Movers & shakers dies - do you need the tray?

I know they are designed to be used with the tray but has anyone tried using them without it? This may seem like an odd question but I don't need to cut shape holes for cards and I really don't want to spend $20 on the tray if I don't have to. I'm fairly dexterious, so if it's possible, I could make it work. I just don't want to invest in the little dies and find out it doesn't.

I just bought a different die that cuts sawtooth circles and when I got it home and opened it up, I discovered that I need to spend another $20 for the magnetic contraption to make it work. It's useless without it. These $30-$40 combo dies are killing me!

I'm not sure about other machines, but I tried to use one in my Big Red (the old Sizzix) without success. It was too big to fit with the adaptor that you'd use for sizzlits and spellbinders or other thin dies, but not thick enough for the platform to compress it enough to cut. I tried making my own shim and it didn't work. Maybe try youtube to see if you can find videos about how to make it work without the tray?

I didn't want to buy the big tray either, so what I did was use a die that was made to have a mover and shaker inside of it-I use my tag die since it has the largest empty magnetic space-big silver space on the die shown. Then I cut a piece of pp as close to the shape of the die. I spent about what I would for the tray on the tag die, but I actually use the tag die for other things so it didn't seem as pointless a purchase as the tray.

I have used them ( well, I only have 1) w/o the tray. I don't remember how I set it up ( sandwich wise ) but I did get it to work and it cut just fine.

I've done the same as MrsAnnie- I don't have the tray, but have quite a few Movers N Shapers. I put them inside the Vintage Cabinet die and cut them that way...

It was too hard for me to justify spending 20 bucks on the tray and not being able to use the tray for anything, when I can still just put the little dies in the Vintage Cabinet die anyways, and do the same thing...

I've not tried cutting them on their own, tho

k

I haven't used them but I was told by the woman at my LSS that you could just stick them down (tape?) if you had to.....You would have to put them through on one of the platforms or acrylic so just stick them to that with double sided tape?
Alison

I can do my bird cage without a tray but it's hard I do much better with the plate if you watch you can catch them on sale at hobby lobby with a 40% off coupon.

I don't know if this would work, but if you had any type of magnetic plate that the dies would stick to it might work. One day at our LSS a lady did try sticking them to something magnetic, but I can't recall what it was. Good luck