Best Cutting Trimmers

Review & Comparison, Last Update September 14, 2024
Have you ever cut thousands of price tags with the scissors in your shop? Do you need to format dozens of presentations in your office? Have you ever been frustrated trimming customized photo- or greeting-cards? We have reviewed five most popular cutting trimmers for you. Now, it's your move! ...Read more ...Read less
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BEST 2024
PROS
CONS
OUR VERDICT
Type
Cut Length
Maximum Sheet Capacity
Base Material
Ruler
Conveniences
 
PROS
The patented locking rail mechanism holds paper in place and is equipped with a green plastic guard to avoid occasional cuts. Rotary blades of Carl DC-220N can be easily replaced. Additionally, this trimmer is provided with a spare cutting mat.
CONS
With some time, the blade may fail to cut paper stacks of over 30 sheets in a single move.
OUR VERDICT
This trimmer is a perfect match for photo shops or people keen of the scrapbooking or hand-made paper items. Operation of the device is safe and smooth, besides the trimmer is equipped with the straight cutting and perforation blades.
detailed parameters
Type
Mechanical/Rotary
Cut Length
15 inches
Maximum Sheet Capacity
36 sheets
Base Material
MetalCarbide, Plastic
Ruler
Millimeters, Centimeters, Inches
Conveniences
Base with alignment Grid, Patented locking rail mechanism, Compartment for extra blades, Spare cutting mat
PROS
The sturdy trimmer sits steadily with its non-skid rubber feet at the table top. Its lever-style blade has the spring action handle which prevents the blade from falling down. Besides, the paper is held by the automatic clamp assuring clean cuts.
CONS
The device might seem to lack a reference guide for card cutting and a measuring grid on the clamp.
OUR VERDICT
You may choose among three different available sizes of Dahle Vantage Series Trimmers the safest lever-style device most suitable for your needs. This unit may be a perfect option for simple tasks.
detailed parameters
Type
Mechanical/Guillotine
Cut Length
18 inches (Also available in 15 inches and 12 inches)
Maximum Sheet Capacity
15 sheets
Base Material
Metal
Ruler
Centimeters, Inches
Conveniences
Base with preprinted 1/2" grid, Automatic paper clamp, Adjustable paper guide, Spring action blade handle
PROS
The light weight of this trimmer and the convenient handle make it very portable. Also, the device features the cutting arm lock which significantly adds to convenience of use.
CONS
This trimmer wonderfully fits for paper stacks of less than 10 sheets but it will not get through larger stacks cleanly.
OUR VERDICT
This piece of equipment will come in handy for frequent use in long-lasting projects that deal with cutting the post cards or photos. The blade edge will never go flat because it has self-sharpening features and, hence, does not require replacement.
detailed parameters
Type
Mechanical/Guillotine
Cut Length
12 inches
Maximum Sheet Capacity
10 sheets
Base Material
Recycled Postconsumer Resin
Ruler
Millimeters, Centimeters, Inches
Conveniences
Precision printed scale and grid
PROS
The grip of the cutter's handle resembles holding a samurai's katana. The blade is protected with a special cover for the extra safety. The blade latch hook can be locked for storage and carrying of the trimmer.
CONS
The blade is not firmly secured in its upper position.
OUR VERDICT
The ClassicCut Lite has a matt structured surface with anti-glare features. As a general purpose trimmer, it is appropriate for use in the office or home. It cuts small quantities of paper materials pretty quickly.
detailed parameters
Type
Mechanical/Guillotine
Cut Length
15 inches (Also available in12 inches and 6 inches)
Maximum Sheet Capacity
10 sheets
Base Material
Plastic
Ruler
Millimeters, Centimeters, Inches
Conveniences
Dual scale ruler, Protective guard rail safety feature, Blade latch hook
PROS
The transparent system of interlocking rail and blade allow making a precise cut. Having the moderate dimensions, this trimmer is built simply and reliably.
CONS
The edge of the rotary blade becomes blunted after a while.
OUR VERDICT
This super trimmer easily deals with the photo paper, cardboard and other materials for the scrapbooking. Using this trimmer, you can make, for example, frames for pictures and collages.
detailed parameters
Type
Mechanical/Rotary
Cut Length
12 inches
Maximum Sheet Capacity
4 sheets
Base Material
Aluminium, Plastic
Ruler
Centimeters, Inches
Conveniences
Patented TripleTrack System for Straight and Steady Cuts, Swinging Arm Extending Measuring Deck
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Carl Heavy Duty Rotary Paper Trimmer

