Atoma and Arc Notebook Systems
10 March 2016
When my illustrious United Inkdom colleague Mr. S Monboddo sent me a customised Atoma/Rhodia notebook, my interest was piqued. Here was a notebook system that had the potential to be everything I needed it to be for work.
Specifically, for my work, I want all these things:
- pages I can remove so I can scan them into my computer and then shred (e.g. meeting notes);
- a mix of, as a minimum, grid and plain paper;
- paper I can use fountain pens on; and
- ideally, something I can fit into my Taschenbegleiter.
I’ve written about the system I’ve been using. There’s nothing wrong with this except it’s rather ungainly. I’m a tinkerer though and always on the lookout for the next best thing. There was a distinct possibility the Atoma system might be it.
The Atoma system consists of a set of discs and punched paper. The paper slips onto the discs and, crucially, slips off again without any unclipping or tearing. This makes it simple to reposition sheets of paper or take them out to scan.
This makes for an infinitely flexible notebook. I have lined paper for the most part but several sheets of grid and plain paper at the back. If I want to use one of these sheets, I just move one or two to the front. If I want to make rough notes I can and then I can throw that sheet away if I want to. I can write a note for someone else and give them the sheet.
I can also use it like a normal notebook, with numbered pages. What’s even better is that it becomes an infinite notebook: as the notebook fills up, I can remove the earlier pages, scan them quickly using a sheet-fed scanner, and then store them somewhere else. (Or even dispose of them but I’m not that kind of person.)
The notebook Scribble sent me consisted of Atoma’s metal discs, some Atoma paper and some Rhodia paper. Atoma’s paper is okay but not great for fountain pens. It’s not particularly smooth and sucks up the ink a little too readily, making it prone to a touch of feathering. Rhodia’s paper is, of course, wonderful for fountain pens. The obvious long-term solution was to buy a hole punch so I can make my own refills using Rhodia paper. The Atoma hole punch costs £139. That was a lot more than I was willing to spend.
The Atoma system is not unique to them. Levenger have something very similar and so, it turns out, do Staples. The Staples Arc system looked very similar and Staples sell an Arc hole punch for £34. For the first time in years, I headed to a Staples store and I picked up an A5 plastic-covered Arc notebook.
First, some differences between the Atoma and Arc systems. The Arc discs are plastic. The Atoma discs are metal and feel a much higher quality. Atoma make some very interesting and beautiful looking covers; Staples have a good range of functional, yet far from ugly, covers. There’s no doubt that Atoma are going for the luxury part of the market and Staples are going for the budget and middle parts.
It turns out the Arc and Atoma systems are identical in function. The sheets can be mixed and matched because the hole punching is exactly the same. When I first discovered this I thought I’d be buying a Staples Arc hole punch so I could make up my own notebooks using Rhodia paper and the Atoma discs.
It didn’t work out this way because the Staples Arc paper is really good. It’s heavy (100gsm), smooth and loves fountain pens with all its heart. It’s available lined, in grid, plain, as a calendar, as a task list; there are dividers, rulers, sticky notes. I’ve so far found no need to buy a hole punch because I’ve got everything I need. (For my use, this means plain, lined and squared paper but nothing else.)
If I wasn’t using my Roterfaden (which I’ll come to in a moment) then my perfect system would be Atoma discs and covers with Staples paper, plus a Staples hole punch if I wanted to get even more customised. This is almost perfect.
What makes it not quite perfect: while the system is good, the paper can come unstuck now and then if you’re careless turning the pages. There’s also something lovely about writing in a good quality hardcover notebook that you don’t get with this.
I love my Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter. It’s ageing beautifully and it’s functional: as well as storing a notebook, it holds my iPad mini, scraps of paper, a plastic wallet with a ruler and protractor, and has a decent pen loop with which to hold my Vanishing Point. It turned out to be simple to hack the Atoma/Arc notebook to fit. I single cut to the cardboard cover that came with the Rhodia notebook Scribble sent me enabled me to slide it into the front pocket. A couple of clips hold it securely in place.
The cardboard cover that came with the Rhodia notebook is held in place with a couple of clips
What I have now is an infinite, and almost perfect, notebook, in a beautiful and very functional cover. What’s even better is I still get to tinker. There’s nothing worse than finding something that’s so close to what you want, you can’t think of ways to improve it.
