Ideal rotary disk trimmer for a variety of small office/home office functions and craft projects.
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I replaced my smaller RT-215, which after 19 years of service began to fall apart due to its plastic parts becoming brittle, with this model. This version has basically the same design and uses the same cutters, although it appears to have been the victim of at least one cost reduction. Whereas on my old RT-215, the blade was retained by a cover secured by two metal thumbscrews, this unit has a plastic disc that twists into place and is retained by plastic tabs. I suspect that these tabs will eventually break. The other negative is that the unit was poorly packaged (by the manufacturer). It comes in a cardboard box with two pieces of folded cardboard on the table to prevent it from rattling around too much. Unfortunately, it is still able to slide, and on the unit I received, it appears that these cardboard pieces rubbed some of the paint off of the table's surface. These negatives aside, I like the versatility of the cutter very much. Besides just straight cuts, it can also make a variety of decorative cuts, and it can score and perforate card stock. I use the scoring feature extensively to make cards and boxes. One improvement of the RT-218 over the RT-215 is that the RT-218 has three compartments on the back for storing spare discs. On my old unit, I stored my discs by attaching their plastic containers to the of the table with double-sided adhesive. I may still do this because I have more than three discs. I did notice that Carl also makes a heavy duty version of this cutter, the DC-238 that uses larger-diameter discs. This version does not support the decorative cuts, but does support scoring and perforating, which are the features I find most useful.
I have used the Carl RT- 218 18" for several years and just �purchased a second one so I could have one in two separate locations . It does a beautiful job of trimming my photo's as well as my paintings on canvas.