CARL Heavy Duty Rotary Paper Trimmer 25 inch. - 12250

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.

I waited a few months to write a review. I have tried several cutters that I liked at first then found as I used them they lost favor with me. I wanted something to cut straight and leave clean lines. I was a bit worried that some of the reviews said it wouldn't do cut even after awhile. I found that true. HOWEVER, I had used it lots and realized with the volume of cutting, it might need a new blade. I replaced the blade and was good to go again. Since I work with paper in 4-5 hours per shift 4-6 days a week, I find that a blade lasts about 5 weeks. When the paper starts to get uneven cuts, I know it is time to change the blade. I am very happy with this purchase. It cuts thick, ultra thin and all the in-between thickness leaving that sharp clean cut I want. I have had a couple of trimmers equal in price that just seemed to wear out (one with a never replace blade, don't believe that tale, the one I had was tearing paper rather than cutting in two months). For the money, for the results, this has been my best results. The loading is sort of awkward at first (it has a lockdown step), but once I got used to it, it is great and I like it because once locked the paper does not move. Multi thick layers can slip (again especially if the blade is older), but it still cuts clean and with help the slip can be avoided. I would say it does not do sliver trim (like thread width) well, but I have never found a trimmer that does that well. Even with that I can say when I need to straighten a line cut it is the only one I have found that gives a cut that doesn't show a partial trim most of the time. I read some reviews on photo cutting, which isn't something I do. I have cut glossy photo paper and it did fine for me. In my experience cutting a lot of glitter paper seems to cause the blade to wear down faster (a lot to me is 75-100 cuts). I would buy this again, and have a stock of blades so I expect to use it for a long time. The cutting runner is usable 4 different ways, I turn that each time I change blades, just because I think it is good form to do so. Fresh blade, fresh runway seems like a good idea. I also like that the overall weight is not flimsy, yet not so heavy it takes everything to move it. It appears to be constructed well, I see no indication after months of use of any give or separation of parts anywhere.

Seriously, if I could give this thing 10 stars in the Amazon rating, I would! This is a REAL rotary trimmer! !8" capacity width and the blades are S-H-A-R-P! the cutting head is smooth and even when I was cutting sheet after sheet of Hahnemuhle’s new 350gsm Canvas Metallic fine art canvas, I barely new I touched it! Carl put extra blades, (1 straight and 1 perf, as well as 1 additional cutter strip), in this trimmer! The instructions are meant for those who've used a more advanced, professional quality rotary trimmer. Unlike some of the less advanced systems, the instructions for the Carl 18" trimmer don't spend much time reminding you of how to line up, watching for ripples in your paper, and best standing position, etc. I've seen some reviews complaining about how the cutting strip didn't last, or moved on every cut or that the blade went dull after one or two cuts. I have a pretty good idea of what they're probably doing to get that result but because I wasn't there, I won't express any of my guesses here. The bottom line is that this cutter is a good, flat, metal-based trimmer. The measurement lines are dead on, and don't get me started about how well and accurately the side guides are mounted 90 degrees to the cutting rail giving a very dependable 90 degree cut! I store my rotary trimmers in the box they came with to keep them from dust and to avoid accidentally dropping something of the Cutting Head rail. I also use the foam supports when I store them as well. If you accidentally drop something on that cutting rail and inadvertently bend it, there goes the ball game! Be sure to avoid lifting the Trimmer from the box by the rail whenever you take it out. I always lift it from an edge under the table surface. At first I looked at this like the smaller the blade diameter, the less the circumference, (remember: π x diameter), and that means lower edge life per inch. Then I realized that the smaller diameter blade is likely to be the reason why the Carl Heavy Duty Rotary Trimmer is so consistently accurate and the cuts are so straight. There's a magnetic guide that comes with it but if you plan to use it as a stop for multiple, repeated, production cutting, don't count on it for squaring up your sheets. Always use the side guides for that. The magnetic attachment is great as a stop because it has a powerful magnet and it takes a lot to move it once it's in place. However, it’s got enough play to make it undependable as a 'square guide' tool. I don't think it was even meant for that unless you square it up to the side guides with a square first. I use it to help hold down the paper. It certainly can keep the paper from buckling or if you have a curled edge, this magnetic attachment would keep it flattened. When you lock down the paper, the high visibility you get from the paper lock is incredible! The lock holds that paper tight, whether it’s a sheet of standard 8 ½ x 11” paper or 350gsm+ high quality, canvas, that paper stays put until you unlock it. Really, this is the ‘cat’s meow’ of 18”, affordable, quality trimmers so stop reading and buy it. If I had one thing to say that may be called a ‘con’ it would be about the blades diameter. The cutting blades are 1.1” in diameter and my old, definitely not nearly as good or accurate, trimmer had a 1.77” diameter cutter. That smaller diameter blade won’t “walk” as easily as a larger one and therefore, I can’t even call the 1.1” a con. The entire Trimmer is a Big Plus! 5 Stars, hands down! Now go buy it!

