CARLHeavy Duty Rotary Paper Trimmer - 12238, Black/Silver, 18inch

The media could not be loaded. I wish I got it on the first day it came out. It is such a time-saver and compared to cutting hundreds of card stock by hand, it is VERY SAFE TO USE. I was so impressed with it that I made a quick video. So here is what I found after doing a couple graphic design projects ‘in house’,, meaning I printed the job on my laser and then cut them myself. No printer was used for any services. We did this to save time and money on a small project.SIZE OF PRODUCT: There are four sizes: 12”, 15”, 18”, and 25”. I purchased the15”. The descriptions may not have the sizes correct so I used a ruler for you to get a pretty good idea of the 15” size. To me, it’s perfect. Any bigger and I might find it too bulky to store anywhere.CUTTING CARD STOCK: So, I had a small project to print 100 sheets that I then had to cut into equal thirds. I used Hammermill 80 lb card stock. What I found was that this little cutter can easily cut card stock. You can either push hard to cut through multiple sheets or do what I found was very helpful and easy. I move the cutter up and down several times till all the paper is cut. Just make sure none of them move into the cutting line/area. In my video, I cut about 6 or 7 sheets of that 80 lbs card stock but when I did my first 100 sheet project, I put about 10 sheets in at a time.CUT QUALITY: The cut is very clean and very straight. One of the reasons is because the gold/yellow piece gets pressed down onto the paper and very firmly holds the paper down while you are cutting. You literally do not have to touch the paper once you’ve locked the cutter in place. Since the paper doesn’t move, your cuts are clean and straight. Also, this baby allows you to change the blade. So, every time you change the blade, it’s like a new cutter. It also comes with one extra regular blade and at least one other specialty blade.SAFEY: If you have EVER used an exact knife/blade on multiple cuts, you know it’s not so safe. Over the years, I’ve cut my fingers and thumb while holding my straight edge firm on whatever I’m cutting. It was so nice to cut 100 sheets of paper and my fingers were completely safe! 👍 -and thumb!COMPARE TO GUILLOTINE TYPE: If you are on the fence and thinking about the guillotine type, read the reviews to some of those. The guillotine pushes the paper down so you get a sort of fan cut while cutting multiple sheets. Also, many of those do not allow you to replace the blade. I read one review on a guillotine type that lasts maybe 6 months but there was no blade replacement s it was no longer usable. That is what sold me on this one. The fact it holds the paper down securely was an awesome surprise.TIPS: Don’t try to cut through all the sheets at one time but glide up and down, especially for card stock. Keep moving the cut pieces out of the way. Create a guide to your cuts on a blank sheet if you are cutting a printed design/layout. For example, you want to cut 10 sheets of regular or card stock in half and it has to be pretty accurate. Instead of marking on one of your printouts, get a blank sheet of that same paper and mark where you want the cut. Place it on top of the sheets and use it as a guide. In my case, I had a project with 100 sheets that had the design I did printed via my laser printer. I needed all those 100 sheets cut in thirds because I laid out 3-up on a page. I took about 10 blank sheets and printed guide marks. I took about 10 or so sheets at a time and placed the blank/marked sheet on top and used it to help get very accurate cuts.This cutter took me seconds to figure out and saves a ton of time in cutting. I delivered the job to my client and he was so happy. We saved a ton of money and it actually saved me time because I didn’t need to run to the printer to drop off or pick up the. Job. For smaller projects, this is perfect.

works great very pleased

If you are looking at all the descriptions of cutters and don't know which one to choose, this is the one to buy.It's large in size and works in a sensible way, the cuts are exact and not off by any degree, and when you cut the plastic guide locks down so nothing will slip.This is very much worth the money if you have to do something like cut DVD inserts for cases or other types of covers for publications. I have tried many cutters and they give uneven cuts and were flimsy. This has some weight to it and won't slip around. If you want a cutter that just works right and isn't cheap junk or poorly constructed, this is it.

One of the best investments I have made. The magnetic squaring guide for in-between measurements is not perfect and there is some play involved but for my needs and budget it works very well. Just have to be a bit careful before making the final cut but for the money it is worth the extra effort. Very happy I purchased this!

Works great for what I bought it for.

So I've used standard guillotine paper cutters and a few other craft oriented rotary cutters before this one. This one is pretty good: it has a few additional features that basic paper cutters may not have. First, it has a removable magnetic bar that you can use to keep your edge placement when cutting many stacks of paper to the same size. The bar isn't perfect: it has some play at the top so that it is up to you to make sure it is perpendicular to the top edge (I use the marks already present on the silver board to make sure it's straight). The magnetic is nice and strong, though, so once you set it it won't move if you accidentally push it with your papers. The rotary cutter is on a bar that locks down to hold papers in place. When you want to insert the papers you lift the clip on the bottom of the bar and it pops up a fraction of an inch for you to slide papers in. This adds an extra step to cutting. Some people might find it irritating since you already have to push down on the rotary cutter to get it to work and this usually holds the paper just fine.The first job I did with this cutter was slicing up standard office 8 1/2 x 11 printer paper, 10 sheets at a time. I did find that I had to slide the rotary cutter one or two extra times to make sure all were cut through. It might be because it was on a bar top so I couldn't push down very hard but I wanted to note this for those with less arm strength.So, all in all, I appreciate that this cutter had extra features but I'm not sure if this is the right cutter for me. I like paper cutters for speed as well as for ease in doing masses of work. Because of the locking mechanism I found this a little slow going and I would have liked the magnetic bar to be more like a drafting machine that is manufacturered to always be perpendicular to the top without being checked. I could see that the hold down mechanism might be really good for smaller strips of paper. It also might prevent those times when the blade doesn't cut through and so the paper gets pulled and the cut is crooked (happens on guillotine cutters). So I might look at other cutters to see if any of them suit me better.2 week edit: I used this for two jobs of about 480 papers each (standard computer print paper, 24lb, one cut each page). It did a good job, and once again I appreciated being able to set the magnetic bar paper stop to help speed things up. However, I realized that I do not like setting the clamp down for each set of papers I cut (10 sheets at a time). Even with the magnetic bar and the clamp I managed to cut a few things crookedly and I'm not sure if I put them in like that and didn't have the paper flat enough or if I had moved things with the clamp without noticing. Just FYI even with a clamp and large flat surface if you're cutting something in half or more than the piece hanging off the cutting end can throw you out of alignment unless you're careful to flatten the end on the cutter every time. So, I researched high end cutters, which edge into the commercial market. Apparently Rototrim is top of the line and Dahle is near second. Their products are almost all metal, heavy, precise, made to last, and expensive. They do have personal use lines that are more affordable. Both of these lines include extra features, such as the magnetic guide and have more user friendly ways to hold the paper down for you when you trim (instead of this clamp system). I ended up buying a Dahle 14-1/8" Cut Professional Series, High Capacity Rolling Blade Rotary Trimmer. It had a full metal body (which made it noticably heavier) but a very sharp snickety blade. It holds the paper down nearest the position of the blade automatically and also has a magnetic sliding bar. Reviews said that the markings and numbers will wear off eventually, so I plan to spray it with a sealer now that I know I'm keeping it.Conclusion: The Carl Heavy Duty Rotary Paper Trimmer is a good step up from basic trimmers and is lightweight enough for easy lifting but is a bit large for taking on the road. The magnetic bar is a wonderful feature that all trimmers should have. With some patience, the clamping paper holder is also useful. However, if you're willing to pay about $30 more and don't mind the increased weight the Dahle 550 might last you longer.