Thanks for the review.
I’ve been using the Arc hole punch for several years with my Atoma and it works quite well.
I use it mainly for work so that I can add printed documents to my Atoma.
With the 5×8 junior notebook you can hole the top or bottom, and fold a full sheet for reference. I also found a website where I could set a custom dot grid matrix and print letter or double junior dot grid sheets.
Hi! could you please let me know the website where you get the sheets?
I’d recommend William Hannah.
Levenger.com has many styles & sizes of punched sheets for their Circa notebooks. Levenger holes & discs are fully compatible with Arc and also with Martha Stewart punched paper refills, notebooks & discs. The Atoma system is a bit different with a more precise style of “mushroom” hole with its narrower “stem” and a thinner mushroom top. The Levenger punch will work with Atoma discs but not vice-versa. The Atoma punch and the Arc punch are larger and heavier than the Levenger medium-size punch. The Levenger medium-size is cheaper, sleeker and overall a bit smaller than either the Arc or the Atoma. The holes made by the Levenger punch are larger with the mushroom top more bulbous & rounder and the mushroom stem thicker. Then there are the price to be differences. Levenger is far cheaper than Atoma and Levenger offeres three sizes with varying capacities & prices. The cheapest Levenger punch is lightweight thin plastic and punches one sheet at a time at about $20 and is easily portable. The medium size Levenger punch will handle about half a dozen sheets at a time depending on thickness and costs about $50 (down from the initial $70), plus shipping (free shipping on orders over a certain amount, maybe $100) and is sturdy, metal, easy to use, sleek, and with a smaller profile than Arc or Atoma. The largest Levenger will punch about 20 sheets (depending on thickness, see their website). The Atoma punch is horribly expensive because it is made in Europe and that postage rate is horribly expensive. By the way, Atoma invented the concept circa 1948 based on the Rolodex cards which are re-insertible. Good luck with your new filing system. Claire aka Lilymaybelle.
WOOOW! I’m totally a newby into these systems, cause in my country the Atoma’s notebooks just arrived this year! I’ve been searching on amazon to see the accessories and punches, because the refills are so expensive here, and you just answered all my questions!!! Thank you so much for this reply!!!
To Polyana from Claire a.k.a. Lillymaybelle a.k.a. Claire in Springfield.
Happy to help. Took me a long time to decide what to do with my shelf-fuls of bulky and heavy 3-ring binders with covers that were falling apart. Disc binding is compact, space-efficient, flexible. The system accommodates many sizes of paper which can be included within the same set of covers. With the punch, you can bind all your odd-size papers as small as 2 inches within the same notebook because the holes are exactly 1 inch apart–just center the paper along the chosen row of punches. Discs come in multiple sizes and colors. Your notebooks can be any size from letter-size to pocket size, also thicker or thinner simply by changing disc diameter. For a punch, try the U.S. eBay web site for more choices including used items. My favorite discs & punch are by Atoma because the discs don’t stick out and the grip is superior. I see today that the Atoma punch has been improved, less bulky.
If you are in Australia, go to www. Atoma.com.au/shop/ . He knows his stuff, tries harder to please, has a good inventory, and his website is a delight to see, read, and use. He & his family take a month off for vacation in the summer. Tell him that Claire in Springfield, Massachusetts USA sent you.
Thank you for this review. Have been on the fence about this for use in college for so long. Knowing that it works well, that the Staples paper is good, and that the systems are interchangable is convinced me to pull the trigger.
[…] Ian has done a pretty good job in sourcing a great value alternative, which incidentally appeals to me even more: Atoma and Arc Notebook Systems […]
[…] Atoma and Arc Notebook Systems – Pens! Paper! Pencils! […]
[…] Ian’s review of the home-punched alternatives […]
I am currently trying to choose a binding system, but none of them seem to offer a hole punch. Staples have discontinued Arc and WH do not offer such a device.
Any thoughts …
Cult Pens sell the Atoma punch which is compatible with the Arc system but it’s very very expensive. I don’t know of any others. It’s a shame the Arc system is discontinued.
