At our school we have two Ellison machines, one small and one large, that operate by pressing down on a lever. It's good, durable equipment and lasts for years and years. However, I recently accompanied a friend to a scrapbooking store and they used the Accucut which is a roller rather than a press model. I was chatting with the owner, and she said they started with Ellison but ended up replacing them with Accucut because they are so much easier for the customers to use and because it's easier to utilize every scrap of paper.
They have clubs and PACKS of ladies (many older, arthritic) there from opening to closing using those machines. (If you buy the paper there, you can use the machines for free.) So it's very high volume usage.
We only cut out about 6 pages worth of items, but I have to agree. It seemed much easier and more efficient than ours at school. (Maybe Ellison has a roller model also??).
Anyway, you might visit a local scrapbooking store if you want to try one out and get a close up look at lots of fun dies.
Thank all of you for this information. I did go to the ellison site and found the information you were giving me. The tips on getting a free machine and the carosel are great you were a big help.
Delene
Just to update my last post-we did also purchase the storage carousel and I agree, it is invaluable. The magazine postcards are what I was referring to with QSP. They are a subsidiary of Reader's Digest. We opted not to do this because we thought our parents would balk, even though they didn't have to buy anything. I felt they would feel blindsided. We purchased a full set of ABC's in capital and lower case and a set of #'s, as well as a Holiday pack. That is around $1800. But the only thing you ever replace is the cutting pad and it costs about $6. Not a bad investment!
We have the Accu-cut die machine...but through a fundraising company we use each year they give us an $800.oo credit to purchase Ellison dies. I know with the machine we have you can use either companies dies. A quick suggestion though...in the ellison catalog they sell a storage carosol (sp?) that is wonderful...it is a bit expensive but is an invaluable tool to keep everything is one place and in good condition. Also it is often more beneficial to order the sets of dies than individual ones. The kids and teachers ...and parent helpers who always have to cut things out will love you guys for this purchase:)
Better yet one of our elementary schools earned one for free by filling out magazine postcards. The people you listed to receive a magazine order form did not have to order you just needed to supply names and addresses. I will look for the contact person on that and email it to you on Monday!
Our PTO purchased an Ellison Machine for the school this year. We ended up buying it directly from Ellison.com. They had a great deal where you received a FREE machine with the purchase of a certain amount of dyes(I think it was over $1000 worth). It was cheaper to buy the dyes and get a Free machine then to purchase seperatly through a different supplier. You may want to look into QSP, Inc. They have a program where your school can earn a free machine. They are a subsidiary of Reader's Digest. We always use their borchure fundraiser in the fall. Anyway, I think we paid about $1800 for our machine. If you request a catalog (at Ellison.com) online, you get it within two days. Good Luck!
