Do you have a method of fixing flat spines for disc based games?
So being the OCD collector that I am I hate it when I receieve a disc based game in the mail that has a flat spine. It's supposed to be slightly curved. Does anyone have a method to fix this?
I've thought about maybe placing it over a small metal rod and gently bend it back into place. Or maybe open the case, place a small half dowel on the spine underneath the cover, and close it so that the cover takes the shape of the curved dowel.
I'm not sure. Any ideas?
I've thought about maybe placing it over a small metal rod and gently bend it back into place. Or maybe open the case, place a small half dowel on the spine underneath the cover, and close it so that the cover takes the shape of the curved dowel.
I'm not sure. Any ideas?
Comments
We need to form a support group for people this nuts about the condition of their games.
agreed
DVD case art is printed flat, inserted under the plastic flap, and forms that curved shaped naturally as it sits in the case over time.
How if nothing is pushing up againest it to give it a slight curve? I can stick a piece of paper in a DVD case right now and leave it there for a month and it will still be flat. I wouldn't be surprised if they were prefolded at the factory and then stuck in the case.
I feel like I should understand what you are talking about, but I dont.
Don't look at it directly, look at it from the bottom or top of the case. It's very subtle but you can see that it's curved.
just take the artwork and flip it over the edge your table or counter top (which should have a small radius) so that the print is facing up. use both hands, one holding the front cover and the other holding the back cover. carefully pull it across the edge using gentle, but firm pressure and roll it back and forth a few times. you will see it start to take the rounded form again....repeat if you want more of a radius.
edit: the op is referring to the artwork itself, not the disc. the end, edge or spine of dvds and any games in similar cases have a rounded look to them, similar to a book. after time the artwork starts to flatten out and the edges of the front and back of said artwork becomes sharper tightening that area until it becomes flat.
i think that a combination of opening and closing the case repeatedly and probably temperature changes, air moisture content have a lot to do with it. and as someone mentioned, storing them spine down or maybe even other cases stacked on top of each other would contribute to the flattening of the spine.
I appreciate the advice M3CH. Glad to see someone here is just as bad as me.
no problem man
practice it on a dvd artwork to get the hang of it first....
you should probably show us like a side by side comparison picture so we can even remotely see what tge problem is here. Id get it if it were creased but not slightly rounded enough? Wut?
So being the OCD collector that I am I hate it when I receieve a disc based game in the mail that has a flat spine. It's supposed to be slightly curved. Does anyone have a method to fix this?
I've thought about maybe placing it over a small metal rod and gently bend it back into place. Or maybe open the case, place a small half dowel on the spine underneath the cover, and close it so that the cover takes the shape of the curved dowel.
I'm not sure. Any ideas?
Use an Iron on low heat. Works great for me.
10-20 years from now people are going to very picky about this stuff. We've seen it happen with the NES and SNES games for example. That is why people are willing to pay double or even triple the price compared to a game that is just in OK condition.
In this case I am trying to "restore" the label to original form.
People care about condition. I'm not the only one who cares about minute details. That is why a car that is worth $40k can easily be worth double that if it's fully restored to it's factory form and well taken care of.
10-20 years from now people are going to very picky about this stuff. We've seen it happen with the NES and SNES games for example. That is why people are willing to pay double or even triple the price compared to a game that is just in OK condition.
In this case I am trying to "restore" the label to original form.
I COMPLETELY understand where you're coming from and this is part of the reason why I try to strictly collect carts, rather than carts/manuals/CIBS/Sealed games.
+1 on the comment about using the iron on low heat. I was a sick kid who, though not OCD, was always interested in restoration just because I felt it was fun. An iron works miracles on paper, but you have to be careful. I also found that high-steam on quality paper, with a hot iron (takes a very delicate balance) can work wonders too. The steam has to be hot enough to effect the paper and evaporate quick enough as to not distort it it... anyway, I still recommend straight, low heat. The steam trick works best when you have a really damaged document with many creases, but that's outside the scope of this discussion.
This would bug me too, especially if my game was on a bookself and I could very-easily see that this game was different than all the other's on the same shelf. Other collector's would see this too.
Now, if the plastic on the case is damaged, and only if the crease is light, you may be able to fix that too with an iron, but you must be SUPER careful. What you may need to do is flatten the case, put a sheet of paper inside it take a thicker cloth and put it over the plastic of the case. Then, quickly iron the case. Check it. Did it fix it? Take a quarter of a second longer to iron it. Did it fix it? Keep doing that. I recommend that if you see slow results, keep doing it the way you are doing it. It's better to be slow and patient than fast and make an error. In this case, this doesn't mean a slow iron swipe. But, 10 fast swipes doing incremental change is going to be way better than trying to find that perfect speed that fixes the case in one swipe.
I know I'm coming off as OCD, but I'm not really. I just see it like a puzzle-- it's fun to try to solve a restoration puzzle. Somethings that seem irrepairable are, in fact, but it takes patience, time, thought and research.