Notebook from old Floppy Disks

 by Diaphane
Featured

I know there are several other Instructables about this using rubber band, cable ties or chain links.
This notebook is made with string and the method is different (and a bit more complicated, I admit).

After I made this I was very very proud of myself, and I wanted the world to see my creation! :-D
 
Remove these adsRemove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: What you need

1.jpg

-2 Floppy Disks
-1 meter of cotton string
-about 50 papers (square, 9x9cm)
-Scissors
-Darning Needle
-a Hole Punch

I was lucky! I found notebook paper at exactly the right size, and it was cheap too.
If you have to cut it, it would be good to use one of those paper cutter machine things.
I just learned they are called "paper cutters" (THANKS!). Why didn't I think of that? It was probably just too obvious :-)

This is an opportunity to recycle used paper (one side printed/written, one side blank).
vegan draws says: Oct 28, 2012. 12:32 PM
This is a great idea. Thank you - I'm going to make one for my Dad :-)
sraharjo1 says: Aug 24, 2011. 10:46 PM
where did you get some of those coloured paper?
Browncoat says: Jul 7, 2011. 7:31 PM
I had some square paper & have made 4 of these. I'm using a dremel tool to make the holes in the paper. :)
KwartzKitten says: Jun 10, 2011. 11:42 AM
How retro looking!
MyMenagerie says: Jun 8, 2011. 7:31 AM
This is a wonderful craft for children. Even though floppies hold more info than note paper, children LOVE to write down things on pads. (My house is full of them!) Thanks for the idea. As soon as I unload my floppies, we will get started!
xc1024 says: Jun 6, 2011. 6:24 AM
Hmm. Nice idea. I actually think I have a few corrupted floppies, so I may try this. Here's something I was wondering about:

The pad has 50 sheets. Each can fit about 250 characters, I think. So in total you get 12500 characters. That's 12.2 KB (12500 bytes, assuming 1 KB = 1024 bytes).
Floppy on the other hand is 1440 KB. So the floppy, as used originally is almost 120 times more space-efficient than the one that was converted as well as having additional built-in write protection.

But then, floppy drives have went out of common use since the USB flash drives took over, so they are not as future proof as note pads. You can safely say that there will be a person who reads English in 50 years time, but you can't really guarantee there will be even one working floppy drive at that time.
Suzanne in Orting in reply to xc1024Jun 6, 2011. 11:01 PM
"...you can't really guarantee there will be even one working floppy drive at that time."

Knowing my husband, there will be at least one.

Suzanne in Orting, WA
MyMenagerie in reply to Suzanne in OrtingJun 8, 2011. 7:27 AM
Ours is still working! I guess we'll retire it as soon as we run out of floppies. Your husband sounds like mine. If it is electronic, he can probably fix it. :-)
ob9889 in reply to Suzanne in OrtingJun 7, 2011. 7:49 AM
Haha
not everybody is willing to change their way around things
MyMenagerie says: Jun 8, 2011. 7:25 AM
This is a wonderful craft idea for children! Thanks! After I remove the info from my floppies, I plan on getting started.
ob9889 says: Jun 7, 2011. 7:51 AM
Diaphane
Is it about the same size as a post it?
Diaphane (author) in reply to ob9889Jun 7, 2011. 10:33 AM
Post-its are a little smaller ( the ones I have)
My post its are 7x7,5 cm (2,5x3 in)
The papers I used are 9x9 cm (3,3x3,5 in)
SageMinto says: Jun 6, 2011. 6:10 PM
Very adorable! I will definitely make one of these before I go to college in the fall. They seem like notebooks I would need as a freshmen. :D
Crispie J says: Jun 3, 2011. 4:48 PM
the English word for one of those paper cutter machine things is a paper cutter :)
pudtiny in reply to Crispie JJun 6, 2011. 7:26 AM
or guillotine
Lindie says: Jun 6, 2011. 6:36 AM
That's nice!
Veridical_Angel says: Jun 5, 2011. 8:07 AM
I make these but you a pad of Stickie Notes. They are perfect. For the paper, I used scrapbook paper scraps and decoupage the paper onto the plastic.
gorgeous junk says: Jun 3, 2011. 4:31 PM
These are very cool, unfortunately my only floppy disks are black, I wish I had some nice colours like yours!
Diaphane (author) in reply to gorgeous junkJun 4, 2011. 1:29 AM
The floppy disks weren't coloured like this. They are white, light gray or black.
I just put some of the coloured paper on them with double sided sticky tape.
Mr.Sanchez says: Jun 3, 2011. 5:53 PM
THNKS 4 SHARE...straight to the "To do" List...
angelabchua says: Jun 3, 2011. 4:30 PM
awww this is awesome! An awesome gift!
ChrysN says: Jun 3, 2011. 4:08 PM
Nice!
randofo says: Jun 3, 2011. 2:32 PM
Nicely done! You should use the picture with the stack of notebooks as the main image. It's a good photo.
Diaphane (author) in reply to randofoJun 3, 2011. 2:54 PM
Thank you! I'll do that.
Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

PDF Downloads
As a Pro member, you will gain access to download any Instructable in the PDF format. You also have the ability to customize your PDF download.

Upgrade to Pro today!