Rick, I noticed that you cut out the seal with an exacto knife. Here is something that I found very interesting and might save you a lot of time, and make higher quality parts too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hejUzvfGuY8&t=286s
My wife actually got one of these for Christmas. I had found this video a few weeks earlier and I was excited when I found out she was getting one. When I mentioned how useful it would be to me she got that attitude and said that I would not be using it.
