Great gasket cutter for gumball machines!
Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:31 amHI!
I don't know how many of you cut your own gaskets for your gumball/peanut machines, but I've always struggled with it. I've tried tracing the circles and using a razor knife, and have purchased a few of the "compass" type cutters, but they are too cheap and flimsy to work with gasket material, and it's nearly impossible to keep them in place so that you can cut "thin" gaskets. But the other day I was at a hobby store buying some paint and saw a thing called a "Curvy Cutter". It's like a little "car" that runs around on a circular plastic thing that has different "track grooves" in it for different diameter circles. It was expensive (like $30.00) at the store, but I got one on Ebay for $15.00. it works GREAT! I tried it with both cork and cardboard type gasket materials, and the gaskets come out PERFECT! Obviously it's not made for doing large quantities, but for a collector who is just using it for his own machines, I think it's PERFECT! Since the round plastic part with the tracks in it sits on the gasket material, it can't shift around and mess up the circular cuts. Of course gaskets aren't expensive to buy from Crow River, but I'm like a little kid when I get a machine done and want to get it together without waiting a week to get the gaskets for it. And I hate it when I see a really nicely restored machine with a gaskets that look like they were made out of a cardboard wheaties box with some nail clippers! Anyway, just figured that I'd pass along something cool....
I don't know how many of you cut your own gaskets for your gumball/peanut machines, but I've always struggled with it. I've tried tracing the circles and using a razor knife, and have purchased a few of the "compass" type cutters, but they are too cheap and flimsy to work with gasket material, and it's nearly impossible to keep them in place so that you can cut "thin" gaskets. But the other day I was at a hobby store buying some paint and saw a thing called a "Curvy Cutter". It's like a little "car" that runs around on a circular plastic thing that has different "track grooves" in it for different diameter circles. It was expensive (like $30.00) at the store, but I got one on Ebay for $15.00. it works GREAT! I tried it with both cork and cardboard type gasket materials, and the gaskets come out PERFECT! Obviously it's not made for doing large quantities, but for a collector who is just using it for his own machines, I think it's PERFECT! Since the round plastic part with the tracks in it sits on the gasket material, it can't shift around and mess up the circular cuts. Of course gaskets aren't expensive to buy from Crow River, but I'm like a little kid when I get a machine done and want to get it together without waiting a week to get the gaskets for it. And I hate it when I see a really nicely restored machine with a gaskets that look like they were made out of a cardboard wheaties box with some nail clippers! Anyway, just figured that I'd pass along something cool....
I frequent hobby shops for other things that I collect, but have not seen this "Curvy Cutter" that you mention. 
