If you are considering buying a guillotine style paper cutter you have most likely discovered that there are literally hundreds of options available on the market. However, not all paper cutters are created equal. This article is designed to give you a set of guidelines that will help in deciding what paper cutter is the best fit for your needs. Here are four things to consider when buying a guillotine style paper cutter?
1. Size: The first thing to consider when choosing a paper trimmer to fit your needs is size. Trimmers are available with blades as short as 4? and as long as 36?. A quick survey of the items that you need to cut will help to narrow the selection of cutters that will best fit your needs. In addition to the length of the blade, it is also important to consider the size of the cutting table. If you are going to cut larger items it is extremely helpful to have a cutting table that is large enough to support the entire document.
2. Cutting Capacity: The second thing to consider when choosing a paper cutter is the capacity of paper that you need to cut. Higher quality paper cutters will have sharper blades and will be capable of cutting larger amounts of paper. Keep in mind that even if you aren't going to need to cut larger stacks of paper, cutters with higher capacities will generally be more efficient at cutting individual sheets of paper. It is also important to remember that you will get a much higher cut quality if you don't cut the full rated capacity of the trimmer.
3. Safety Features: Depending on the environment where you intend to use your cutter, safety may be the most important thing to consider when choosing your trimmer. In order to protect users, guillotine cutters should have several safety features. If the cutter you are considering doesn't include these features you might think twice before buying it. All guillotine cutters should include a tension spring to prevent the blade from falling when in the raised position. Cutters without this tension spring are not safe and should not be used. You should also look to make sure that the cutter you are considering includes a blade lock that allows you to secure the blade in the closed position when it is not in use. Guillotine trimmers should also include some type of blade guard. At a minimum, a small metal bar should prevent users from sliding fingers under the blade. However, paper cutters with ultra sharp blades and large cutting capacities should have plastic blade guards that make it impossible (or virtually impossible to slide your fingers under the blade). Keep in mind; even with these safety features it is essential to be extremely careful when using your paper cutter.
4. Other Features: After considering size, capacity and safety there are several other features that are useful to look for in a guillotine paper cutter. Cutters with larger cutting capacities should have clamps to hold the paper in place while the stack is being cut. Without these clamps larger stacks can slip when being cut keeping the finished product from being square. Another thing to keep in mind is that most guillotine cutters will have measurement markings to help you align your documents. It is extremely helpful if these markings run the entire length of the cutting table to help ensure that you get your documents square before cutting them. Finally, cutters that have an adjustable paper stop make cutting large volumes of paper simpler than ever. However, it is important to ensure that the paper stop is solid and square or else it won't be helpful.
If you consider these four features when choosing a guillotine paper trimmer, you will be able to find a cutter that will best fit your needs. Keep in mind that you may not need all of these features in your cutter and guillotine cutters that include all of the best features will certainly be more expensive than cutters without these features. Thus, it is up to you to find the best possible balance between cost and features to best meet your needs.
Overview:
The Classicut CL110 is a guillotine style paper cutter with a 15" cutting blade that is designed for trimming photos, digital prints, customized presentations and craft materials.
The CL110 is designed to be a low cost paper cutting option for personal and home office use.
Although the CL110 is not as heavy duty as the GBC Classicut 300 series of trimmers or the Ingento series of maple trimmers it still has its place in the market.
This review will take a look at the features, strengths, weaknesses and limitations of the CL110 guillotine paper cutter.
Strengths / Features:
At about fifty dollars, the CL110 offers an excellent value for a 15 inch paper cutter. In fact, for a company or individual on a budget, the CL110 is an excellent option considering its features.
The CL110 offers a fifteen inch cutting blade. This makes it ideal for use in cutting 11" letter sized documents and 12" pieces of scrapbook paper. You can even use it to trim legal sized paper that is 14" in length. The extra long cutting blade on this cutter makes trimming easier by providing room to work while cutting.
The CL110 has a measurement guide on the cutting base. It also has grid lines that make aligning your paper on the cutter easier. The cutting base for the CL110 is 15 inches deep and 11.5 inches wide.
The blade on the CL110 is self sharpening which helps to ensure that the blade lasts longer. Plus, you can also sharpen the blade on the CL110 a few times before it needs to be replaced.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
As compared to other GBC 15 inch guillotine trimmers, the CL110 is considerably lighter and less durable. The base of the CL110 is made from extruded plastic instead of wood. The fact that this cutter is lighter means that you have less leverage when cutting documents and the plastic construction and means that the CL110 cannot cut as many sheets at a time as higher quality guillotine cutters.
The CL110 has several important safety features including a finger guard a blade latch and a tension spring to keep the blade from falling. The finger guard and tensioned handle are similar to the ones that you will find on other GBC trimmers. However, the blade latch on the CL110 is located on the side of the cutter and not the front. This makes it considerably harder to operate, especially when the cutter is set on your work surface or table.
Although the blade on the CL110 is self sharpening, the quality of steel and the thickness of the blade is noticeably different from the quality used on higher quality paper cutters of the same size.
Recommendation:
The CL110 guillotine cutter is ideal for personal use and for use in a home office. However, the blade and construction of the Classicut Cl110 does not lend itself to volume cutting applications.
Schools, churches and organizations who are looking for a paper cutter to use on a daily basis should really consider an Ingento solid maple trimmer.
Still, the CL110 offers a great cutting solution for crafters, scrapbookers and personal users who need a guillotine cutter for occasionally cutting photos, documents and other paper products.
Both Jeff Mcritchie & Jeff McRitchie are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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