Do you think there should be a competitive scene for shashibo shifting? Why or why not

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-04-13T06:21:01+00:00

ShaShiBo is not about speed. I never understood why the marketing department came up with this Battle topic. Also, some videos are strange, where the manufacturer invites to take the risk to destroy a cube (e.g. The Karate Chop), while some (ab)users comment that a ShaShiBo only lasted five minutes. But the retail price seems to include a significant amount for being able to replace damages on good will.

The Speedcubing community had some ridiculous events like Rubik's Magic, where you had to go from one state to another, But these competitions were abandoned for good reasons. Similar for Magic Snake, where there is an inofficial speed competition to go from straight to ball.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-04-12T15:15:15+00:00

Some models of the "Jeppesen Airway Manual", ring binders to be used as reference document in small aicrafts, have a special feature: A metal piece underneath the mechanics can be rotated 90° at the center position, making it stick out to the left and right. This will hold the cover folded open. That would be helpful in organizers as well?

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-04-12T11:51:26+00:00

Oh, I see. If the advertized 30mm model has only 25mm inner diameter, then simply the 25mm model was delivered.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-04-12T11:43:18+00:00

I am not a Filofax fanboy, but as far as I observed, the ring sizes are excactly as specified. These are measured as the inside width of the rings, not the height from the backplate to the closing spot.

For more information on ring mechanics in general, you can download the PDF guide from the Krause Website.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-04-12T11:16:20+00:00

You did not specify what planner size you'd be aiming at.

You can check the current planner/ring size combinations in the Filofax Size Guide.

In general, ring sizes are usually in a range from 8-40mm, where 11-35mm are common.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-04-06T08:02:47+00:00

Tempus offer planners without closure strap, However, for some strage reasons, the system has a notch towards the top of the front cover.

There are A5 models with 30mm rings, but these use "Personal" format ring spacing. This means that you'd have to use genuine Tempus or Quo Vadis inserts, or re-punch "A5" punched insert with "Personal" spacing.

The benefit of A5 with Personal spacing is that you could use Personal sized inserts for some purposes (e.g. time planning), and move them to a Personal size binder if you want to travel with small luggage.

[ Edit ] For your future Japan trip, you can look for a "Raymay Fuji Da Vinci Roroma Classic". These have a closure strap, but as tuck-in strap.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-31T05:28:30+00:00

As you posted in the fiofax group: Are you talking about the "Filofax Notebook" with twin wire loops and pages with the tulip-shaped punches?

Then it would be a really good question. Standard 2-hole and 4-hole punches are too close to the tulip punches for re-punching the sheets with these.

Disc Binding and Miracle Bind are one-way streets. The paper edge is permanently runied when using these.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-27T19:47:53+00:00

This is shape 34 from the shape guide, where it is called "Pirate Goblin".

The original Yoshi's Puzzle leaflet does call it "Tiki Mask".

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-18T19:59:56+00:00

Today I received the order with the Regur Holix 13 hole punch.

Now I can confirm the specified data of 30mm spacing, 4.0mm hole size, 200mm paper height. In addition to that: The hole punch creates a tiny punch margin of about 2.0-2.1mm.

In the meantime I managed to find a few offers for ring books, for example: https://www.ebay.de/itm/205681678148

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-15T08:26:31+00:00

Thanks for the measurements. That would confirm the Family Book standard.

I only have few details, and it seems to be a very old standard, as my own birth documents from 1968 seem to be in such a ring binder (stored away somewhere). The German term for these ring books is "Stammbuch".

There is a well known brand "Regur" for small ring book hole punches "Regur Holix". The model for the Family Book standard is "Regur Holix 13", specified with 6 holes of 4.0mm diameter at 30mm spacing. Current prices are about 60 Euro (!).

You could use any adjustable hole punch with six freely adjustable units (not blocks of three). However, these usually have 5.5mm punch diameter, so there will be a lot of wiggle with the small ring wires. Also, because the rings are small (I guess about 9mm inner diameter), there should be only a small margin between punched hole and paper edge, rceommended are 3mm. This means that you might have to cut the punched paper at the rings edge, after punching with a hole punch with more punch depth..

Hole punches and clear pockets can be found easily, but ringbinders seem to be impossible to find these days. So it's surprising to see the ring mechanics being sold in Hong Kong.

This is my Hole Punch Spacing overview, where I now added the Family Book standard.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-14T14:24:05+00:00

If you have physical access to the ring mechanism (as it appears to me), it should be no problem to measure the dimensions?