Type

Carl Heavy Duty Rotary Paper Trimmer is a great mechanical rotary paper trimmer that can cut a stack of 36 sheets of paper with one movement. This device can help you in your work both in office, photo or design shop; it will be also useful for the scrapbooking. The rotary blade allows also cutting frames for your photos and pictures from a single sheet. Moreover, you are not limited to making straight cuts only; it is possible also to make your own design of wavy or toothed cuts.

Features

The solid metal base guarantees reliability and high quality of this product, which you will enjoy for a long time. This cutter is intended for the heavy-duty daily work with the paper, photo paper, laminated paper and cardboard. The cut length makes 15 inches allowing processing А4-size paper sheets. The locking rail mechanism holds paper firmly during the cut, thus accidental paper shifting is avoided and the cut is always even. Another feature is that the rotary blade is placed in a special plastic casing smoothly sliding on the guiding railing and assuring easiness and safety of the operation. The blade can be easily replaced with the perforating blade (available in the set) or any other one suitable. The base is calibrated with all common and popular post and photo card formats. The measurements are done in millimeters, centimeters and inches for your convenience.

User Benefits

To make your work even more comfortable this product has the adjustable magnetic paper gauge simplifying moving the stack of paper in case of the repetitive cuts. The top quality carbide blade ensures flawless cuts. The trimmer base has a handy storage compartment for extra spare blades. The spare magnetic cutting mat provided by the manufacturer reduces your spare part costs. The device is manufactured folliwing the highest standards of the environmental procection, it may be called a "real green" product.
Last updated price $96.44
Stock In stock
ASIN B0006HV9NY

VIDEO
Carl Heavy Duty Rotary Paper Trimmer
 

Dahle 18E Vantage Series Trimmer

Type

This mechanical guillotine paper trimmer will pleasantly surprise you. Its blade cuts with ease waste edges of photos and helps you to make post cards of wanted formats. This cutter may be used in the office or school premises, photo shops and artisan boutiques. Dahle 18E Vantage Trimmer will take care of the ordinary paper, cardboard, photo paper, laminated paper or thin book covers. Its lever blade has the spring action protection from an occasional finger cut and the convenient handle.

Features

Dahle Vantage Series Trimmers are manufactured in various sizes. Our review includes 18-inch model, but 15" and 12" versions are also available. It is your choice to select a Dahle trimmer most suitable for your wishes and purposes. For example, if you work with small formats of paper sheets, 12-inch option would suffice and you might save both money and the working space at your bench. But if you intend to cut large-size sheets of A4 or A3 formats, you should choose 18" cut length that can cut up to 15 sheets of the printing paper at once. The automatic paper clamp assures straight and accurate cut. It firmly fixes the paper stack and the razor-sharp blade eliminates unwanted pieces of paper. The metal base of cutter is marked with centimeter and inch measurement scale.

User Benefits

The two-side ruler of Dahle Vantage Series Trimmer allows high-precision settings of paper size cuts. This trimmer has an extremely durable base and is not slipping at the working table top due to the non-skid rubber feet. A special adjustable paper guide is useful to set required dimensions of paper and to hold the stack firmly. If you make consecutive cuts, the paper guide helps to shift paper towards the guillotine. The blade is locked for transportation purposes. The spring mechanism also prevents the blade from an occasional falling down.
Last updated price $65.99
Stock In stock
ASIN B000W1YNNW

VIDEO
Dahle 18E Vantage Series Trimmer
 

Fiskars Recycled 12-Inch Bypass Trimmer

Type

Fiskars Recycled Trimmer has the mechanical guillotine action and is used to cut and trim the paper for printing, photos, cardboard, flipcharts, etc. Installing it in your office you may save time spent for paper cutting. This trimmer is designed for the routine daily usage and has the self-sharpening blade. Fiskars is known for the sharpness of its cutting equipment and this device for office and home is no exception.

