Metal Notebook Cover With 3D Printed Hinge

I'm a student at San Diego State University, and my design class requires an engineering notebook. The class is two semesters long, and I need to turn in the notebook at the end. I don't want my notebook to be damaged in that time, and I am pretty rough on all my school supplies, so I wanted some kind of cover. I set out to make something out of materials I had on hand (minus the hardware) to protect my notebook. I ended up connecting 3d printing hinges to some scrap aluminum sheet with M4 hardware.

Supplies:

-2x aluminum sheet large enough to cover the notebook (10x13~ inches in my case).

-2x each hinge, which is 3d printed and made from 3 parts. Parts A, B, and C are included here (only two parts shown here, see next step for all three parts).

-12x M4x10mm round head machine screws and nuts.

-4x 10 inch long elastic cords (sold at stores as tarp bungees)

-1x 3/4 inch belt buckle

-1x 24 inch long 3/4 inch wide nylon strap and belt lock slide (shown in step 5)

Optional- old t shirt (see note in final step)

Tools:

-Angle Grinder (I had to cut my aluminum from a larger sheet, maybe just buy it the right size, cutting metal is hard)

-Drill with 5/32 drill bit

-screwdriver and pliers

-needle and thread

-leather punch, awl, or pocket knife (to make a hole in a nylon strap)

optional - hot glue gun

The first thing for me to figure out was a design and some basic dimensions. I did some measuring and wrote it down, along with some quick sketches. Once I had that, I went to Fusion 360 to make a hinge. I knew I needed room for the notebook, the aluminum, and the hardware. A handful of sketches and a couple broken hinges led to this design. This design is attached as .stl files in the supplies section. Should fit most 92 page notebooks from national lab suppliers.

After printing the hinge parts, I donned a full face shield and gloves in preparation for using the cutoff wheel on the angle grinder. I cut two pieces of aluminum from the stock I had on hand. My inexperience with the grinder is evident in the straightness of the cuts, but I was glad to use an old offcut that would have gone to the recyclers otherwise. I filed the corners off, and placed the ends of the hinges on the aluminum as shown. I marked the holes with a sharpie and drilled through the sheet aluminum. Just a tip for other novice metal workers like me, drilling into a piece of scrap wood helped make the holes a little cleaner on the back side. I put m4 screws through such that the round heads were on the inside of the notebook cover and the nuts and hinge on the outside, as shown on the picture. Once I got the 3rd to last screw, I stopped assembling to insert the middle part of the hinge.

As mentioned in Step 3, the middle part of the hinge connects the two sheets and can be slipped in if you leave out two screws. Once fully assembled, put in the last two screws, and the cover is structurally finished. Be sure to arrange one hinge opposite to the other, as shown in the second picture of this step.

I tied 2 elastic bands together at the ends to make a single large loop. I did this a second time to make two large loops. I used them to keep the notebook attached to the cover during transport in my bag to and from school. I can also rearrange them to keep the page open outside in the breeze, which is handy for outdoor experiments and just enjoying nature whenever possible.

I wanted an extra strap to keep the notebook closed and retain the notebook if it slipped or the elastic bands broke. I quickly stitched an offcut of a nylon strap to a buckle I had on hand. I then used a leather punch to make a hole in the nylon. I took one of the M4 nuts off the top front hinge and pushed the nylon strap onto the exposed M4 threads. I replaced the M4 nut to hold the buckle. I used the belt lock slider to loop the nylon strap around the rear cover plate.

I cut the strap to a reasonably long length, because I thought it might look cool to wrap the strap around itself like a medieval belt. To keep in that theme, I cut the strap into a flare and burned the ends with a lighter to keep the nylon from fraying. I wrapped the belt up and under the belt, and slipped it into the loop the belt creates, as shown in the pictures. The notebook cover is now done!

Optional Steps: I used the hot glue gun to stick a piece of the old t-shirt to the screw heads, but I didn't use quite enough glue, so the t shirt came off fairly quickly. The glue itself seems to be protecting the finish of the notebook well enough that I am not sure the t shirt is really required. Consider skipping it.