; look into matte cardboard windows, such as you'd see at an art supply store. I'm thinking of a sheet of cardboard cut to fit snugly inside an 8-1/2 x 11 toploader page, with a window cut centered that will properly frame your card. The card itself, place in a mylar holder (such as are made for comics, you can cut these down in size - Jef Hinds is an excellent mylar source (jhcomics.com) or gerber supplies (egerber.com).

Simply tape the edges of the mylar to the backside of your cardboard frame, centering the card in the window. Finish it off with an additional, thinner piece of board on the back of that, with another window cut into it, to see the reverse of the card.

All this trouble is no trouble, if it's just a one-off, or even if you only have ten cards to do, and it could look great. Now if you have hundreds of such cards to display - it's not worth the trouble - if that's the case, I'd contact a page manufacturer and get a quote for a custom size run.

Hope this helps spark an idea.

originalisbest

Heat Sealer example link

- above is a link, should you want to go the heat-sealer route - this is what I was thinking of for that. Good luck in getting the look you want!

frankhardy

Not a bad idea. I don't have hundreds. More like 20 or 30. It is for my Cardinals collection - specifically cards like 1951 Topps teams, 1956 Topps Double Folders, 1971 Topps Greates Moments, 1974 Topps Deckle Edge, etc.

I may do some thinking along those lines. Thanks for the idea.

originalisbest

You got it - I have some oddball size cards to put in pages myself, and as long as it isn't too many, I was thinking along those lines.

You can make a really sharp display, since matte board at art supply stores is available in every color you can think of, and thickness - and archival quality too (100% rag board is the best quality, it's not cheap, but the purchase of just a couple large sheets would make many 8-1/2x11 pages. As well, you can ask most stores to cut the boards to size for you, and they'll do a professional neat job.)

Good luck!

edit to add - boards in cardinals red for the front, black for the back?

HeritageAddict

If you have access to a vacuum sealer they usually have manual seal mode, I just tried it on a sheet out of curiousity and it worked like a champ. I set the temp just under the halfway mark.

Thulnanth

I'm not sure of the exact size of the cards you want to do this for, but BCW does have many album pages with different size / number of pockets. In addition, one thing I have done is get a 4-page pocket and use a CS1 w/sleeve for odd sized cards or cards I might grade down the road. This might not be as nice as what you want, but it's another idea

Take it easy,
Jared