Swingline (R) Acco Lighttouch(Tm) Desktop Punch With Lever Handle, Black/Silver

We were short a 3-hole paper punch at work. While shopping for office supplies I saw the Swingline LightTouch Desktop Punch with Lever Handle on sale. How could I resist a sale and a product that promised 50% less effort to use it?


Description

This Swingline hole punch is a nice looking product. It is in silver and black, the body molded from plastic. The lever handle has a black rubberized grip. A black plastic tray slides on and off the bottom of the punch for emptying of the paper chips. The punch heads are metal and punch 9/32" holes. The three punch heads are adjustable, and the packaging states this can be a 3-hole or 2-hole punch. This hole will punch up to 12 sheets of paper.

The punch is designed to sit on a desk and measures 11 7/8" long x 3" wide. With the handle in the upright position, it stands 6" high. It is not the lightest punch I have held, but it is easily portable.


My Experiences

At first I was enamored of this paper punch. The lever handle is easy to use with the rubberized grip and lever action. True to advertising, the lever does require less effort and hand strength to press. I like the concept and have no trouble punching 12 sheets at a time (sometimes a few more, which requires more firmly pressing the lever). It's excellent.

The holes always punch clean. I use this as a 3-hole punch (which is how it comes). I have never had reason to move the punch heads. Looking at the paper punch, there are three heads in three of the holes, and there are four empty hole placements to move the heads (or a total of five placement holes on each side of the center punch). New punch heads can be purchased if necessary (replacement part # 74870).

I use this punch on 20-pound copy paper. The paper chips drop into a tray that is attached to the bottom of the hole punch. In principal, it is simple to slide the tray off to empty the paper chips. However, I find the tray usually sticks part way. This is an easy fix, though. I twist the tray to the side, and it releases completely from the bottom of the punch. I empty the tray, then snap the tray back into position.

Now for the part I don't like. This hole punch places the holes too close to the edge of the paper. If I don't insert the paper just right, the holes miss and slice into the edge of the paper creating a useless half hole. The old paper punch we used cut holes 7/16" from the paper edge. This lever hole punch places the holes just over 3/16" from the paper edge. There is no way to adjust the depth of where the holes are cut.

A pet peeve is the cosmetics on the underside of the handle. This hole punch sits on top of a bookshelf. When I look up at the handle, I can see the honeycomb design of the plastic. The top of the handle is smooth, but the bottom is an open grid of plastic. The underside of the handle looks unfinished, even though it is obviously designed this way.


Purchasing

I bought this hole punch from BJ's Wholesale Club for just over $7.00 on sale. This was an excellent deal considering the punch has a manufacturer retail price of $31.85.


Summary

The reason I can't recommend this Swingline Punch with Lever Handle is that the holes cut too close to the edge of the paper. If your papers are filled with text and narrow margins, this would be a good feature. However, I prefer a deeper margin of paper between the hole and paper edge. I am experiencing too many torn pages where the holes are punched. I will not buy this style hole punch again. This wasn't such a great deal after all.

I hope you found this review useful.

Enjoy the day,
Dawn
http://dlstewart.com


Please read my other reviews:

Swingline Electric 3-Hole Paper Punch

Swingline Heavy Duty 3-Hole Paper Punch

Smead Clear Poly Envelopes for 3-Ring Binders

Avery Heavy-Duty E-Z-D binder with Finger Hole

Avery Durable Slant Ring Binder

Avery Durable Ring Binder

Avery Reinforcement Labels for hole punched paper

Avery WorkSaver Big Tab Dividers


Copyright 2007 Dawn L. Stewart