the hybrid chick

Hiya! It’s Savitri today and in this post I want to talk about die-cut machines. Are you in the market for one and overwhelmed with all the options? Or you’re just curious what the heck these machines are? Whoever you are, if you’re wanting to know more about die-cut machines this is the post for you!

There have been MANY questions asked about which die-cut machine to get. From the hybrid forums I’ve been lurking around at it seems that many of you want to get an electric machine that either takes cartridges and/or can be hooked up to a computer so that you can download/create your own stuff.

I’m not going to into all of them, that’s why I put “part 1″ as my title. If I do, you’d all fall asleep because this post would be a book! Actually to be honest I’d be sick of flipping through websites in one sitting So to start out I will go one: Graphtec.

Graphtec… WHAT?

Now, I probably shouldn’t have written Graphtec. I should have written Silhouette instead because then you’d know what the heck I’d be talking about. But nope, Graphtec it is!

Here’s the scoop… have you heard of Wishblade or Craft Robo? If you haven’t let me show you all three machines:

Wow, do they look similar or not? Yes they do! In fact all three machines were created by one company: Graphtec!

Note: Silhouette and Craft Robo have a newer model and they look the same.

Now there are three companies promoting this one machine. Graphtech sells Craft Robo, Quickutz sells Silhouette, and Xyron sells the Wishblade.

Which is better? Well, machine wise they’re all the same but what you want to pay attention to when you finally buy one is warranty, software, and whatever other goodies that you might find useful for your needs. Of all three, it’s obvious that Quickutz did A LOT to market this machine. First of all, it’s got it’s own fancy site with tutorials, a store full of downloadable goodies, and support. Second of all, you hear it being talked about EVERYWHERE.

But wait, Xyron made a special place for its Wishblade! Also, if you have a Mac, this is the company for you! The drawback is it will cost you an extra $99 to get this Mac software. Bummer!!

I have to say, Graphtec has the least exciting website BUT they do have a nice download area where you can get templates for FREE… well, after you purchase the machine that is

What can this machine do? Well in general you can read all about it on this page… and compare it to the Cricut. All of the machines can print (using your regular printer) your digital images AND cut perfectly after. AWESOME, huh?

Which would I buy? Well, if it was me, I’d go for the Silhouette. I have a Mac but I can run Parallel and install Windows on my Intel Mac machine. IF you don’t have an Intel machine then the Wishblade would be the way to go. Since I can go Mac/PC, I’d choose the Silhouette over the rest based on what I can get AFTER I buy the machine. I love the cute images that I see at the Silhouette store that I can buy.

Now, if you decide to go buy one after reading this or you already have one at home, do you know that there’s a kit here at TDC that’d be perfect for your machine? Check out this Sweet Retweet kit by Melissa Wilson:

This kit contain images with the following format: svg, dxf, ai, png, and pdf format. Perfect for any of the machines above and more!

Ok, so that’s part 1. Next time I’ll compare a couple more machines and see if I’d still get the Silhouette! Until next time!!!

Other Articles by Savitri Wilder:

• Die-cut machines - Part 2 - September 6th, 2010
• Hybrid Chick Caravan: 1st stop... Taylored Expressions - July 18th, 2010
• Tutorial: Using Gimp for Hybrid Scrapbooking - June 24th, 2010
• Masculine Card Challenge - June 19th, 2010
• Hybrid Challenge: Shapes and/or Punches - February 21st, 2010