The MBM Triumph 6550EP electric paper cutter is designed for heavy duty cutting applications where strength, accuracy and safety are essential.
The 6550EP is a fully programmable paper cutter with an electric back gauge, and a great set of safety feature. It is a fully featured paper cutter and is actually the paper cutter that we use here in our own production department.
This review will take a quick look at the strengths, weaknesses and construction of the 6550EP.
Features / Strengths:
The MBM Triumph 6550 EP is extremely easy to use and accurate. You simply type in size that you want to cut on the small keypad and the backgauge of the cutter will move to the appropriate position. You can move it in increments as small as one onehundredth of an inch and can also set the cutter to operate in metric measurements if necessary. The cutter comes with a convenient wooden tool to help you make sure that your paper is flush against the backgauge and prepared for cutting.
The 6550EP can cut large quantities of paper at one time. It can cut up to three inches of paper at a time without any problem and we frequently use our cutter to cut plastic covers and other materials in large stacks. However, if you decide to cut hard materials and chip your blade you will need to replace it which will cost several hundred dollars.
The 6550EP is also extremely safe. It has a clear plastic guard on the back of the cutter to prevent you from putting your hands into the cutter from behind the blade. It also has a special safety shield that must be in the down position in order to cut and requires two handed operation to activate the cutting mechanism. All of these features help to ensure that the operator of this cutter is always safe and that nobody ever cuts off a finger.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
The 6550EP can present some fairly major installation issues if you are not prepared. It weighs 801 pounds and needs to be assembled when it arrives. You have to assemble the stand then place the cutter onto the stand. Make sure that you have enough people to lift the cutter without hurting yourselves.
Additionally, the size of the box and the cutter is large enough that you need to make sure that you have a door large enough to fit cutter through. This is especially important for print shops and copy shops who sometimes have limited access and small doorways. Even if you do get the cutter through the door you will need to make sure that you have a 20A dedicated circuit near the cutter to ensure that it gets enough power to do the job.
In order to maintain high quality cuts with the 6550EP you need to make sure that you rotate and replace the cutting sticks with the cutter and keep the blade sharp. It is always a good idea to have an extra blade and several extra cut sticks on hand in case you end up needing them.
The 6550EP offers a 25.5" cutting width. This is great for cutting small format papers and is ideal for master sheets of paper that are in 23" x 35". However, many paper stocks come in 26" x 40" format which is too large to be cut using this cutter. These stocks will need to be precut to a smaller size such as 26" x 20" or 25" x 40 in order to handle them with the 6550EP.
The pressure bar for this paper cutter is not adjustable. The pressure can sometimes leave marks in the materials that are being cut. In order to deal with this, you can use a piece of chipboard on the top of your stack of documents to absorb the pressure.
Recommendation:
The MBM Triumph 6550EP electric paper cutter is highly accurate, extremely safe and incredibly strong. It is ideal for copy shops, printers, and large organizations that need to do a lot of cutting with incredible precision.
However, before you buy the 6550EP you should really check to make sure that you can fit it through your doors, that you have a crew in place to help you set it up and that you have adequate power in place to run the machine. If you have all of these things, then the Triumph 6550EP is probably a good choice for your organization.
Overview:
The GBC Classicut CL310 is a traditional guillotine style paper cutter that is designed for home office or small office use.
It has a 15 inch cutting blade for cutting longer materials and has a 12 inch wide cutting table to help you easily handle your documents.
It is designed for trimming everything from tissue paper to foamboard, matboard to cardboard.
Features / Strength:
The CL310 has a nice 15" long cutting blade that is ideal for cutting lager papers. It is great for scrapbooking since it can easily handle the 12" x 12" scrapbook papers and is also very precise. It is a popular choice for crafters, scrapbookers and small organizations.
The CL310 has several important safety features that are essential for a guillotine style paper cutter. It has a latch to keep the blade locked in the down position when it is not in use. It also has a tensioned spring mechanism that prevents the blade from falling when it is raised in the upright position. Finally, it has a purple metal finger guard that will help to prevent you from accidently sliding your fingers under the blade during the cutting process.
The Classicut 310 has convenient measurements on the cutting table to help you line up your documents. The measurements are set approximately 3 inches down from the top of the cutter to help you keep your cuts more accurate and it also has convenient lines on the cut table to help you align your documents. The measurements on the CL 310 are in both metric and imperial so that you can cut based upon centimeters or inches depending on your preference.
The blade on the CL310 can be both sharpened and replaced. This means that if you find that the blade is getting dull you can simply take it to a local sharpening company and they can renew it for you. After you have sharpened your blade a few times or if it becomes nicked or chipped you will need to replace it. Replacement blades are available and cost considerably less than buying a new paper cutter.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
The CL310 does include several important safety features that are necessary for a guillotine cutter. However, there are a couple of safety concerns that I noted with this machine. Notably, the finger guard is placed almost a half inch away from the cutting blade. This means that it is possible to insert your fingers from the blade side of the cutter and still do substantial damage. If you are careful this shouldn't be a huge concern. However, it is something to be aware of.
The CL310 does not have a paper clamp or a backstop to help you align the paper. This means that you need to hold your paper in place during cutting and that you have to visually align the paper each time you go to cut a new stack. This makes any type of volume cutting or precision cutting work very tedious. Some larger guillotine cutters have these features and might be better suited for organizations that do a lot of cutting.
Overall, the construction of the CL310 is good. However, the cutting base is made of chipboard and the quality of the blade is not nearly what you would find on a comparable trimmer from the Ingento line of maple trimmers. The Ingento maple trimmers have solid maple cutting bases, are heavier and use higher quality blades and metal components.
Recommendation:
This cutter is ideal for scrapbooking, creating craft projects and for use with other light volume applications. In fact, my wife owns one and uses it for creating her scrapbooks.
It is not ideal for high volume trimming and prevents some safety concerns in an office environment where liability may be a concern. Additionally, the construction is not as durable and is not designed to hold up to volume applications or for use in a school setting.