3-Ring binder mechanism source?

[Dave O'Heare]

Well, she who must... is playing music in a couple of groups, and as they're none of them getting any younger, they print up their music on large sheets (they end up at 11" x 14" after trimming) so they can read those teeny dots.

As you can imagine, there are no binders made that fit paper that size. I figure that it ought to be reasonably easy to make up a binder big enough to carry the stuff, but I've run into one minor problem.

I can't find anyone that sells good quality 3-ring binder mechanisms. You know the kind, probably date from the same era as the pencil sharpener discussed here a little while ago. Three rings, trigger top and bottom, the ring halves meet smoothly, etc. Has to be round rings, and 1" diameter is big enough.

Does anyone have any ideas where these can be found?

Dave O'Heare oheareATmagmaDOTca

[BillyBob]

I found several suppliers in 10 seconds with a Google search for "3 Ring Binder mechanisms".

Let your fingers do the walking.

Bob

[Mike Marlow]

Why not just pick up a few at Staples and drill the rivets out and then use the mechanism for the binders you make?

[Tyke]

A quick Google search for "3 ring binder hardware" provided at least one source,

is the parent company of Radio Shack. They have the hardware for 8.5 x

11 paper, which would technically work with the legal size paper.

Another potential is

company makes all sorts of binders, even ones out of maple.

A "plan B" source is to buy cheap binders from an office supply house and drill out the hardware to be recycled in your wooden holder.

Dave Paine

[Roger Shoaf]

Go to a thrift store, buy a binder for about 50 cents with a good mechanism and drill out the rivets holding the mechanism to the binding. Problem solved. Cheap.

[Doug Miller]

Yes, there are. You just haven't looked very hard.

# 2109 (1" rings) or 2209 (1 1/2" rings)

Moreover, standard 132-column computer paper is 11 x 14 7/8, and you can find

*plenty* of binders to fit that size. Here's one example:

a Google search for "ring binder" 11x14 and you should find a boatload of them.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

[Nova]

You probably won't find them at WalMart but 11" x 17" binders are common and should be available at any office supply outlet.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[John DeBoo]

[Chris Dubea]

This doesn't answer your question directly, but you can buy binders for 11 X 17 paper at Office Depot

luck

Chris =========================================================================== Chris

[Lee Gordon]

There have been some suggestions to cobble together an 11" binder using cannibalized 8.5 " ones but keep in mind that for whatever ring configuration you end up with you are going to need a hole-punch which can give you a matching alignment.

Lee

[Dave O'Heare]

Dang.

I swear, I *did* a Google search for "3 ring binder mechanisms", and found only places that would sell you 3 ring binders with mechanisms, or places in Asia where I could buy 100,000 of them if I wanted.

I apologize, profusely.

The search is now on for a good quality mechanism, where the rings meet evenly, that kinda thing.

And for those who were wondering...

The way things have worked so far is to print up the music on 11"x 17" paper with a 3-and-a-bit inch bottom margin, and trim to 11"x 14". I don't know why 14" and not 17", I wasn't privy to the original arrangements.

The paper is then punched as though it was 8 1/2"x 11", with the holes indexed from the bottom inside corner. A standard 3-ring mechanism will work fine, so long as it's a 1" ring. With bigger rings, the trigger fouls on the paper.

The printout binders take 14 7/8"x 11" paper, and I need to bind on the long edge, so that doesn't quite work, but a good thought.

And yeah, one can buy an 11"x 17" binder, but $75?!?! Yikes.

Cheers!

Dave O'H oheareATmagmaDOTca

[Nova]

Many of the records I deal with at work are about 11" x 14" and 11" x 17". I find that post binders work better than ring binders for these sized sheets. The binder can be expanded by adding sections of posts which are threaded. For an idea of what they are take a look at:

Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[Matthew]

I used to make wood three ring binders. I bought the best binders I could find and just stole the mechanisms out of them.

Matthew (who got REAL tired of drilling out rivits)

[Unisaw A100]

Sorry but I'm coming in late/didn't read the pre-thread, howdja do the hinged covers?

Uh-huh, I can understand that.

UA100, who thinks maybe something along the lines of binderizing his Lee Valley catalogs would be nice...

[BD]

I'm a little late as well, but just as interested in the topic.

I just failed miserably at this a few days ago.

What I'm trying to figure out is an attractive way to mount the hinges.

I thought some fiberglass cloth would make a nice hinge, If I could get it to only have epoxy on the wood part, but no luck. The epoxy wicked into the 'hinge' part and cracked. Plus, I didn't like the way the glass was glued to the binder.

I'm toying with an idea of using a piano hinge and somehow embedding it in between a couple of very thin pieces of wood. Sort of like making my own plywood.

I too, would be very interested in how people have successfully done this before.

Thanks!

[John DeBoo]

Leather makes a nice hinge, infact a leather slip cover over wood or an existing 3-ring binder is awesome. If you're a little adept at leather, Tandy sells a kit thats precut you can tool and lace.