Monster Rexel 420 Adjustable Punch

Last Sunday (15th July) I ordered the Rexel 420 Adjustable punch from Amazon and also some additional punch dies from Mayfair Stationers as they did not have them on Amazon at the time – they do now: click here to get them through Amazon!
I had just used the regular free delivery option, nothing fast or expensive as I didn’t think the additional punch dies would be available for 2 weeks (I had ordered those first!).
Sunday evening I received an email from Amazon saying that my order had been dispatched and Monday morning the package arrived at my house!

The punch itself is very big and quite heavy – you can tell it means business! I had a bit of a play with moving the punch heads around but didn’t do anything more as I hadn’t got the 2 additional dies I had ordered and the punch comes with 4 punch heads – I suppose because most people spending this kind of money would be purchasing it for punching A4 or A3 paper with 2, 3 or 4 holes rather than for punching A5 paper with 6!

I hadn’t heard anything from Mayfair Stationers until Thursday, initially they just sent my invoice then an order update with my order being processed followed finally by an email at 4.22pm saying my order had been dispatched. The 2 additional dies I had ordered turned up Saturday morning, when I finally got in from looking after my 19 month old 2nd cousin I put the 2 additional dies in the punch which was a very easy job, just a matter of unscrewing some thumb screws and pushing the metal rod along to slot the additional dies threw the rod itself then tightening up the thumb screws again.

Here is the punch from the side view:
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Looking down on the whole punch:
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Next to my Rapesco Diary punch:
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View from the back:
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Close up on the punch heads showing they are individually adjustable:
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The thumb screw on the right hand side that holds the bar in place:
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The front of the punch has a paper size placement guide so you can align the paper correctly:
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What the punch heads look like from the front, you can see they have a marker to show the centre of the punch for precise alignment:
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A5 paper in the punch showing just how large the punch is:
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The first punch! Holes are nice and clean (well a little oily in places as it came pre oiled) and are roughly in the right place just from guess work:
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After using my ruler to draw in the holes and the lines (the ones that let you remove the ruler easily from the Filofax) I realised the lines made it very easy to align the punch heads! I had initially not thought of using them but had drawn in the gap anyway, glad I did:
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Testing the punch heads are indeed in the correct places:
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The first punch of 6 sheets of paper at once! Dead easy:
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Side view of the pages I’d punched – not masses but way more than a Filofax metal punch and neater than my Rapesco punch as you don’t have to turn the pages round half way, assuming you have positioned the paper in the correct place as well! Therefore this punch is much easier and quicker:
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This was a pile of 24 sheets, the box claims it can punch up to 30 pages at once, however it couldn’t quite manage this lot. It got stuck in the punch so I had to pull the first batch out then punch through some more pages, then pull some more pages out and punch through the rest:
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Perhaps not initially up to 24 pages let alone 30 but still a dramatic difference being able to punch 6 correctly aligned pages at once with no problems! This also may change after I have sharpened the punch heads with some silver foil as I am lead to believe that this will sharpen them.

Over all this is a great bit of kit – very expensive at the outset but I am thinking of my lack of frustration and sanity in the long run! The 2 additional dies set me back over half of the cost of the actual punch itself so they are by far the expensive part of the product if you need more than 4 or indeed need to replace some!
I will now be able to punch more pages quickly and effectively than using other punches. I will be leaving this one set up for A5 as I have my Rapesco for my pocket or personal size Filofax pages. I can now not have to worry if my dad or brother also want some more pages printed and punched as it will be a breeze.

Now all I need to find is a printer that will automatically double side print onto my A5 paper – trying to work out how to reinsert pages to manually double side pages is even more stressful than punching all the pages (when you have finally printed them) with a metal Filofax punch!!!
There are a few I know that do it, the one that was in my classroom this year does (but I sadly no longer have access to that) and according to the manual there is an OfficeJet one that does as well – both HP. Louise has informed me that her new Epson does it as well but I am not sure about getting another Epson for some reason. I currently have a Brother A3 InkJet that doesn’t auto duplex at all and a Brother laser that only auto duplexes A4!!! After emailing Brother I found out that NONE of their printers auto duplex A5!!! I found this a little crazy but clearly I am the only loon that wants to be able to auto duplex A5 paper!!! Anyway I have digressed – that is a whole new post for another day there!

So my customised pages for my A5 Filofax, once printed (albeit manually double sided) on to coloured A5 paper, can now be easily punched in batches of at least 10 pages (just tried 10 and they punched perfectly) and I can be sure the holes are in the correct places. Brilliant! Worth around Β£85 for the privileged? I think so, my bank account might tell you otherwise!!!

(Β£54.38 for punch from Amazon and Β£30.19 for the 2 extra punch dies from Mayfair Stationers including VAT and delivery when ordered on 15.07.12. That is therefore Β£84.57 in total.)

