Thank you to Hans for this guest post, it follows on from a comment posted on a recent Free For All Tuesday.
Regular Organisers are available up to Letter (11"x8½") or A4 size, but these largest formats are uncommon.
Large Format Ringbinders, also called Ring Portfolios, start at 8½" for the long edge, with this size being unusually small. The regular range starts at 11", the largest format that I know of is 36"x24".
These portfolios are intended to carry artwork of any kind (e.g. paintings, technical/architectural/regular drawings, posters) for presentation or storage purposes. Therefore, clear pockets are the standard type of insert.
Simple versions use standard 3-Ring US Letter size mechanics with 4¼" ring spacing. Depending on the width of the portfolio, one, two, or three of these mechanics are used at a certain appropriate distance. The largest format that I know of is intended for A1 or 34" width. However, the three mechanics with nine rings in total are not able to carry the weight of ten clear pockets. I would not recommend using portfolios based on these standard 3-Ring mechanics.
Good quality Ring Portfolios are based on a ½" spacing, where in most cases groups of rings at 1" distance are used. Up to a certain size, there are portfolios with full-width ½" spaced ring mechanics available. The clear pockets are always fully punched at ½" spacing, so they will fit any ring pattern derived from this base pitch.
You can see examples for ring and hole configurations in the XXL section of my hole spacing overview:
https://www.hjreggel.net/office/lochraster_en.html#LARGE
Below is a photo of a 36"x24" Ring Portfolio, with a 14"x11" Ring Portfolio and a Slim Personal Filofax as size comparison.
The outer dimensions of the 36" Portfolio are 98x69cm, while the 14" Portfolio measures 42x37 cm. The clear pockets of 36½"x25" outer dimensions are designed to hold 36"x24" (914x609mm) sheets. Fully opened, the portfolio is almost 1.5m² in size.
The photo below shows the Portfolio in opened state, with the 14" Portfolio opened, and again the Slim Personal Filofax as size reference.
At the top you can see the two ring mechanics mounted side-by-side with three rivets each. The mechanics use two groups of eight 1" spaced rings with 1½" distance between the two groups. The center distance between the rings of the two mechanics is 2", being the smallest possible distance mounted side by side. That makes a total of 32 rings, while the clear pockets have a total of 71 punch holes at ½" spacing.
The 14" Portfolio uses one ring mechanic with two groups of six rings at 2½" distance between the two groups of rings. The clear pockets have a total of 28 punch holes at ½" spacing.
The 36" Ring Portfolio is an Itoya Profolio Poster Binder 36x24 with what I would call „soft shell“. There is a plastic stiffener inside a fabric coating.
The 14" Ring Portfolio is a Prat Start 14x11 with "hard shell".
Both are zippered, and use a simple ring mechanics without tabs or lock mechanism.
Other Ring Portfolios use the vertical Pull-Open / Push-Close tabs, or the Pinch-to-Open X-Tabs. Some models feature lock-sliders on the baseplate, but this is a rare option.
As mentioned above, the default type of insert are clear pockets. If you would like to create custom inserts, any regular punching device for the 2:1 pitch standard (½" Pitch) would be suitable. With 1" or wider spaced rings, you could also use an adjustable hole punch, like the Leitz Akto 5114. A suitable hole format would be circular with 6-8mm diameter. For the 36" Ring Portfolio, you would have to punch four times at matching offsets. Punching would even be possible with the 6" model of "The Cinch", where you'd have to punch up to six times.
Oh, I almost forgot: With 34" and 36" Portfolios, there is a special challenge: With a body height of 65-69 cm, you can't carry these by the top handle dangling at your stretched arm. And you can't reach around the body to carry it fully under your arm. Therefore, my 34“ Prat Portfolio has an additional handle in the middle of one side, allowing it to be carried under your arm. For the 36" Portfolio, the grip height for the top handle is about 72cm high, so you have to carry it with your elbow angled to avoid scraping along the floor.
In case you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Hans
Imagine those as a diary! Month per page would be quite feasible, but desk space might be a bit of a problem!!
Thank you again Hans
Thanks for sharing Hans.
ReplyDeleteThe rings on these aren’t as sturdy looking as I’d expected. I guess the large number of them compensates for this.
Hello Max,
DeleteVery well spotted. The rings are "only" ~3.4x2.1mm (Itoya) or ~3.2x2.2mm (Prat) ring wires. But it's the count and the quality, they have a very clean and definite snap.
As comparison: The "Jeppesen Airway Manuals" use ~5.6x3.8mm ring wires. But these are seven 2" rings to be filled to the maximum at Half-Letter format.
By the way: The holes in the clear pockets are 8mm diameter cropped to 6mm width.
And that’s not just any old personal slimline you’ve used for comparison.
ReplyDeleteA limited edition, reimagined, Japanese grey Winchester unless I’m mistaken?
Again very well spotted. I only have very few Filofax in Personal or larger size, and I wanted to use a standard size (except for being slim) as reference.
DeleteThat's the Winchester Stone LE Bible Slim Size. I chose it as "Bonus Item" when I ordered the Filofax Miniature Malden. At lest that's how I planned the purchase.
Beautiful. I was very tempted by these, but the prospect of paying the delivery, import duty, admin fees and 20% tax on top of the already appreciable price tag was too much!
DeleteI was on yet another search for the Miniature last year, and by pure luck I did hit the Black Week 20% off period - in spite of being determined to pay what it takes to finally get a Miniature.
DeleteThe shopping experience was great, they use DHL Express to Germany, where I could pay the handling fee and taxes online. Finally a true payment request among all those fake phishing mails. I can't tell how they'd ship to the UK, though.
I opted for the Bible Slim, because I don't like clasps in general, and dislike poppered clasps, especially single-position ones (I think many Mulberries offer two spots).
As I am not a filofax insider, I was surprised by the stiffness and total thickness of about 27mm for just 11mm rings.
But due to the great shopping experience and the craving for more special items, I also ordered the Buttero Box and then the Sainte Chapelle. The Buttero Box is a bit below my expectations, but the Sainte Chapelle Bible is so stunning - in spite of the clasp, and my preferred option HBxWA5 being sold out.
Now I'd be tempted to try ordering from Ashford, but that seems a lot more complicated due to the website being availabl in Japenese only, and 3rd party shipping partner.