die cutters

[mimififi]

Hi

I would like a die cutter for my birthday. I would like one that I can get discs for seperately, and one that will take all different sizes of discs. Does anyone have any experienceof using die cutters? If so, which one would you recommend? Any foibles to them, and what features should I definately look for.

I have googled, but there seem to be so many out there, and given that this is the first one i intend buying, it's all greek to me.

Thank you in advance. You're all super heroes to me.

[Jules001]

Hope I haven't got the wrong end of the stick here - I have got two die cutters, a Quickutz and a Sizzix. The QK will only use QK dies so a bit limiting, but the choice of dies is quite large, some of them are single dies which cost around �5 if you know where to shop, the doubles cost �9ish. The Qk machine is quite light and easy to use. The Sizzix is very heavy, but you can buy adapters to use other dies, I can use my QK dies in it and have recently bought an Accucut die from Ebay which I will use in the Sizzix machine. The dies for the Sizzix are quite bulky and take up quite a lot of room storage wise. There are now others on the market which although I know a little of, I have no hands on experience with. The Wizard apparently cuts and embosses, but having seen this demonstrated on tv it looks quite tiring to use as you have to wind a handle several times to get the die to do what it needs to. The Sizzix Sidekick will only take the new thin sizzlits diesand I believe QK dies which are obviously thinner than the original dies and again you need to wind a handle around to feed the die through.These can be used in the original Sizzix machine with an adapter though. I have no idea about the Accucut or the new Ellison BigShot.
As to which one I would recommend, it depends on what you intend to do with the die cuts, some of the original red dies for the sizzix are in my mind too large for making cards and are more suited for scrapbooking. It also depends on your manual dexterity as some people find that the Qk is difficult to use, whereas I have no problems with it.

[Jules001]

Cont'd....
I would say that the Sizzix is more versatile as it can cut through more types of material, I often struggle to get my QK to cut through thickish card. One advantage I would say that the QK and Sizzix have over the other newer machines is that the cost of the dies is now getting cheaper, whereas I think the cost of each die for the Accucut is about �14, but the look of the diecuts is more 'professional' if you know what I mean. Having said that I love both of my machines and wouldn't give either of them up and now that I have discovered Ebay I am currently buying dies like they are going out of fashion! If you have anymore questions, I'll try and help if I can

[mimififi]

WOW, jules thanks for that, you are an actual expert! I shall look into all of them. I think I would prefer a pressy-downy-one, rather than a windy one, but I shall have to read again and digest all the the things you say about the differences in them. I had no idea it was such a big world out there.

WOuld you recommend getting one from E-Bay, or can you recommend a supplier? Are you UK?

Thanks again for answering, you are a hero!

[Jules001]

Hi again, I am UK based. As there is very little that can go wrong with them, I think it would be worth checking out ebay and seeing if you can get a bargain. When I bought my sizzix they were fairly new out in this country and I paid about �60. The QK was a pressie from my hubby and I know he paid too much for it as he didn't know the best place to get it but wanted it to be a surprise. The site I would use as my first port of call for shopping for diecutters and dies would be www.cheapdies.co.uk they are very reliable, good service and reasonable prices too. Orders over �10 get free postage too. I have just looked on there and the sizzix is going for �63 approx which personally I feel is still quite a lot for what is basically an older design of machine. The QK is �49 for the original, the pink one which is supposed to be easier to use and more comfortable to use (I don't have any problems with the original blue one) is more at �99. If shopping on ebay I would say that �10 is normal for postage for the sizzix as it is so heavy, whereas the QK is much lighter and I would unless paying for special delivery not expect to pay anymore than �5 for postage. You can get dies on there too, but watch out as some of them go for silly prices. As a guide when bidding I know that I can get the sizzix red large dies for �9, the yellow medium dies for �7.50 and the small green ones for �6.50 from the above link so I won't go over those amounts. If you do decide to go for a sizzix, one word of warning, QVC the shopping channel brought out their own version of it and their version is pink, the original is red. I know a lot of people who had major problems with the pink one, so I would play safe and avoid a pink sizzix at all costs. I buy QK dies from the USA too as they are much cheaper, but you do have to watch out for customs duty. Hope this helps :)