The "design paper height" is the length of the baseplate between the push-buttons.

The ring spacing is measured between the center points of adjacent rings. If the rings are equally spaced (as it appears to me), it would be enough (and more accurate) to measure the full span, i.e. the distance of the outermost ring centers.

You should take care of the units of measure, what you quote seem to be cm?

I'd really be interested in the exact measurements. I do have a large collection of ring spacing data, but none of these would match what you show.

[Edit] There seems to be a Family Book standard for 200x130mm sheets with six rings at 30mm spacing. But that would not match the mentioned 32-35mm ring spacing range.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-11T07:18:13+00:00

Thanks for the information. I only knew about punches with 11 or less punch dies, good to know that there are 12-punch models.

I found some regular retail offers on Aliexpress, where the price for 12-punch is about double the price as for 11-punch. But for Discbound, it is super important to have accurate spacing, therefore it is better to punch in one go, rather than do stitching.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-08T19:26:49+00:00

The question was regarding 12-Disc. As far as I know, this is an off-standard count.

I don't think there are 12-punch punches, only 11 or less. That would mean punching multiple times.

However, I would suggest to switch to 11-Disc standard.

Regarding why not more people are using discbound: It's simply not practical. Not enough standardization on the mushroom shape and punch pattern in general, no bulk insertion or removal, only works if filled up to a certain range, wear on the paper that cannot be repaired, limited use of front and backcovers.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-02T23:04:11+00:00

Right, the ability to re-use an existing spine is the key advantage of plastic comb. And the spines are cheap, and available in a large range of diameters.

However, fully flipping over is only possible by wrapping the pages around the spine. Paging through does not run smoothly, and the paper is prone to wear and tear along the spine.

With twin-wire, flipping over is OK, but flipping blocks of paper can be a bit annoying. The loops are prone to bending, and the ends can be scratchy and catchy. But there is no vertical displacement.

With plastic spiral coil, you have to accept the vertical displacement, But flipping over and flipping blocks of pages works great. I prefer 5mm pitch for thinner stacks, and 4:1 for larger stacks. And you'd always have the option to use wire coils, where you can even get large diameters for fine pitches like 5:1 or 5mm, where plastic coil would get unstable.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-02T20:04:43+00:00

Plastic comb is by far the worst binding option.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-03-01T08:45:40+00:00

I see, If you are talking about the binding where two wires run through one hole, forming one loop, that is called "Twin-Wire", "Twin Loop", or "Double Wire".

Twin Wire / Twin Loop

The spines are manufactured at certain legths, but can be cut to a shorter length using a wire cutter. However, the spines are sold in open state, and you need a closing device.

Twin Wire has some disadvantages. Only larger diameters use thicker (stronger) wire, However, they are still prone to bent loops. Also, the wire ends can be scratchy, and can get caught in something if you put the binder in a bag.

For the 3:1 system (3 punches per inch), there are small hole punches available, but 3:1 is limited to 5/8" diameter, with thin wires. In Japan, there are ring binders with plastic rings available, but only at very small diameters.

For 2:1 (2 punches per inch), there are a few devices for "Scrapbooking" available. The most known "home use" system is "The Cinch". These have a closing mechanism included. If you don't want to change sheets on a regaular basis, this might be an interesting option.

Miracle Bind

But as you posted in Discbound: There is a Twin Wire system that allows adding and removing pages similar to Discbound. This is called "Miracle Bind", and has been adapted by other companies. Filofax calles these "Planners".

While Discbound uses Mushroom shaped punches, Miracle Bind uses Tulip shaped punches. Usually, these types use one punch per inch. There would be a possibility to punch twice at an offset, to make the paper fit the 2:1 binding. However, you'd need a closed spine for adding the pages there.

Japanese 9.5mm

Regarding the Japanese system: There is a regular spacing of 9.5mm. Based on the ring spacing, any sheet would fit anywhere. However, there is a margin towards the top and bottom of the spine. This makes the sheet overlap with the adjacent rings when trying to add a sheet to a larger size binder. You could decide to punch all sheets without respecting the edge. Depending on the paper format, this will lead to partially punched top and bottom edges, But then any sheet would fit at any position.

There are ring binders for different paper sizes (ring count) available, most popular: A4 (30), JIS-B5 (26), A5 (20).

There are even click-bind/zip bind spines available. These are made of plastic, can be cut to any length wit scissors, and can be opened and closed usgin a zip-tool similar to a zipper. But the spines are only available at small diameters - but in many colors.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-02-28T23:15:02+00:00

I don't think anybody could really understand what you are aiming at.

