Goofy shop purchase - big paper cutter

[Glug]

I am usually quite disciplined in my auction purchases. This time? Not so much. "But, but it was a great deal!"

My question is, how can I make it useful in the shop? I don't cut much paper. I think it could be useful for cutting plastic, but there are other ways to do that and I don't cut sheets often. I suppose with the right blade profile it might cut thin aluminum, and maybe shear small rod. My other thought is to adapt it into something else. The handwheel engages a foot, to press down on the paper with significant force and maintain alignment during the cut.

Length of cut is just over 18", and it will cut a 2.75" tall stack. It is about 30"x30", and maybe more like 35"x39". I think it weighs about 300 lbs. It's a beast, with a big footprint. It looks like the current models are built lighter. For some other purposes, I could potentially get rid of the table and make the footprint much smaller.

I paid $80. I still need to pick it up. I may end up donating it, because I'm not sure it is worth the time and drive.

Ideas?

[JoeLee]

The local print shop had a shear like that. I watched the guy one day cut through a stack of paper that was about 2" thick. Went through it like butter, clean and square.
Maybe you can convert it into a sheet metal shear.

JL................

[Toolguy]

I would love to have one of those to shear all kinds of sheet goods. Michigan is a pretty long walk from here, though.

[enginuity]

Lots of aircraft building guys use paper cutters for aluminum sheet metal. Works great.

If you do aluminum sheet metal work I think you would find it very useful. Not sure how thick you could go on steel before boogering the blade, but I'm sure thin sheet metal would be fine.

Depends what you are up to in the shop.

[mickeyf]

Nobody does their own printed circuit boards these days. But back in the day, it might have been useful. This pack rat still has quite a bit of flexible PC board material.

[Gary Paine]

I would think with a fixture it would make a very good miter trimmer for wood.

[754]

Probably do 30 thou Al easily..
Tool a die shops are always making shims, they may want it.

[gambler]

1. lend it to schools
2. start finger collection
3. something else

[754]

You can do the smart thing..
Check new price.
Then list for sale at about .65 of retail, no tax.

Worked for me many many times. .
Then fill your pocket with cash..

[JRouche]

Prolly cuts fabric real well also. JR

[boslab]

They will cut steel, but the blade won't last, we tried one for tinplate samples, bits broke off due to the acute blade angle, reground the blade less acute and it's still going years later, we got it as a leftover from the old print room where they did brochures and stuff(out to contract as usual, accountants know best!), I'd heard that cercuit board guys use them
Nice score, they will cut a pack of A4 in half, impressive I thought myself
Mark

[NiftyNev]

Saw a guillotine for cutting timber picture frames once. Long time ago, but maybe this would work for that.

[Black Forest]

Would it work to cut leather? Up to maybe 10mm thick?

[Beazld]

Buy a printing press, print sheets of $100 bills, use the cutter to cut to size! It will pay for itself in no time!

[Glug]

In my brief reading on these, I learned some terminology. These are more of a guillotine and not a shear. A shear uses one edge to cut against another, typically in contact. A guillotine is just a chop.

One of the other aspects to this cut is the geometry of the stroke. The blade doesn't come straight down, there is a signifcant side stroke/slice to the motion.

And paper, unlike many materials, has the ability to fall away from the blade ("fan-out") and get out of the way. If you were cutting a thicker single piece of something, it can't really do that. A 1/4" thick of plastic can't really displace much. I think it would hit the flat of the blade, until it is cut through and the cut piece can be displaced.

One of my early projects on my mill with my big angle table was clamping a long piece of cold rolled on the table and cutting an edge profile on it with a big end mill. It worked great. I welded it into a piece of steel tube, and voilà - sword! For materials other than paper, an alternate blade is probably advised.