Heat-resistant insulating base - The heating plate is a heat-resistant insulating base so you can place it directly on the base after use. This enhances stability and safety while using the mini heat press. Metal cutting plates – this is a type of shim that’s perfect for more intricate dies. Imagine a pair of scissors and the two metal blades coming together for a crisp cut – that’s how this shim works with metal dies! You’ll see a much more defined cut with this plate included in your sandwich. To achieve a beautiful, seamless cut every time, you'll want to add a Scrapbook.com Magic Matto your sandwich. It replaces one of the pieces of "bread" that you cut into for super clean die cuts for every project.

Clear cutting plates – essentially, these are the slices of bread for your sandwich. You need two clear cutting plates, one for the top and one for the bottom, and these protect the contents of your sandwich and provide a surface for the die-cutting machine to press together.Construction: Solid Core Steel Rollers, Unibody Cast Roller Housing, Solid Steel Gears, ABS Plastic Exterior We're big proponents of creativity by hand and we encourage crafters to get out from behind their computers and to the table to physically create, by hand, as often as possible. There are many health and emotional benefits of handmade self-expression. For this reason, if you're truly on the fence, and not sure which type of machine will be best for you, you may want to go with a manual machine. It will keep you off of your digital device and at the creative table longer. Top Manual Die Cutting Machines

Most machines work with material in the range of 12 to 15 inches, though some may have smaller or larger ranges. Make sure your machine is the right size for the projects you intend to work on. At the beginning of the growth of the scrapbooking movement, one of the big attractions of the corner scrapbook store was usually a huge (and expensive) die cutting machine. These large machines were based on industrial die cutting design concepts, but were made for the craft space. One of the most popular large craft machines was the Accucut machine. Today, many home crafters have their own die cut machines – or even multiple machines - and die cutting is an integral part of the daily crafting experience. What is Die Cutting? Digital die cutting machines tend to have a smaller footprint on the table, since their designs tend to be thin and long, as opposed to the square style of traditional die cutting machines. You may already know whether you want a digital or traditional die cutting machine, but if size is a major factor, you should consider a slim, digital model. Make sure you clean your machine periodically. Removing small bits and dirt will help the performance of your die-cutting machine.If your priority is a low initial investment, select a machine such as the Sizzix Big Shot, Spellbinders Platinum 6, or We R Memory Keepers Evolution, and then add accessories to it over time. If operating cost over time is your concern, then digital may be the way to go. The initial price for a machine like the Cricut Explore Airor the Silhouette Cameocan be prohibitive, but over time, the lower cost of dies/shapes will help offset those costs, especially for users who like to cut a lot of different designs. The “sandwich” is the combination of the platform of the machine, your chosen material and die, and the cutting mat that keeps the material and die from sliding around as they pass through the rollers. The most obvious materials are paper and card, and these are what you would usually find on the front of most papercraft projects. But there are actually a whole host of other materials that you can cut, including: For digital die cut machines, the “dies” are digital files that serve as patterns to tell the machine what to cut. Different machine manufacturers use proprietary file formats for their machines, but many machines can also use widely available SVG files or even import files such as .jpeg files for conversion to use in their software. Manual Die Cut Machines vs. Digital Die Cut Machines