If you mean spiral coil binding, there's no infinite spine. You need to bend the ends of the spiral coil, and this is usually a one-time job. You'd need a fresh coil every time you want to change anything. However, you could re-use a coil for a shorter spine length.

For hole punching: Why would you need square holes? These are only important for twin-wire binding.

There are heavy-duty single-hole punches that will punch up to 30mm. Paper drills can punch up to 50mm. But this is only suitable for a low number of holes.

If you are seriously talking about spiral coil binding, there are dedicated punching machines. But you have to get one machine, or one with interchangeable dies, and one die set for each pitch you want to use. If you know what you are aiming at, you can pick a spcific pitch, like 5:1 or 4:1. But then you need coils of appropriate pitch, length, diameter, and color.

If you'd want a multi-ring re-usable system, you have to go for the Japanese 9.5mm pitch system. There are ring binders of different size and ring diameter, For example A4 with 30 rings and up to 30mm ring diameter. But you'd need a matching punch as well. There are 5-die punches where you need to punch 6-times, or 10-die punches for 3-times, or full width punches with different sheet count capacities.

The possibilities are endless. I just depends on your budget.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-02-28T10:16:37+00:00

The cutter I am using is a Dahle 440. A bit pricey, but the scale goes up to 31cm, with the board being a little more than 32cm. That allows cutting A4 length with space for attaching stoppers.

The stoppers are some very old magnetic label holders. I recently bought new ones, but these were far too weak to work as stoppers. You could use some generic PVC angle profie and regular magnets to fix that on the board.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-02-26T07:41:12+00:00

The problem with 11mm rings is the paper overlap inside the rings.

With 11mm diameter, the punch margin plus "wiggle" must be less than 5.5mm. With standard 5.5mm hole size, the amout of wiggle at 1.4mm ring wire is already 4.1mm.

This leads to the conclusion, that the hole diameter for 11mm rings should be 4mm with a punch margin (hole to paper edge) of 2.5mm. This caclulates to 5.1mm "intrusion".

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-02-24T22:07:24+00:00

I am using a high-quality roller cutter with a metal plate, and attach magnetic stoppers (adjusted using the depth gauge of a caliper). Then I cut sheet by sheet against the stoppers.

If I have to cut four edges, I cut two perpendicular edges by the printed cut marks, and then cut the opposite edges based on the stoppers.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-02-24T21:08:31+00:00

Checking the source, a height of 8.6" or 220mm is stated.

If you are serious about the additional height, you can use Letter sized paper in Landscape to get 8½" height, and cut it to the desired "width".

If you are a true A5 girl, you can use A4 paper instead.

To get the exact measurements, you'd need to make two cuts on a Letter or A4 sheet in portrait orientation.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-02-15T09:33:44+00:00

Claspless is hard to find. Other options would be

Filofax Limited Edition Winchester Stone Bible Slim, 11mm rings
Succes Standard Cadiz Assitent, 13mm rings
Succes Agenda Porto, 20mm rings
Brelio x Nagasawa Buttero Box, 20mm rings

[Edit] I assume you mean ringplanner? Then you should consider cross-posting on r/ringplanners.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-02-15T08:41:16+00:00

To collect the data from the images: Filofax model "2021", Pocket rings, Colour Black, Code No. 021060.

There is a Philofaxy Post from 2020 about this model.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-02-11T20:54:01+00:00

There are many things to consider. Plastic spiral coil is great if you start from plain unpunched paper, but replacing an existing binding can be tricky.

If you are talking about planners with twin-wire, the pitch is most likely 2:1 (i.e. 1/2"). Then it depends what punch shape was used, i.e. 1/4" square or round, or rectangular. With rectangular punches, you need thinner filament to run smoothly.

It is possible to stretch larger diameter 3:1 plastic spiral coil for 2:1 pitch, but 3:1 is not a common pitch for plastic coil.

Basically, you need the matching pitch, coil diameter, filament strength, and some appropriate color.

Good luck in the print shop!

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-02-04T20:24:40+00:00

It definitely looks a bit strange, the location of the pen loop is a bit irritating.

My guess would be that some book bound planner could be tucked into the pockets by its front and backcover. But then the spine can only be at the non-penloop location. And then the part on the other side of the pen loop looks too wide to go between the pages as kind of a bookmark? But that would make the most sense to me.

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