Features

The body of this model is made of 100% recycled postconsumer resin ensuring its light weight and considerable durability. Though the cut length is limited to 12 inches this Fiskars trimmer can handle А4-size paper and cuts at one move up to 10 sheets of the printing paper allowing for reducing the time consumed for paperwork. The surface of the body has the intuitively understandable printed scale in millimeters, centimeters and inches. The ruler grid is present in the upper, middle and lower type of the surface, thus making simpler fixing of the wished paper size.

User Benefits

The blade of this trimmer is self-sharpening, so you should not ever have to replace it. The smudge guard of transparent plastic protects you from body cuts and assists in control over the paper cutting process. The manufacturer made this piece of equipment portable with a handle and a blade lock for your convenience. This is the perfect trimmer for people needing a reliable and permanently sharp tool.
Last updated price $36.21
Stock In stock
ASIN B003SLAAOO

VIDEO
Fiskars Recycled 12-Inch Bypass Trimmer
 

Swingline Paper Trimmer / Cutter

Type

The guillotine paper trimmer is a great choice for an occasional paper cutting work in a small office or a household. This trimmer easily cuts the common paper, photos, cardboard, laminated paper and thin foil. Our review includes 15-inch cut length model suitable for work with A4 sheets, but there are also other available products of the same manufacturer featuring the length of cut equaling 12" and even a small portable 6"-device.

Features

The trimmer’s body is plastic-made with a rough surface and a ruler with centimeter, millimeter and inch marks. 15-inch lever-type blade cuts up to 10 paper sheets of A4-format. This sharp blade is covered by the plastic protective casing keeping safe your fingers. Its handle is very comfortable and can be safely locked. The measuring grid of this model is not very convenient in form of a centrally-located ruler and measuring lines, but this is sufficient for simple tasks.

User Benefits

It is a classic-design device that should meet demands of the most exacting users. The trimmer is equipped with steady rubber anti-skid feet holding it firmly at any surface. Due to the light weight and small dimensions the Swingline cutter is easily transportable and can be hand-carried. The metal-made protective rail guard keeps user’s fingers safe and prevents the paper from folding during the cut.
Last updated price $32.93
Stock In stock
ASIN B00006IATI

VIDEO
Swingline Paper Trimmer / Cutter
 

Fiskars Portable Scrapbooking Trimmer

Type

The name of this trimmer reveals the fact that it is designed for scrapbook art lovers first of all. Fiskars Portable Scrapbooking Trimmer represents a rotary mechanical trimmer for the home scrapbooking and artisans making home-made paper goods, it is also used often by photo-shops. It allows you to make frames and cut various shapes from the paper and cardstock, it also cuts the laminated paper at ease. Collage-fans should also benefit from advantages of this device and enjoy its work.

Features

The body of this scrapbooking trimmer is made of a strong and light plastic with the aluminum-covered top bearing the measurement grid. The grid is in inches and has reference guides for standard sizes of photo-cards. So, you can quickly cut off any waste. The transparent paper clip makes visible the blade and any signs on paper. This is to simplify cutting the insides of photo frames or other shapes as passé-partout. The maximum cut length for paper is 12 inches. The cut goes through up to 4 sheets of the printing paper or thin cardboard. The rotary blade glides easily along the guiding rail allowing operating the trimmer with minimum effort.

