3 Ring Choir Binder Music Holder (remix)

thingiverse

I initially printed KrisFab's design but wanted to incorporate large rubber bands for elasticity to hold the music pieces in place. When I glued the pieces together, they snapped, so I tried printing them thicker with similar results. I don't blame the design; instead, I blame my printer's condition. However, I needed something easier for my machine to print a bunch of for a choir. Print two endpieces and one (optional) midpiece, add long rubber bands and rods, and you're done. I can print 8 sets at once on my 200x200mm bed, which takes forever but yields nicely printed results. I used 4mm rods approximately 10 inches long with #117b rubber bands. Bamboo skewers served as the rods, but I may switch them for something more rigid over time. Minimal post-printing is required to make use of this design; aside from cutting the rods down to size, there's little else to do. In reality, don't worry about rod diameter; what matters most is length (just about 10 inches) and rigidity. 1/8" steel rods will probably work just fine (I'm considering picking some up to test). Even if one rod is markedly shorter than the other, the holes in the endpieces are over an inch long, so one rod might rattle around but keep the other aligned anyway. UPDATE: I created a smaller midpiece as its purpose is mainly to align the rods. It looks better and prints much faster now. I printed 16 of these midpieces standing up in just a few hours. UPDATE 2: I designed an endpiece with rounded holes and sides, which prints more nicely for me since I tend to press down the plastic too hard on the build plate. The rounded edges make it easier to pry them off using a putty knife. This update might help others as well.