Notebook/Binder Cover

Print your own notebook! A 3D printed cover for A5 ring binder mechanisms. Comes with print-in-place hinges and a snapfit locking piece, that can also hold a pen. Artisan looking embellishments make this a nice eye catcher and conversation starter. (I added source files so you can customize the look to your liking).

I've got terrible handwriting, so for the longest time, I didn't write anything by hand. But there really is a value to writing things down by hand. It's quick, it helps you remember things more easily, it's easy to add drawings to thoughts, it works basically everywhere, doesn't need power, etc. So I started to write important notes for work, or thoughts for new DIY projects in a random notebook I had lying around. 

But this notebook had a lot of downsides. It was lineated instead of chequered, It's binding made it impossible to write on the backside of pages or even lay flat on the table, and it wasn't a ringbook, so I couldnt easily remove pages, let alone rearrange them. So I wanted to buy a new notebook, that fills all these requirements:

• Lays down flat on the table, so it's easy to write on both sides of the page
• Has a ring mechanism for refills/removals/rearrangements
• Holds a pen
• Has a pocket for storing rulers/loose notes and papers
• Has chequered paper
• Can be kept shut in some way, either by an elastic of some kind or a latch

To my surprise, I didn't finy anything that fit all of those requirements. Some came close, but something was always missing. But during my research, I found out that you can also just buy the ring binder mechanisms themselves that a lot of notebooks use so you can DIY your own book cover and attach it with rivets. But for a man with a printer, every problem is just a few hours of CAD away. So I ordered a set of mechanisms, a refill pack of paper and few binder pockets and got to designing in Fusion.

I probably spent way to much time designing, but I think it paid off in the end - There was no major piece I had to reprint and the end result fulfills all of the requirements to a t. This is what came out of it.

Before you print:

• This thing is the big chungus of notebooks. I'm not kidding, it's very big and very heavy. This might not be for you if you intend to carry this with you often. Might be good for home defense though
• I used countersunk screws, but they might still poke out a bit and potentially scratch the surface you are using it on
• It's noisy. When you place it on a table, it makes a loud thud. The latch opens with a noticable click. Not suited for stealthy notes during the night

Bill of Materials:

• ~400 to 500g of Filament. Check the printing notes down below
• A5 ring binder mechanism. I bought this one: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B09JYVN16X/
  • If you can't find this one exactly, these are the important dimensions:
    • Two holes for mounting that are 174mm apart, must fit M4 screws
    • Spine length of 220mm (without the tabs for opening the rings)
    • Spine width of 20mm
• 2 M4*16mm countersunk screws and matching nuts for attaching the binder to the spine
• 12 M3*8mm countersunk screws and matching nuts for attaching the front and back cover pieces to the spine
• 1 M3*16mm countersuck screw and matching nut for attaching the locking piece to back covers hinge
• A5 paper that fits the binder you got
• Optionally:
  • A pen with 11.5mm diameter. I designed the pen holder for one of those BIC 4 color ball point pens, and that's how big it was
  • A binder pocket that fits the binder you got

Printing notes:

• You will need a big printbed. The spine is 225mm high. I printed mine on a Prusa i3 Mk3 where it fits nicely. I tried slicing for an Ender 3 and it appears to fit just barely
• The STLs should have the correct printing orientation. But just for completeness:
  • The spine should lay flat on it's back
  • The front and back cover should have it's inside face the print bed
  • The locking piece should print on it's side with the pen holding tab flat on the print bed
• No supports needed. I suppose you could flip the spine to get an even outer finish, but expect to clean up a lot of support material from hard to reach places
• I used PLA. It's big and heavy, I suspect it won't survive even a single fall from a table. Use at least PETG if you regularly abuse your notebooks
• I printed mine with a 0.6 nozzle. The Spine at 0.35 layer height, the front and back cover at 0.20 layer height. Really comes down to your sense of aesthetics and/or impatience
• Tolerances for the print-in-place hinges shouldn't be too bad. I'll add a tolerance test to check if your printer can handle it
• Big, flat pieces are being printed here - you better have warping under control or you going to have a bad time

Q&A

• What's that logo on the front?
  • That's the open source hardware alliance logo. I originally wanted the Adeptus Mechanicus logo, but it has a skull in it and my wife rightly objected that it was quite morbid. So I went for this instead and. And while there are no electronics here, it is open hardware.
• What's that quote on the back?
  • A quote by Lector-Dogmatix Videx from the game Mechanicus, so at least here I get my little Adeptus Mechanicus tie-in. I wanted something motivating, and this quotes resonates with me in that way. I like that it can be interpreted in two ways: complete your projects, but also don't hesitate to scrap a project if it stops being valuable.
• That's fine and dandy, but I don't like the way it looks!
  • No worries, I added STEP and f3z files. Have at it and don't forget to post a make!
• What's that blue stencil thing in the one picture?
  • A stencil for prototyping video game levels. Check it out here: https://www.printables.com/model/218717-game-prototyping-stencil

Update 1, 16.12.2022:

• Turns out the Open Source Hardware Association Logo is not that open, it has a CC share-alike license. But I want this to be public domain. So I removed the logo from the frontcover, and I also removed the f3z file because there it is in the timeline. But the .step should be more than enough to modify this to your liking.