Oh ! So sorry ! I know that had to be frustrating.
I'm sure I don't understand exactly what you are trying to do, so if what I am about to say sounds moronic, well, I'm a moron sometimes....LOL..... but
What if you lined the center page up with the second page and punched the holes you need, then take the third one, line it up behind the second as centered as possible, punch through the already made whole in the 2nd and so on and so on. Then you would only be lining up one page up to the page behind it. In other words I guess, don't punch them all together at once. My theory is, that if the holes are centered in the first two, the others should be easy line up, one at a time of course.
It's ok to say I don't know what I'm talking about, because I pretty much don't. Also, sometimes just getting away from it for a while and coming back fresh is very helpful.
I think your idea is a good one. It was my original one too but then I worked out a way to get the holes in the right place relative to each other and so decided to make them all at once, as is the usual way. However, I struggled with it for so long that the original idea went out of my head.
The real mistake was not stopping sooner. I should have walked away from it long before I did. I so wanted to finish it yesterday, so I didn't have it hanging over me today, that I kept struggling for way too long.
It's a bit of a pattern of mine - that I run out of time at the end of a project and end up fed up with it.
Time for some breakfast now and then my back to the attic to get it finished.
Good Morning ! I'm guessing it's past noon there now.
I hope everything has gone well and your book went right together with no problem.
Thanks Jacey. It's all done. Will make a post later.