User Benefits

The users quote this particular trimmer as really an amazing tool for most demanding scrapbooking projects. Saving the working space on your table this cutter is of a compact-size. But for the purpose of handling with large sheets of paper it has an extendable swing-out arm with a ruler reaching up to 15” length. The clear paper clamp features the additional vertical ruler with centimeter and inch measurements.
Last updated price $23.14
Stock In stock
ASIN B0017KYE5Y

VIDEO
Fiskars Portable Scrapbooking Trimmer
 

What is a Cutting Trimmer/Cutter

Just try to imagine a modern office, a printing or a photo shop, or even a small-scale handcraft outlet without a paper trimmer or cutter. Evidently, this device helps you to save time and efforts that, otherwise, you would spend cutting through piles of paper. Our review is dedicated to these assistants constantly cutting and trimming sheets of paper, hence called the paper trimmers or cutters. The aim of life of a trimmer is to cut large and small stacks of paper, to trim sheets of photo-paper, cardboard, laminated paper, film and foil, and other similar materials using a rotary or a guillotine blade. Why would you go for a trimmer? Because it assures you get straight and even paper edges that no scissors can do.

If you choose the paper trimming device for your office we recommend adding the equipment for destruction of paper waste and unnecessary or confidential documents, i.e. shredders.

What Features to Compare

Type

The market offers to you a wide choice of paper trimmers and cutters. They are divided to several major groups depending on the usage conditions and the quantity of paper to be processed. That is why, first of all, you should select the type of the paper trimmer or cutter.

Mechanical trimmers are operated manually, i.e. a user has to push manually a special wheel or lever, and the latter activates a sharp cutting blade. Such instruments are commonly used in small photo-shops, hand-craft shops, offices and at home. The mechanical trimmers usually belong to the following types: 

  • Rotary 
  • Guillotine 

The guillotine mechanical trimmers are commonly used, if the quantities of paper sheets to be processed are small to medium. This means 15 to 50 pages in one stack that is a usual volume in an office or a photo-shop. The cutting itself is done by a lever-style blade. As a rule the blade is placed into a protective casing. It is also recommended to have some protective railing on the trimmer’s body. This way the paper edge will be even after cut and you will have your fingers intact. But there are also large professional guillotine cutters designed to deal with paper stacks of 30 to 300 sheets. Such cutters and trimmers may be usually seen in printing shops and large professional photo-centers.

The rotary trimmers are preferred, if a significantly small quantity of paper (up to 15 sheets in average) should be cut or trimmed with a high level of precision. A razor-sharp rotating blade sliding on a guiding rail makes the most accurate cut. Usually, such trimmers have an option of replacement of a straight blade with a perforating one or a carving blade for trimming the edges of photo- and post-cards.

The electrical paper trimmers are used mainly by industrial enterprises, including printing and package producing enterprises. The paper fixing and cutting is automated there. The electrical trimmers and cutters can be programmed for certain dimensions and cutting cycles, and may keep these parameters in the memory for future cutting processes according to pre-set parameters.  

Features

It should be noted that the choice of a particular device depends mostly on the features of a trimmer or cutter. The features include the working surface, cut length and maximum allowed dimensions of the sheets of paper to be cut by the cutting blade. For example, if you only wish to trim some photos or price-tags to the standard size, it is sufficient to have the cut length of 12 inches. But if you have to cut the paper of A4 format, you should better choose a trimmer with the cut length of 15 inches, and the A3-size sheets should be cut in the device with the cut length of 18 inches and more. The body and surface might be manufactured from plastic or metal. As a rule the metal bodies are used for commercial or professional cutters. These devices are operating daily with large quantities of paper. The trimmers with plastic bodies are cheaper and intended for a smaller workload. Pay attention to the blade protection. The ideally accurate cut depends on the sharpness of a blade. The longer is the cut length of a trimmer the greater amount of measurement scales and grids it covers. If a trimmer has rulers with different measurement scales (millimeters, centimeters and inches), you will be able to set precisely any desired dimension; and reference guides for standard sizes of the photo-cards or CD-covers and other grids make the user’s life easier. 

User Benefits

Finally, consider user benefits of a trimmer. Some devices have additional guiding rails and clamps to improve the accuracy of cut, set more precise dimensions and increase the comfort of work. If your working space is limited you should select among portable models with extendable measuring rulers. More than that, some trimmers have special storage compartments for spare parts and stationary also allowing saving the space of the working bench and having easy access to necessary supplies. If your choice of the trimmer is correct, you will improve the process of work in general and enjoy using your new instrument

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