The Akiles VersaMac is a commercial grade electric punch designed to compete with the GBC MagnaPunch and Rhin-o-Tuff HD 7700. The Akiles VersaMac stacks up exceptionally well. The VersaMac offers a full range of dies (14 in total) with the special pattern dies offered at nominal premium to the standard punch patterns. The VersaMac has been sold for a number of years with excellent reviews from customers up to the mid volume production range.  (under 2500 books)

PRO’s

• Ease of use - we found the Versamac to be very easy to setup and use. With a convenient scale on the front of the machine that shows the colour coded dies and where to set the side stop in order to have the correct hole alignment. We found the Versamac to be the easiest of the three big players systems to setup.
• Extra die’s - Extra dies for the VersaMac are more affordable when compared to the prices of the competitive units, especially when one looks at the special punch patterns where the Rhin-o-tuff and GBC units are easily double the price of the Versamac. Our favorite punch pattern is the Coil 4:1 Oval die instead of using a Coil 4:1 round die. An oval die makes coil inserting easier because of the increased length of the hole.
• Depth margin adjust - most of the Versamac dies come with a depth margin adjust on them, whereas with other suppliers you may have to order the die specifically with the depth that you would like. Simply pull the depth adjust handle and it steps securely into the various depth positions.
• Capacity - while the posted capacity is the same as the competitive machines we were impressed with the reliability with which this unit was able to perform at.

 

CON’s

1. Die lock - the die lock switch can at times not lock in place correctly. With an adjustment to the mechanism all is fine but it can be a pain. 
2. Weight and size- this is a big machine and is heavy, it is a little larger than the MagnaPunch and Rhin-o-tuff HD7700 machines, certainly you need to keep it in a dedicated spot as it is too heavy to move around unless you have it installed on a utility cart.

Recommendation: Sydney Stone finds the Akiles VersaMac to be the best value for money in the 40-55 sheet capacity punches on the market today. While sold at a lower retail price to its competitors it equals their capacity and bests them in categories of ease of setup and cost of parts / accessories. While the VersaMac does not have the history of its competitors with only a few years of being on the market it has proven very reliable and very capable of living up to the specifications.