So far, this Carl 15" heavy duty paper trimmer is working great for cutting cardstock, Kraft board, cardboard and light to medium weight chip board. It cuts a single sheet of 110 lb. cardstock without a problem. For the heavier weight papers, I have to make several passes with the rotary blade, but that is not a problem since this trimmer has a locking rail that holds the paper firmly in place. This might be my favorite feature. Other trimmers that I considered buying did not have this feature. The product description says you can cut 36 sheets of 20 lb. paper, but I have not done that since I don't need to cut multiple pieces of cardstock or paper at a time. I imagine that will work, but you will probably have to make a few passes with the blade. It cuts accurately- but you have to "square up" your paper, since most paper is NOT square, even quality cardstock. Very important. If the paper isn't square, you can't get accurate cuts. It also has an adjustable magnetic paper guide that can be put on either the top of the trimmer or the bottom. Or you can use the trimmer without the magnetic paper guide. Other nice features are the metal base board with a measurement grid and a storage compartment for extra blades and cutting mats. It comes with an extra cutting blade, perforating blade and extra cutting mat. None of the other trimmers that I considered buying had a perforating blade so that is a plus. I also like the fact that I can easily replace the blade when it gets dull. As far as the weight of this cutter, it is not heavy. It is not very light, but I have no problem moving it around. I am very happy with this purchase. I recommend this trimmer if you need cut heavier weight paper.

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.

It's not generally difficult for me to make purchasing decisions, but a paper trimmer became a glaring exception. I needed it primarily to create labels for a product we make by hand, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make the labels by hand that were up to the standard of the product. With their generous one-item coupons in mind, I checked the on-line catalogs of Joann Fabrics and Michael's Crafts, gave eBay the required cursory look just for price comparison, and concentrated on Amazon for reviews & Prime. I was prepared to drop $25 or $30. I bought this trimmer from Amazon, and that was the right decision for me. Here's why. I needed to see the exact place where the cut would be made. I print tiny registration marks in the labels to help me keep them lined up properly as I change the item specifics in each, and also to show me precisely where to cut. For whatever reason, my printers haven't always placed a print in the exact same place on a page from copy to copy. Once I cut that first line, then the rest can be cut in a stack. That brings me to a second point. The old guillotine cutter I bought years ago only manages a few pages of this 32# 100% cotton stock at once. It takes 2 passes of the cutter head, but with this trimmer, I can cut 20 pieces of that paper at once. The cuts are perfectly clean, straight, and square, and effortless to make. The locking mechanism is both brilliant, and the reason this trimmer works so well, cuts such straight lines. If the lever is raised, the mechanism is unlocked, and paper can be moved around under it. Once lowered, it holds the paper absolutely still while you cut. Many of the trimmers in the $25 to $30 range, and well into the hundreds, have some part of the contraption built into the base in such a way that the scale and/or grid is missing which makes cutting a narrow strip from a narrow strip impossible. You can do that with this trimmer, and the entire base is both intact and visible, though the portion directly under the locking mechanism is somewhat obscured by it. The only other trimmers I saw with metal bases like this were made by X-Acto, but they lacked a sophisticated locking device for the paper, and they only cut a few pages at one time. I didn't want plastic. The single con is the magnetic bar that's intended to be used for making multiple cuts of the same size, and the way it relates to the Slimer-green "light-gathering acrylic" guide. First, since my labels are about 1.275" wide and the guide is about 2" wide, the magnetic bar can't be brought close enough to use. Second, the magnet is quite strong, and that's good; it prevents accidental movement. It's also not so good in that the bar doe not have any mechanism to stay square, and must be manually squared each time it's moved. It takes a little effort because you need to fight with the magnet. I solved that by removing the magnet. I like well made tools, and I have some of my grandfather's who passed more than 30 years ago who also invested in good tools during his life. I've skipped meals to buy well crafted tools, and I scrimped to get this one. Quality tools last, and they pay back much more than they cost over their lifetime of service. There weren't any shortcuts taken in the fabrication of this tool so far as I can see. Seams & corners meet perfectly, and the craftsmanship in general is impeccable. I feel comfortable in recommending this trimmer to anyone who's serious about their work. I wish I had another star to give out every hundred reviews. If I did, this would get it.

