Imperial Binders
Binders should be a standard for all troopers. Everyone loves to be arrested by troopers and having binders makes it that much more cool. Plus not everyone wants to get on their knees and put their hands behind their head for a picture. After seeing a few variations online that others had made I decided to try my hand at making a set of these. Here's how I did it.
The first thing you need to do is cut the PVC tubing into 3/4 inch rings. I've found that the 3 inch diameter tubing makes for large binders on kids, good binders on most women and some guys, and don't always close on most guys and anyone wearing a watch. You may want to go bigger diameter but then they start looking too big. The hardest part I've found is cutting them flush. I only had a hand saw and it took forever to get a decent set of rings cut out. I'd recommend a chop saw if you have access to one and a bench vise is highly recommended. There are tube cutters that will cut pipe this size but they're expensive. I made my binders 3/4 inch wide since 1 inch seemed too thick. Once you have your rings you want to cut them in half so you end up with two semicircles.
Next, attach the hinges. make sure that they can still close but don't leave too much of a gap at the hinge. I pre-drilled the holes for the hinges and used the screws that came with them. Once they were attached I had to cut down the sides of my hinges since they were 1 inch wide.
With the hinges attached, mark two points equally spaced on each semicircle. This will be where you will attach wood blocks. Drill holes and bevel the inside edge so the screws will sit flush to the PVC.
The wooden blocks are attached using wood screws and some Plastic Welder for added strength. I used clothespins to clamp the pieces together while the glue dried.
The rectangular magnets I bought came in a pack of 8, I used 4 on each cuff. Doubling them up makes them about the same size as the wood blocks when closed. I attached them with Plastic Welder.
About 3 inches of chain was used to join the two cuffs together. I riveted the chain on with long pop rivets.
The completed binders before paint:
I painted them first with a white primer coat then a gloss white and finished with a clear coat to seal them.
To finish, black foam weather-stripping was attached to the inside for comfort.
Tweet
