Comparing manual die cutters

There are lots of die cutters available for personal use these days. It can be tough to know which ones will cut which dies, which can use what folders, and that sort of thing. I have three machines. I've had a red Sizzix for years. I've had the Sidekick for a little less than that. I've had my Big Shot for at least a couple of years now and it's the most versatile of the three.

But everyday I see lots of folks with questions about die cutter compatibility, so I compiled a chart of what works with what. Now I tried not to include erroneous information, but that means that I may have left something out if I couldn't find enough info about it. This is not meant to be all-inclusive in any sense, and I expect, and hope, that if there are errors they'll be pointed out, and that if there are additions that need to be made, they'll be sent or posted so that I can add them.

Okay, so with that disclaimer out of the way, here's a link to a file where I've compiled my information in chart form.

http://www.indigojay.com/crafting/diecutter_compatibilitychart.pdf

Hopefully this is viewable by most folks. You do have to have Adobe Acrobat Reader which is free and can be downloaded here.

Addendum:
I didn't go in search of this info. It kind of dropped in my lap, so I thought I'd add it here. If you have a Cuttlebug and want to know the sandwiches for the various dies, here's a link on SplitCoastStampers that will help:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4505306#post4505306

It has the info in doc and pdf form. Hope that makes things easier.

Die Cutter Recap

It seems like excitement about the Cuttlebug is at a peak! I don't have that machine, but I bought some of the dies and embossing folders when they first came out and I was impressed. I loved a lot of the designs, particularly the A2 size embossing folders. What crisp impressions! They're great! You can use them as is. You can distress them with sand paper or a fine grit sanding block. You can chalk them. Lots of possibilities.

I use the Cuttlebug dies and embossing folders in my Big Shot. They work great and aren't complicated at all to use. I have a multipurpose platform and use them with it the same way that I would use the Sizzix or Ellison embossing folders. The Big Kick is the similar die cut machine that's sold by Sizzix. I think it comes with the multipurpose platform. The multipurpose platform makes life a lot easier! Not only that though, it makes it easy to use all of the following types of dies, both thick and thin:

• Spellbinders Wizard dies
• BossKut dies
• Cuttlebug dies
• Quickutz dies
• Zip-e-mate dies
  
• Sizzix dies
• Ellison dies

Basically, you can use any non-commercial die in this machine. Gotta like that! The thick dies can cut through thicker materials, such as multiple layers of cardstock, chipboard, cork, felt, fun foam, fabric, thin metals.... If the die happens to be one that will also emboss, that works great, too. Now Sizzix, Ellison, and Zip-e-mate have cut 'n' emboss dies that I've used. No problems. Beautiful results in a single pass. Some of the Wizard dies will also emboss. You have to run them through twice though, once to cut and a second time to emboss. These are fabulous!

Now, as for embossing, again you can use all sorts of products in the Big Shot (or Big Kick). Here's a list:

• Cuttlebug embossing folders
• Sizzix Simple Impressions folders
• Ellison Easy Emboss folders and Big Impression texture plates
  
• Quickutz Goosebumpz embossing dies
• Fiskars texture plates--yes, those blue or pink textured plates that were awful to try to use with that little embossing tool
  
• any brass stencil!
  

Again, to make things easy, Ellison released a texture kit to use for embossing with The Big Shot, The Big Impressions Texture Kit. It comes with texture plates (6 designs), a sheet of silicone rubber, and an impression plate. You can emboss cardstock, vellum, lightweight metal, HVAC tape, foil, transparencies.... The list goes on and on. Usually I get a nice impression without much difficulty. One thing to remember is that with cardstock a light misting with water will soften it enough to give a more crisp impression. This can work well both with the texture plates and with brass stencils. Usually the embossing folders have a positive and negative side or image, so those images tend to be crisp already. One more suggestion would be to add a shim if the image still isn't deep enough. Sometimes a sheet of text weight paper is enough. Sometimes you need a sheet or two of cardstock. Just be willing to experiment.

I've tried to make this a little more all-inclusive than my other entries. I know that some of this repeats things I've said from time to time already. I just thought I'd put it all in one spot. I've also tried to update my labels. If you want to see examples of how I've used Cuttlebug folders, you should be able to click on that label and go to that post. Same with some of the other tools that I've mentioned. I'm still fine-tuning though and trying to make things as easy to find as possible. Hopefully I'm getting there. :-)