The height of office luxury is an electric hole punch. In elementary school I used a hand-held single-hole punch for art projects. I graduated from single-hole to three-hole punches when I started working in offices. Now where I currently work, the company purchased the Acco Model 525 3-hole Electric Punch. What a difference electricity makes!


Tell me what makes this a knock-out Hole Punch

No more bruised fingers trying to manually punch through layers of paper. The Acco Model 525 3-hole Electric Punch easily cuts through 20 sheets of 20 pound paper (regular copy paper) in less than a second. Simply set the paper in the vertical paper holder with the side to be hole-punched resting on the bottom. Align the paper against the left edge of the guide, and press the button. The machine emits a short whine as it drills the holes. Ta Da! Remove the papers to see the neat, smooth-edged holes punched along the side.


Where do all those paper circles go?

A drawer along the front base of the unit catches the punched circles of paper. The hole punchers act as mini trash compactors. If you hole punch 20 pieces of paper, those 20 paper circles are compressed together and dropped into the drawer. If one piece of paper is hole punched, then the single circles of paper will drop into the bin. The narrow drawer doesn’t look like it will hold much, but the size is deceiving. In the area of the office where our hole punch is located, about seven people steadily use it. We empty the drawer about once a month.

This narrow drawer can be a bit tricky to remove. Strong-arm tactics will result in an instant confetti shower when the drawer pops open and spews its contents around the room. There is an indentation in the center front of the drawer for easy grasping. Gently pull and wiggle the drawer from side to side. The drawer slips free with (hopefully) no spills. Empty the collection of paper circles into a recycling bin and reinsert the drawer.


How large is this unit & Where to place it?

The Acco Model 525 3-hole Electric Punch easily sits on a desk, cabinet or table top. All it needs is a flat surface to sit on and an electrical outlet. Our office has the unit sitting on a table in the center of the front office. I wouldn’t want the machine sitting on my desk if other people were using it. While not obnoxiously noisy, the machine does emit a whine (somewhat reminiscent of a dental drill). I wouldn’t want to listen to the noise up close all day. The hole punch measures about 17" long by 7" deep and is 10 1/4" tall. (This measurement includes the vertical paper holder.)

The hole puncher is easy to set up, too. Place it on a flat surface. Plug the cord into a nearby electrical outlet. A button on the back of the unit turns the machine ON. (Since the button turns the unit ON but does not activate the unit, we leave the machine on all the time.) To operate the unit, insert the papers to be hole punched and press another button (on the left top side of the machine) to activate the hole puncher. Release the button, and the machine stops working until the next time when the button is pressed.


Benefits

* Easy to set up
* Simple to use
* Consistently accurate, aligned holes
* Holes are neatly punched with smooth edges
* Drills holes in under a second
* Saves time and enables one to work faster
* Cut-out paper circles fall into a closed drawer
* Great for anyone with arthritic or weak hands


Limitations

There aren’t many down-sides to the Acco Model 525 3-hole Electric Punch.

* The hole-punching heads are not replaceable.
* The spacing between the hole punchers is not adjustable.
* Cutting more than 20 sheets of paper at a time might result in a jam.

Our office has used this hole puncher for two years without a problem. The hole punchers have not dulled. If on the rare occasion we need special spacing for our three-hole punching, we use a manual hole puncher that is adjustable.


What if the machine jams?

One of the beauties of this machine is that it has an Auto-Reverse switch to clear jams. Should a jam occur, just hold down the Auto-Reverse switch, and it reverses the paper out of the machine. In all the time our office has used this hole puncher, I remember two paper jams. I haven’t heard anyone in the office complain about it. All I’ve heard are comments like: “I can’t imagine not having this machine!”


Summary

The Acco Model 525 3-hole Electric Punch is a wonderful machine to have in the office. We hole-punch a lot of material. Now we can perform our hole punching quicker and with greater accuracy. No more torn paper holes from trying to yank the paper out of a manual hole puncher. This machine is quick, does a professional job, and is easy to use. The purchaser of office supplies paid $75.00 for this machine. It’s well worth the price. No one in our office would want to give it up!

At the time of this review, there is no image of the product attached to this review page. Here is a link to the Swingline/Acco website with a photo of the product:
http://www.swingline.com/html/1724.html


Update -- July 21, 2005

A few months ago our beautiful electrical hole punch died. We process a lot of paper through the office, and a coworker used this hole punch continuously for a long period of time, not giving it a rest. The motor burned out from over use. Our office loves the convenience of an electric hole punch ... so we now own the next model up from this one. You can read my review of it by clicking on this link: Swingline Model 535 3-Hole Electric Punch.


I hope you have found this review useful.

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

Product Specifications

Machine Measurements: 17" long x 7" deep and 10 1/4" tall
Sheet Capacity: 20 sheets (20 pound paper)
Number of Holes Punched: 3
Size of Punch Heads: 9/32"
Adjustable Hole Settings: NO (they are fixed in position)
Drawer: Pull-out tray holds paper chips
Switches:
On/Off switch (at back of unit)
Auto-Reverse/Hole Punch Activation Switch (top left of unit)
Cord Length: Approx. 7 feet
Color: Putty White
Warranty: Limited Two-Year Warranty


Please read my other reviews:

Stanley Heavy-Duty Stapler for up to 120 sheets

Fellowes Magnetic Copyholder

Gateway 500X Desktop Computer

HP LaserJet 2200dse Printer

HP LaserJet 1000 Printer

Belkin Home Office UPS Emergency Battery Backup

Sandisk Imagemate CompactFlash Card Reader

Dazzle 6-in-1 Card Reader

Logitech Optical Keyboard & Optical Mouse

Sharp Calculator Solar with Battery Backup

HON Metal Bookcase


Copyright 2003 Dawn L. Stewart

Recommended: Yes