What does a guillotine do?
A paper guillotine or cutter is a mechanical device used to cut or trim large stacks of paper or documents at the same time. They were first pioneered in the mid-nineteenth century. There are many different types today but all feature some form of blade and a flat surface on which to place the paper.
What types of guillotines are available?
There is a wide array of guillotines or paper cutters available on the modern market. These range from small, inexpensive, manual devices for personal or classroom use to large, electronic, commercial-grade machines for print finishing and production environments.
Here are some of the most common types or paper cutter available:
Arm Cutters: These are basic manual models with a blade mounted on a hinged arm. The arm is attached to a flat base upon which the paper is placed. The blade is hand-operated and brought down manually to slice through the paper. These models are not designed for regular high-volume use, and while they may be fine for very occasional cutting, they can only slice through a small number of sheets at a time before they start fraying the edges.
Rotary Paper Cutters: Rotary cutters are different from other cutters and guillotines. Unlike most other types which use a straight blade, these models have a circular blade which is encased in a cutting head or slider. The user positions the paper on the base, most models have a positioning grid or ruler on the base, and slides the cutting head along a bar, slicing through the paper as it goes. These are much more precise than arm cutters and are used widely by photographers for cutting small sets of photos. They are not designed for high-volume regular use.
Manual Guillotines:Guillotine cutters are much more reminiscent of the execution device from which they get there name. They are designed for high-volume regular use and they can cut large stacks of paper. With the manual version, you just set the paper on the cutter, position it correctly, lock it in place using a clamp and pull the handle. This drops a weighted blade onto the paper. The volume of paper you can cut will largely depend on the weight behind the blade.
Electronic Semi-Automatic Guillotines:These models are similar in appearance to the manual guillotine but the main difference is that the blade is powered. This means that the device can generally cut through much larger quantities of paper. The most common types of power used in these devices are electrical or hydraulic.
Electric Fully-Automatic Guillotines: Fully automated guillotines allow you to cut through vast amounts of paper. These cutters have both a fully-powered clamp and blade. They tend to be used more by commercial operators such as printers, print finishers, publishing houses and other businesses who deal with thousands of sheets of paper per day.
Electric Fully-Automatic Guillotines: Quickly becoming the norm for large commercial operations, these cutter provide all of the benefits of fully-automatic machines with the added speed and accuracy provided by a digital interface that allows users to quickly and precisely define the cut position. The position of the paper is dictated by an exact measurement input by the user.
These are just the broad categories of paper cutters available. Within each type you will be faced with a whole host of features and specifications that you will need to consider. Things like blade size, cut speed, power consumption, safety features, maintenance and many other factors are likely to impact on your decision...
What are the benefits of a guillotine?
Investing in a good quality guillotine can deliver lots of benefits to your business. Whether you are a small office who produces a limited number of professional documents or a massive print finishing operation cutting thousands of items a day, there is a cutter out there to suit you. The benefits are:
Accuracy and Consistency: A guillotine lets you cut a large number of documents in the same way time and time again. This is particularly important when dealing with colour prints that incorporate bleeds.
Cut Quality: You won’t get the same type of crisp, clean and consistent cut with a scissors. A good guillotine lets you put a nice edge on your beautiful document.
Speed: A good guillotine will help you cut large quantities of paper very quickly and safely.
Cost: The improved efficiency that a cutter will bring has a positive impact on costs. With the reduction in man-hours needed to cut your paper, you will have recouped your investment in no time.
These are some of the general benefits that a good guillotine can bring your business but there may be more depending on the type and scale of the specific guillotine you choose...
How to choose the best shredder for you
Before selecting your guillotine you need to ask yourself some important questions about your business and what you need from a cutter.
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How much and how often do you need to cut?
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How many people will need to use your new guillotine?
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What size items do you need to cut?
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What safety features do you need?
By answering these questions you can be much more confident in your decision. Define your requirements. Identify a number of possible products. Compare them carefully. Read customer reviews. Ask around about the quality of service each potential supplier provides. Then you’ll be able to pick the best shredder for your business.
Get in touch
If you have questions about guillotines, we’d be happy to help. Just call us on 1850 33 44 55 or check out our range of top quality Mohr cutters or Ideal guillotines and select the best one for you...