Just need to locate some foil now so I can attempt sharpening the punch heads!

Questions or comments? Leave them below πŸ™‚ Sx

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19 Thoughts to “Monster Rexel 420 Adjustable Punch”

  1. I’ve never found an A5 duplexing printer, but I use an A4 duplexing one which will print A4 sheets in booklet mode which I can then guillotine into perfectly duplexed A5 sheets.

  2. Booklet printing confuses me, although saying that I did manage to booklet print the pages I cut up and punched in this post! I bought some A5 coloured paper so I could print on it double sided but as I then realised neither of my printers are capable of doing so!

    I may have to invest in a decent Rotatrim if I don’t work out what printer to get! I love the one I had in my classroom at work but I am not spending Β£700 odd on a printer!!! Though saying I need a decent trimmer – mine actually worked fine earlier… πŸ™‚

  3. Saz my first job out of University was in a Stationers. Appalling boss and appalling equipment on lease from a franchise.

    For hole punching we had a Hole Borer, but it only did one hole at a time! The pages were on a deck with rules and adjustable slides you had to know the distances on where to punch and adjust.

    This is an awesome bit of kit and outshines that business and quite probably many more out there. If I didn’t out source (and had a bulk commercial printer) would totally want one of these for small print jobs, certainly bump profits. Congrats on your purchase.

  4. You should definitely check out Canon as a printer possibility – I have an older model (IP4500) that duplexes whatever you tell it to, so long as it’s not over 120gsm.

  5. Jim Woodiwiss

    My Canon i4000 auto duplexes A5. It will manually duplex personal filofax paper and gives instructions for the turning of the paper.
    Best wishes

    Jim

    1. I have this planner Laurie sent it to me after her reveiw. I love it for work as the layout is more practical for me than either D-T-P or W-T-P in the traditional sense. My only downside is that it’s too small. I could have done with a real A5 size.Biro is fine with it and I’m quite heavy handed with a pen.

  6. LJ

    Bleurgh – struggling to find info for how to get one in Switzerland. At times I miss some of the benefits of living in the UK. This will now be a huge mission πŸ™‚

  7. Thanks for all the comments, had somehow missed the Cannon printers out of my search do thanks for the knowledge on them, most helpful.

    Mike, wow single hole drilling – eak!!! My pages would be a right mess, although I assume on that scale the pages are clamped etc?

    LJ – oops sorry to have sent you on a mission! I had one myself when I ordered from the UK as there are not many places that sell the additional punch dies!
    The UK may have some stuff that is easier to get hold of but having spent 2 weeks in Sweden last year and have recently been looking at teaching internationally as there are hardly any jobs around in the UK at present, Switzerland is somewhere I would consider moving to (ok the grass is always greener and I haven’t been there yet but…!), the views and life style seem far closer to fresh than in the UK and I would like the change, even for a while. I would however miss my usual haunts but I’m sure my bank balance wouldn’t – apart from the initial shipping of my stuff there I guess! πŸ™‚

  8. Helen

    Forgive me for being so obtuse, but what exactly would I need to buy as regards the additional dies? I can find a couple of options from the store you mentioned, but I don’t know which one I would need!

  9. Hi Helen,

    It’s the dies on this page, they are Β£10.50 each before VAT: here

  10. Helen

    Thank you! Much appreciated. And please forgive my rudeness before – I didn’t even thank you for a great post. I’m sorry πŸ™

  11. No problem Helen! Thank you for reading it! πŸ™‚

  12. Helen

    Thanks πŸ™‚ This is the first time I’ve come across your blog, and I’m already fascinated. I love your photos!

    1. Aww thanks! I try to do what I can! I seem to have acquired a few new Filofax and kit during the past week so there will be more posts coming up soon!

  13. Lynette

    Did you ever find a printer that duplex prints the personal size filofax pages? Or at least a good one to print off filofax pages?

  14. Lynette Diaz

    Will canon printers print personal size pages? I am having such a hard time finding a new one. I have an older pixma that will do manual duplexing, like I print all of one side than manually flip the pages. I would LOVE to find one that does A5 and personal size either auto duplex or just prints those sizes. I actually purchased a new canon pixma and it won’t print personal size. πŸ™

    1. SazD

      I have not got a Canon printer so I am not sure, I have been able to print to personal pages using my Brother printer but I know the smaller I go the less chance it will do it for you and you have to manually turn the pages over. Have you made sure you have the document set to the personal size paper before you try and print?

  15. Sunny

    Do you know what size the holes are? I am having difficulty finding anything less than 7 mm here in Canada πŸ™ Thank you!

    1. The holes are pretty big, I would love something with smaller holes like the Filofax pages come with.
      Using my Filofax Today marker as a ruler, they seem to measure 6mm – but they are definitely not as small as the Filofax ones.

      Good luck with your search, I hope you find something πŸ™‚

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