Craft For Adults

LokLik Cutting Machine, In Blue, Review

DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.

Reviewed by H Chan

As a crafter, I’m often found cutting out various pieces of card or vinyl and leaving a trail of it through the kitchen and craft room.  I’ve never used a cutting machine before, only the older, manual cutters where the blades are rigid and designs unchangeable.  I have been looking at cutting machines for a while, marvelling at the ability to design something myself and have a handy tool to cut it all out for me.  I was so excited to try this cutting machine!

The LokLik cutting machine, is designed to turn your designs into actual cuts, ready to be placed onto cards, water bottles, tee shirts, anything really!  The LokLik comes in four different colours and is priced very competitively in the market.

In the box, I received the cutting machine, which was very well packed and looked amazing.  Shiny, bright turquoise in colour, and not too heavy.  It came with a power cable, USB connector, manual an warranty, a pen and a pack of 4 cutting blades to be loaded into the machine.  It also came with a cutting mat, and a sample of heat transfer vinyl to get you set up.

I was also sent two packs of different vinyls for me to try.  The colours were brilliant, they are very good quality and worked with the machine so well.  No rips or tears at all from the blade, and nothing got stuck.

Following the manual, this took minimal time.  The blades are ridiculously sharp, and tiny.  They have a protective cover on them until it’s time to install – however you do not need to press them in, it seems to be magnetic so it just slots in.

The manual doesn’t actually tell you how to get the software in the installation instructions until the second page of instructions, where it directs you to their website.  

If searching for the company, take care that your search engine doesn’t change LokLik to Loklok, as mine did and it confused me a little.  Once on the page, select what download type you need, mine was Windows.  It downloaded and installed in seconds.  On my phone, I found the app in the play store.

Now that my software was ready, I connected the power cable to the power and the USB to the computer, again all really easy and straightforward.  You can also connect the machine to a phone or computer via Bluetooth.

The cutting mat, is very sticky.  Which is great as you need to stick your medium to it before you place it into the machine.  Careful if you have a dog which sheds like mine, or a cat who likes to lounge across the table whilst you’re working!  Mine decided it was a good idea to walk across the mat…. Thank you cat!  Make sure you keep the little piece of film to re-cover the mat again for storage.

The process is actually very simple once you have read and followed the instructions.  This means popping back between the machine and your computer.  I selected a tester design to begin with, loaded the medium (this machine accepts over 100 mediums) and started the cut.

What surprised me was how quiet this machine is, and so fascinating to watch, I chose an intricate, floral design to be cut and it was done within a couple of minutes.

The instructions seem to end here, which is fine.  I found some very helpful you tube videos to show me how exactly to work with the vinyl afterwards and give me some tips on what to create.  There is also a fab ideas section and a library on the website and the program.

Take care removing the little pieces you don’t need from the vinyl.  If you haven’t got all of the tools yet, I found a dental tool and a pair of tweezers really useful for pulling off the scrap pieces of vinyl.

I also tried the machine on card, to create some Christmas card designs.  It cut the designs for me no problem at all. I think the only real limitations are that to get more intricate or personal designs you might have to use several pieces of card or vinyl and layer them up.

The machine is set up in such a way that you can use it right away, which I loved.  The computer app is easy to use, and the mobile app, whilst basic, is very easy to navigate too.  The phone app connects to the cutting machine via Bluetooth.

You can find the cutting machine here along with accessories.

You can purchase vinyl from the LokLik website but you can also set parameters and use other brands of vinyls which makes it a little more attractive should you really want that custom design.

It has an RRP of £199 but if you look around there are plenty of offers on at the moment.  The market seems quite competitive at the moment, with other popular cutting machines coming down in price so it’s worth having a look around before choosing which machine and where to purchase.  There are different types of machine too, but this particular cutter is a fabulous all rounder!

I give this cutter 5/5 stars easily. Thanks to their website, I also have a lot of new ideas to try, thanks to their many, helpful videos. I think, it would be a fantastic buy for anyone looking for a crafty Christmas.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £199.00 currently on sale for £169.99 (editor’s note – at the time of putting the review online)

This product can be purchased from Very here.

 

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