e-Bosser by Craftwell Product Reveiw

I saw the  e-Bosser by Craftwell last Fall at Quilt Market in Houston. Unfortunately, the person I spoke with while at Market didn't know much about the machine. 

When I returned from Market I decided to order one so I could review it for all of you.   I have owned and reviewed the Big Shot, Big Shot Pro, Vagabond, AccuQuilt Go!, and the Go! Baby.  With all of this experience I thought I'd be a good person to give the e-Bosser a whirl.

December 12, 2012 was my first trial of the e-Bosser.  The machine itself weighs apx. 15 lbs and measures 6.9H x 12.4W x 8.9D.  It is fully automatic, no handle to crank.  The Vagabond by Sizzix is also automatic.  That is a wonderful feature for anyone who doesn't like to crank a handle multiple times. 

The e-Bosser comes with a variety of cutting platforms, a shim, a rubber embossing mat and an embossing folder.  The bed of the e-Bosser measures 8 1/2 x 12 inches which means it will take the compatible dies that are no more than 8 1/2 inches wide by 12 inches long.  It is important to know the size of the dies you have or are interested in purchasing when choosing a fabric cutting machine. 

I opened the instruction manual and started with the first set of instructions, which is for embossing paper.

I opened the embossing folder(8 1/2 x 11) and placed a piece of scrapbook paper inside.

 

Next, I placed the embossing folder between platforms A and C and then tacked them on top of platform D as instructed in the manual.

Then I inserted the platforms into the e-Bosser and nothing happened.  I turned the machine off and on a few more times, still nothing.  I phoned the customer service department at Craftwell.  Oddly enough, while on the phone with the customer service rep. the motor started on the machine.  The platforms went into the e-Bosser and then it stopped working again.  The platforms were stuck in the machine and I could not get them to go any further.  The CS rep suggested I take a rubber mallet and a piece of wood to attempt to dislodge the platforms.  I was afraid that I would break it so I opted to attempt to pull the platforms out with my hands to no avail.

Now, I had a machine with jammed platforms making it difficult to re-pack so I could ship it back.  Craftwell did pay for the return shipping which was very much appreciated.

Late in December, I received what I thought was a replacement e-Bosser from Craftwell.  Come to find out, it was the same machine I had returned to them.  They had dislodged the platforms and sent the machine back to me.

Khris (SewPrimKhris blogspot) was here visiting with her husband from AU.  I invited her to join me in reviewing the e-Bosser so together we unpacked the machine and set it up for our review.

I repeated the instructions for embossing paper (the only difference was the color of the paper).

This time, even though it was turned on, the e-Bosser would not start.  I turned the machine on and off a few times and then after a few minutes, the platform fed into the machine.

Unfortunately the platform stopped and was stuck again.  You can imagine my frustration.  Because they sent me the same machine back, I don't know if it is just a defective e-Bosser or if this is prone to happen on all of the e-Bossers.

Then I had a beautifully embossed piece of paper.  The design was lovely and the quality of the embossing was excellent.

The e-Bosser is compatible with a variety of embossing folder brands as well as cutting dies.
The instruction booklet gives instructions for the order of platforms to use with the different dies.  According to the Craftwell website, the e-Bosser is compatible with the following dies and embossing folders:

• Craftwell eBosser Embossing Folders
• Sizzix
• Ellison
• QuicKutz
• Lifestyle Crafts
• Fiskars Fuse
• Spellbinders
• Cuttlebug
• AccuCut
• AccuQuilt

 The first cutting die I used is the Sizzix Bigz Hexagon die.

For Sizzix Dies, the instructions say to put platform C on the bottom followed by the cutting die, the fabric and then use platform A.  You can see that is exactly what we did.  There was no tips or instructions for where to place the die on the platform in the manual.  I am aware that there are several you tube videos with instructions for the e-Bosser but I'm considering the consumer who isn't connected to the internet.  Where would they find more information?   I think the instruction manual could be beefed up.

The first time through the machine, the platform stalled and would not go through the machine.  Again I was frustrated and told Khris it was on her to see if  she could get better results.  She was more than happy to take over for me....ya got to love friends :)

Now, it's Khris' turn to give the e-Bosser a go.  She put the platforms into the machine and......

yes....it went in

and came out. 

After removing the excess fabric, I had two very nice hexagons.  On other trials, we used up to four layers of fabric and found the e-Bosser to be a bit sluggish. 

Time to give an AccuQuilt Go! die a run through the e-Bosser.  

 The order of platform placement for the AccuQuilt dies is different.  The correct order for the AccuQuilt dies is, platform D on bottom, cutting die, fabric and platform A on top.

This time we made sure the die was in the front of the platform before we put it into the machine.  Khris said she had to give it a push to get it to go through the machine.

Success, we ended up with three circles.

Unfortunately I did not have an impressive experience with the e-Bosser.  I plan on returning this one as it still does not work consistently.  I won't be asking for a replacement because I've already spent quite a bit of time reviewing, photographing and now writing my post.  I hope others have a better experience that I did.

All of you who know me, know I don't write negative reviews.  I understand all products have a failure rate and this could be attributed to "one" faulty e-Bosser.  Who knows?  What I do know is that when I called Craftwell Customer Service the first time,  I did inform the gal that the only reason I purchased the e-Bosser was to review it on my blog.  I  also shared that I am the owner of "I Have A Notion"" not because I think I'm somebody.....but to give Craftwell the heads up that my purpose was product review and I figured they would want to put their best foot forward.  If it were me, I would have opened a brand new one, tested it to be sure it worked properly and then shipped a replacement.  But then again, that's just me.

Smiles,

Kelly