I have used this for about 8 months now and feel it is time to write a review. I am a bookbinder and I specifically purchased this trimmer for that purpose. This isn't a quick cut tool. If you are looking for something where you can quickly put in a piece of paper, make a cut and go about your day, this isn't for you. If you're looking to make really accurate cuts from a pile of papers, this is definitely something you would be interested in. First off, it is heavy and isn't like a normal crafting trimmer. I've spent a bit of time in craft stores and around scrapbookers, card makers and various paper crafters. They have folding plastic trimmers that they carry with them everywhere. This isn't one of those. This is heavy, well made and not easily transported. It has its own table in my studio I love and respect it that much. Book board is difficult to cut by hand. I always have good intentions of using a metal ruler and a blade, but somehow I can't get straight cuts because my hand always slips. That is where this trimmer really earns its keep. I can make my original measurement with pencil marks onto the book board. Then I slide it under the bar and lock it into place. There is a magnet guide that is very useful. I simply slide that right up next to my book board and I never have to measure again for that particular cut. The trimmer slices right through paper, cardstock, chipboard and book board well. It does take a little getting used to at first. I was very comfortable with my other trimmer (Carl 12200 Bidex Professional 10-Sheet Rotary Trimmer, Metal Base, 12 x 11) and this one took a little while to get to know. Once I did, I realized this is one of those tools that I will have for life. It also comes with spare blades and a cutting mat. Book board tends to eat through the blades pretty fast, but I have found if I fold a large piece of aluminum foil 3 or 4 times and cut several strips, it sharpens my blade very well.

Excellent accurate and strong! I use this cutter for cutting book board in my paper arts business for making both books and boxes. It is strong and accurate, two or three passes cuts through heavy bookboard and is much safer than using a utility knife. It is tricky for narrow or small pieces but there are good work arounds for that and it hasn’t proven to be much of a challenge. Great price, great cutter - and replacing blades and cutting mat is simple and economical, especially with the extra pieces stored within the tool itself. And both the blades and cutting mats last a good long time, especially being able to reverse and use the cutting mat four different ways. Highly recommended!!!

Its expensive but it works perfectly.

Excellent massicot… malheureusement, il est plus petit en profondeur que son prédécesseur et m’empêche de couper des pages 30x30cm malgré que ce soit un 15 pouces. Il fait bien 15 pouces en longueur mais pas en profondeur vu qu’il s’arrête à 29,5 cm.

Muy práctica, corta diversos materiales, por ejemplo la tela como si se tratara de papel.

I invested in this to perfect the colouring book I'd made for my littlest sister 🐾 It certainly did what it said on the tin! It sliced through 10 sheets of thin card plus 2 sheets of 300gsm gloss card with no issue at all. It takes a few slices up and down but it's not physically difficult whatsoever and it made quick work of this book, plus a couple other books I'd made with the same thickness! I popped the book in as is, which is 4mm thick when closed. I'm pretty confident it could handle thicker stock, too! The magnetic ruler is pretty awesome and the whole guillotine didn't slide about on my smooth wood table. The way you clamp the blade ruler down before use holds your work strongly in place, but I'd recommend holding it down yourself too to ensure maximum precision. I've only used it 3 or 4 times thus far so I can't comment on durability over years, but I should hope for the price and based on how sturdy it seems right now that it's gonna provide years of smooth.like.butter 😂

Easy to use. Cuts well - even the thicker board. Well designed paper holder. Would have been good to have the 13" paper guide length included on the markings rather than stopping at 11-12" as the 13"x19" paper sizes are well used by photographers and art printers. But well done to the designers of this product and their quality control. Only used it for a few weeks but exceeds my expectations as a fine art photographer wishing to reduce 24" roll paper down to 13x19" and other sizes for printing. The other amazing thing you could do.... include a fold-out extended measuring guide on the left side to help measure longer paper pieces so we don't have to measure and mark separately before cutting longer sheets.