» posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 2:44 pm by ABM

Photo Circle Cutter Comparison: Photo Punch and Graphic Punch

Among the many, many questions that we receive on a daily basis are:

How awesome is it being immersed in the wonderful world of buttons on a daily basis? (Answer: awesome!)
Can you make fabric-covered buttons with your button machines? (Answer: yes!)
What is the meaning of life? (Answer: we don’t know, but when we find out we will make custom pinback buttons and send one to all of our past, present, and future customers!)

difference between graphic punch cutter and photo punch cutter
Those, of course, are just three of the myriad questions we get asked. Another of the common queries revolves around two different types of cutters that we offer: the 2.25″ photo punch cutter and the 2.25″ graphic punch cutter.

The primary difference between the two cutters is the size of the circle they cut out, and there is a very specific reason why this is the case. You see, a 2.25″ button machine can’t use true photo paper because it is too thick. Thus, the photo punch cutter actually cuts a circle that is slightly smaller than the standard graphic punch cutter.

“But won’t that leave space around the perimeter of the picture in the button?” people often ask. The answer is no. With the smaller cut, photo paper now does not cover the back edge of the button (which, remember, no one can see anyway). The special size cut allows the photo paper to fit on the top surface of the button and then the mylar can securely trap it in place. The photo buttons look great because the photo covers the entire front that everyone views.

Here is the other great thing about the photo punch cutter: while it’s specifically designed to be used with thicker photo paper, you can still use it with regular paper.

To see some great images that will further illustrate the differences we are discussing in this post, hope on over to the main website where we recently posted a new page about photo circle cutters that discusses this very issue.

And while you do that, we’ll get back to trying to figure out the meaning of life…