Office Depot has their own system called TUL. I think it’s similar to the ARC system. A TUL punch is a out $35. I have the Levenger Circa Leverage Punch which works very well. The reason I purchased the Levenger ($70 and free shipping from Amazon) is because it has the capacity to punch about fifteen sheets of regular paper at a time.
Levenger has the punch. It is heavy, sleek, easy to understand with the click-notched self-centering sliding bar, and reliable if you clear the punches when it starts to stick. The only other one I found is the Atoma which is 3 or 4 times as expensive, just as heavy, a bit larger. The Atoma punch is a bit wobbly but it does work. Levenger has three models, a lightweight plastic portable version which punches one sheet at a time; the medium-priced version which punches 4 to 7 sheets depending on thickness, and a heavy-duty punch with a larger profile because of the handle. Levenger punches are reasonably priced. NOTE that the Atoma holes have a closer fit and more precise shape, which matches their discs; the Atoma holes & discs are sort of interchangeable. The Atoma discs do not come in the large variety of sizes offered by Levenger, but the Atoma discs DO NOT WOBBLE. The Atoma discs have much smaller profile. Both brands included plastic in colors. Levenger once had attractive nickel-placed brass discs at a much higher price. Atoma has metal discs (aluminum) at a higher price than plastic, of course.
“It turns out the Arc and Atoma systems are identical in function. The sheets can be mixed and matched because the hole punching is exactly the same.” I have both, and the fit is different, although somewhat compatible. The newer larger Levenger “Circa” punch will fit Atoma discs (but not the obsolete Levenger punch which makes smaller holes). The Atoma-Arc mash-up is imprecise. Levenger Circa holes are mushroom-shaped. The original disc-binding system is Atoma in Belgium with holes that are a slightly rounded T-shapes with a narrower “stem”. I have just ordered the Atoma punch, plus two sizes of metal (aluminum) discs, and several notebooks and covers in two sizes, A4 and A5. The shipment will arrive in two days from Cult Pens in England. For over 10 years I have been archiving with the US disc-binding brands, first Arc (the older brand name is Rollabind), then Levenger’s Circa. I quickly changed from Rolla/Rollabind/Arc to Levenger/Circa disc-binding because the Rollabind company was horrible to deal with. Levenger service is fantastic. I found another US company called Myndology which is even worse than Rollabind and which sold Atoma products including the punch, but they are always “out of stock”. The original disc-binding company, from the 1940’s, is Atoma in Belgium. A month ago I bought an Atoma notebook, and there is a huge difference in the holes and the discs. Then I ordered the Atoma punch. Yes, Atoma is far more expensive and they do not market far beyond their homeland. Here is the biggest difference beyond price: the Atoma holes & discs are not “mushroom” shaped, they are more of a T-shape. The Atoma discs have a smaller diameter and the Atoma discs have wider & thinner edges and do not protrude as much, so the fit is more precise, grippier, and the discs do not wobble. Yes, the newer U.S. versions are cheaper; they were born after the Atoma patent expired. I wish I had discovered Atoma before I invested in several hundred covers, thousands of discs, and two Levenger punches. The discontinued Levenger original punch makes a smaller mushroom which works better for thinner paper. I prefer plastic discs because I do not like aluminum which is soft and pits over time. Levenger Circa recently added aluminum to its many sizes and colors of discs. I found some collectible rare old Levenger Circa chrome-plated brass discs, brand new, on eBay, which are heavy and are magnificent with the Levenger leather Bomber Jacket cover. Again, the U.S. discs wobble and are sticky-outy. My Atoma purchases will arrive in two days.
A great supplement to the review. Very much appreciated.
Dear Sir,
I single cut to the cardboard cover that came with the Rhodia notebook Scribble sent me enabled me to slide it into the front pocket. A couple of clips hold it securely in place.
Do you mind show more photos of how you have done the above ?
Many thanks.
Are you using a Roterfaden without clips?
No. When I wrote this I was hooking the clips through the rings to keep them in place. These days I use my Roterfaden with normal notebooks.
Just found this page; very interesting. I was looking for Staples ARC and I discovered Snopake Eligo system. Does anyone have experience of this product: especially paper quality and interchangeability.
I use the covers from Liga notebooks perfect fit! There must be others