Lihit Lab Twist Rings: Love The Rings, Hate The Paper? Here's What To Do

[Plume145]

Okay, 'hate' is a bit much, I don't hate it, it's quite nice actually. The only thing that spoils it a bit for me is that the lines on the grid pattern are just a touch too strong - I like mine barely-there. And if you don't like grid at all, you're SOL when it comes to this notepad because the paper only comes in grid. There is a punch available (from Rakuten) but it only punches like one sheet at a time, not even business card thickness, so not something you could ever use to MYO refills.

 

So, what to do?

 

Get another A7(ish) wire bound notepad, cut off the rings to liberate the pierced paper, and bind it together with the lihit lab binding mechanism

 

Here's the detailed how-to:

 

You need:

A pair of wire cutter pliers. Jewelry making weight should be all you need, no need to haul out the fence cutters

Your Lihit Lab Twist Ring notepad (I'm calling it LL)

Your refill notepad: it should be wire-bound in the twin-ring format, in a size that's about a7 - exact dimensions down to the mm are unimportant, it's the holes that matter most: the number and the spacing of them need to match the ones on the LL. I could go on in the abstract about how to do that by measuring, but really the most intuitive way to ascertain this is to get one sheet off the notebook you want to use to replace the aqua drops, and test it with the binding (that's step 1).

 

 

 

Step 1: Make sure your paper fits the LL binding.

 

Don't cut open the rings on your replacement notebook just yet, in case it turns out the holes don't match up - wouldn't want to destroy the binding only to find you can't reuse the loose sheets as a refill

 

Start by separating one sheet from the notebook - to avoid getting the fluffed-out bits of paper where it was torn from the rings, don't tear it in the usual upward side to side motion, but pull outwards:

 

 

 

 

Remove the extra bits that may still be stuck.

 

 

Then just slide it up to the rings of the LL. This fits:

 

This doesn't:

 

Okay, you're all done with the tricky part

 

Step 2: Liberate the paper.

 

Cut open the rings with your wire cutter. Not much more to say than that - just go to town on the rings, it doesn't matter, all you need to do is make sure not to damage the paper and you're done.

 

 

Step 3: Switcheroo

 

Open the lihit lab and take the paper out - maybe the covers too if you want to ditch those. Replace with the liberated paper and covers from your other notebook, starting with the covers (one on each half of the open rings), then the paper.

 

The only thing to mind here is not to overfill the LL. It takes less paper than most pocket A7 notepads, because the twist ring mechanism needs room to work.

 

 

Done!

 

Here's a list of the notepads I tried (because I had them on hand) and the results:

 

These fit:

Kokuyo CamiApp (note: if you want the Scanner feature to work you have to transfer the covers too because the black works as a frame for the app when you take the photo, otherwise it might not work).

Midori Diamond Memo Small

 

This didn't:

maruman Mnemosyne 184 Roots (meh, this one sucks anyway - only one side printed, WTH?)

 

If you try this, could you please list your results here? I would love to know how you got along as this is my first pen-related tutorial (hey, gotta start somewhere lol). I would also love to know if anyone tries this with any of the larger sizes of LL twist rings notebooks, like the B5 that Jetpens stock

 

[yannori]

Whoa! I'm adding this to my next journal crafting day! Nice HowTo!

[Plume145]

heh, glad you like it :-) Since then I tried the B5 and it works on that too, you want the ones that say 'slim B5'.

 

Anything else you want on DIY, try me because I love the challenge of coming up with DIY solutions! Except pen repairs because I'm clueless there I started DIY/MYO out of necessity because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted but it's morphed into a fun activity where I actively look for things to customize and judge any notebook in part by how well it would take being customized

 

Also, nice siggie! I recently read the sign of four and liked it way more than I thought - especially the crazy water chase sequence at the endI Leaving aside the old-school vocab it was oddly current

[Newjelan]

B5 Lihit Lab paper comes in 2 line widths, grid and blank though so there is an easy choice with the larger size.

[Plume145]

2 line widths? Really? That sounds pretty cool, I only know of the one Jetpens have, then a 'premium' line (or it might be called something else) that is cream-colored and smoother but I don't think it's a different line width...? It's pretty hard to come by unless you can shop Japanese websites, I got mine on Rakuten English but only because I basically stumbled across it lol.

 

Anyways! My little hack above is more for when you don't like the paper stock (ie too smooth, too rough, too absorbent, ink never dries, color's off, etc) than the page layout (lines vs dots vs graph). If the layout is the only problem your best bet is probably to use the blank paper to print out exactly what you want from all those templates floating about! It's like with me above where I used paper from a Kokuyo CamiApp or a Midori Diamond Memo because I like those papers better than lihit. Which is by no means awful! It's just nice to have options

[Newjelan]

The version of paper I have is white, great quality (not as brilliant white as Rhodia, nor as glossy) with minimal/no bleedthrough for wet M nibs & dark inks. In addition to grid and blank it has 6mm & 7mm line widths. Haven't seen it online but is available at our large Stationery Chain "Officeworks" for about $2 a pack.

[Plume145]

aah, that figures. Offerings from local chain of office supply stores are kind of invisible to anyone outside the market where the chain operates (ever heard of Goomby? didn't think so, but if you lived in Greece you couldn't avoid it, lol). Still, it's useful info for the Australians and New Zealanders on the forum, and I always love hearing from other fans of the twist rings line, there doesn't seem to be many of us and it's a shame because it's a neat system :-)

[ipinkgirl]

I've found another brand of paper that you can pop the rings of the notebook and use the paper from it in the lihit twist ring binders and it's the new Wizard notebook sold at Jet Pens. It's an Apica notebook and comes in size B5 only. But I just did the test and the paper fits right in so I'm going to be cutting the rings and adding this paper to my notebook. I'll post a pic later today.

Edited September 24, 2015 by ipinkgirl

[HRoberts_08]

Cultpens.com here in the UK offer the a6 a5 in 30 and 100 sheet loads of colours plus sell the punch but ur idea is so much better

The 30 sheet is way too small amt of paper I think but probably great for handbags ect...

But thank you so much for the how too really helps me out when refills are 30 sheets at a time it soon adds up easier to buy 200 and split it than faff about making sure u added enough and not to much

[dogpoet]

To be honest, as wonderful an idea as the twist ring system is (and I have acquired both an a5 and b6 binder) the hole punch is outrageously overpriced, so using a wire cutter on another notepad with paper you like is a good idea. (That said, my own B6 Lihit Labs binder did come with a plastic wedge to prise open the binding of a ringbound notebook of the same size, which is a nice touch.)

[inkypete]

Thanks for the workshop. But I actually love the Lihit paper I have. Excellent FP quality.

[hot cocoa]

Black N Red wirebound paper works too!

[Plume145]

 

On 3/24/2021 at 5:27 AM, hot cocoa said:

Black N Red wirebound paper works too!

thanks for adding that! It's so nice to think the tutorial might still be useful to people. THat's literally the best!