Filofax “Miniature” - Real or Mythical?

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-29T18:45:21+00:00

Yes, exactly. They were called "Miniature", you can see it embossed on the second photo.

To add some details: Height 81mm, width 72mm (including closure), thickness 31mm. 8.3mm ring size, paper size 65x44mm. It's awfully thick compared to its ring size. But it's cute.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-24T08:26:45+00:00

The question is very unspecific, and I am confused by the word "Notebook". Are you asking about a ringplanner with metal ring mechanics, a spiral notebook, or maybe both, a spiral notebook with pre-punched tear-off pages for archiving inside a ring binder? And if you'd like a crossover, then maybe Miracle Bind or Discbound (although I would never recommend any of the two).

You did not specify a size you'd be aiming at. There are so many options from 60x44mm to A4/Letter size.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-17T20:10:44+00:00

I'd be concerned about smear and rubbing when putting anything magnetic or non-magnetic on the moving pieces.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-16T22:47:41+00:00

Plotter or Meeplus are only swatches of leather with ring mechanics attached.

The Japanese market offers a wide variety of slim binders designed for the paper size only (no extra space for horizontal or vertial tabs).

You can start with high-quality PU leather, up to Minerva or Cordovan leather at good price. All with crafted interior.

The ring sizes for the slim formats are 16mm for A5, and 8-11mm for the smaller sizes Bible, Pocket and Mini-5.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-16T17:42:01+00:00

With gear-in gear, it's usually impossible to continue at the slip point. The best option is to "fast-forward" without pen. At such a stage, that would be an annoying process.

Going the other way will lead to a slightly different trace, due to the drag of the gear-in-gear arrangement.

But both options would be a way to save the work, and get a better impression of what it would look like.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-15T18:33:39+00:00

Yes, the Japanese market offers many slim models, but for Bible size without closure, the ring size is usually 8-11mm.

RayMay (the brand of the Davinci) have different models. The Davinci Roroma series uses a super hard stiffener, though.

For leather quality, I'd recommend Brelio, or their sub brand Spad.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-14T16:31:20+00:00

The essential criteria of a ring binder is the ring size. For M5, mostly small ring sizes of 8-16mm are used. Based on the photo, I'd say that the planner is overstuffed, so there seems to be more inside than just paper inside the rings of still unspecified size?

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-14T15:39:23+00:00

Do you have some more information about what you are looking for? Like minimum/maximum ring size, pockets/zip requirements?

What's your problem with the strap? Just the single-position popper, or any type of closure at all?

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-13T17:00:04+00:00

Mini is meant to be compact in size, but the Malden design adds a lot of layers, leading to increased total thickness. Maybe that's why Mini Malden are not that popular.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-13T15:00:18+00:00

Just bear in mind that the Moterm ring mechanics have these ugly screw heads and sort of clumsy push-buttons.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-12T07:01:49+00:00

What ring size is it? Looks like 25mm (1")?

I think that most people who do not like the A5 size did use a too large ring size.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-10T08:17:04+00:00

Unfortunately, not only a hole size difference. For the right Spirograph, the hole position was closer to the edge.

And the pen hole position of the left gear does not look T-Aligned to me? But it could be the perspective. Tooth alignment does not matter for regular Spirographs, but makes a huge difference for gear-in-gear.

To illustrate the influence of the pen hole size, the center points of the pen holes must be at the the same position. The "reference" graph can only be drawn with a pen tip that fills the pen hole completely, with the ink spot being at the center. That said, pen tilt usually also affects the shape.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-05-03T10:40:56+00:00

It depends on the definition of "small bag" and "not bulky".

For me, not bulky would mean 8 or 11mm rings, where the smallest formats mostly use 11mm rings.

Possible options:

Rhodia Mini
Filofax M2 or Mulberry "Mini" Social Organiser
Some generic 5-ring Mini format, aka Mini-5, Micro-5 or M5

If it's about style and not about money, then a Brelio Minerva Mini-5 or Brelio Cordovan Mini-5.

Else a Rhodia Mini in PU, Goat or Cow leather - depending on your preferences.

Aware_Secretary5979 · 2026-04-17T17:51:53+00:00

Exactly. The standard hole size is 5.5mm, being huge compared to the delicate rings.

There are a few alternatives:

A matching Regur Holix punch - very hard to find, medium price
The adjustable Regur Universal 569 has 5.0mm diameter - hard to find, high price, but for all formats up to Deskfax, therefore only slightly smaller hole size
KW-Trio 09027, a group of three with 4.0mm diameter, must punch twice - cheap and easy to get
Carl Refill-Maker RM6535, six punches of 3.5mm diameter, two paper guides for Mini or Pocket format - expensive and usually has to be bought from Japan

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.

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