I reviewed this punch shortly after buying it in August 2009. So think of this as 'Long Term Review' a bit like you see in Car Magazine! I've updated the information and added some more details as well.
Do you have a Personal size and Pocket size organiser? Or just one of those two sizes? And you want to be able to punch your own pages, but the cost of a Filofax Punch seems a bit high at £27.75 each ($55 or €49)? Then this punch at a typical price of about £10 plus postage might be your answer...
The Rapesco Diary Punch 66-P has two sets of sliding punch blocks which you can easily move in their slots. Each punch block has three 6mm punches spaced 19mm (3/4") apart.
With the punch blocks in the outer most position, it will punch up to 8 sheets of paper for a Personal size organiser. Slide both punch blocks fully towards the centre and it punches 6 holes perfectly spaced for a Pocket Filofax. As the Mini uses the same ring spacing as the Pocket but only 5 rings not 6 this punch works for that size as well.
The punch also has a middle setting for both punch blocks this equates to a 38mm spacing between the two sets of three holes. This is the setting to use if you have a Mulberry A6 size organiser.
It will not punch pages for an A5 as standard, although with a little bit of experimenting (remember I am an engineer!) you can punch holes the right spacing for an A5 organiser, but it involves two punches of the three holes and careful alignment in the punch. You need to punch it twice with the top or the bottom of the paper 32mm above the centre line of the highest hole. The paper will be just beyond the centre of the punch.
The punch is easy to empty, the whole base unclips... but don't do as I did... turn it upside down on my desk only to discover that because it has the slots... the chads (the bits of punched paper) manage to escape through the slots!!
I have had the punch for 3 years now, admittedly not in daily use but I would recommend it to anyone who has a Filofax or Mulberry organiser.
Just a comment, I purchased one of these and found it slightly defective. I should have returned it but I don't think I realized the extent of the problem until I'd used the punch for a while. The two blocks of three punches were not aligned exactly to the same depth, thus the pages end up with the top three holes slightly closer to the edge of the page than the bottom three. I also don't like how this punch has no guide to help you get the pages slotted in correctly, I find I need to just eyeball that the center of the page is at the center of the punch, and frequently misjudge!
ReplyDeleteStill, it certainly gets the job done and is undoubtedly a much better value than the absurdly expensive filofax punch.
I did discover the Franklin Covey punch, which costs about $25 (I think) and is very precise and well made. I recommend it.
I always draw in a circle for one of the holes and use that to aline the punch. Seems to work well. I think you did get a defective punch. Mine seems to punch straight and true every time.
DeleteJosh,
DeleteIt sounds like you had a faulty one. I've not seen the Franklin Covey punch over here in Europe I will look out for it to see what it costs over here.
Steve
I bought two of these, one for each location, as I work away from home. It has been absolutely invaluable. I have the massive Rexel 420 for heavy duty work, but this 66P is fantastic. I also struggled, like Josh, in getting the pages lined up. The an usual, a Philofaxy reader came to the rescue and posted a photo of an Avery tab, stuck underneath, which is the perfect line-up for Personal sheets. I have the Filofax brand punch for A5 and Personal and they are a nightmare. This is easy to use, the handle is MUCH easier than the sliver of metal Filofax provides, and it doesn more sheets. And the bonus of being able to do pocket and mini is a great design. Cant recommend it enough.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason for doing this updated review was the discovery of the mid setting which is suitable for Mulberry A6 size organisers.
ReplyDeleteA6 is slightly shorter than Filofax Personal but wider. And being the standard ISO proportions, you can of course scale any of Ray and my inserts to fit.
I hadn't thought of that Steve - good point.
DeleteAs a convert to Mulberry, I can whole-heartedly second Steve's comment that because the Mulberry agenda page size is A6 you can easily scale any of the Ray and Steve inserts - I set my printer to do 4 pages per A4 page, then it's just two quick guillotines and a punch and there we are!
DeleteI had one of these, but it puckered the paper on one of the holes, so I gave it to the ladies who make S&L dividers on facebook. They use card so it should be ok for that. They had one but it was really faulty, making the holes really wonky!
ReplyDeleteIn its place,I bought a KW Trio punch which I have had no problems with at all! It feels really sturdy and does A5 too! Highly recommended over the Rapesco!
Another vote for the KW-Trio which I'm using for my A5. It's a good piece of kit and does a variety of sizes, as I understand it the same as the Rapesco but also including A5 without having to faff around to punch the other end of the page etc. I got mine from Hummelman Kantorvakhandel in the Netherlands (no affiliation).
DeleteVery helpful Steve. I have recently purchased a mulberry and was not aware that my rapesco would work with it. Thanks also to Amanda for the printing tips.
ReplyDeleteYou can also get punches from Daytimers.com for the personal and from Franklincovey.com for the personal size filofax. I have a Franklin Covey for compact/personal and a Daytimers for Classic (similar to A5). Both are about $25, I think. I've had the FC compact punch for years and it is still going strong. The Daytimers punch is new. So far I'm impressed. It's a heavier dutier punch than the FC.
ReplyDeleteWherever I get it, I wouldn't be without my punch!
If you ever come across an original 4/6 hole Time Manager (TMI) punch, buy it! I've had mine for 25+ years and it still can cut several pages at a time, as clean as ever (although I did try the aluminium foil blade sharpening tip that was on here a few months ago!). The later version (6 hole only) isn't as robust or heavy duty.
ReplyDelete