What is the lifespan of guillotine blades?

The quality of a print booklet will often be determined by the quality of the paper used and the smoothness of its edges. For paper edges that are seamless and precise, guillotine blades need to be able to cut paper of many stocks at a high speed.

While these cutting machines are powerful and efficient, sometimes paper guillotine cutters are not maintained. For precise paper cutting, the blades need to be sharp and correctly used. For this blog, we will give you some advice when operating guillotine paper cutters.

3 Ways to Maintain Your Guillotine Blades

Keep Your Trimmer Knives Sharp – Guillotine cutters will usually only replace blades once they start to get dull. If the machine has got to the point where the blades are dull, they are past the point of needing replacing. Once the paper trimmer knife is dull, more clamping pressure is needed for cutting which causes damage to the machine. The hydraulic cylinders within the machine can become damaged if dull knives are continually used. We would recommend replacing trimmer knives often to ensure they are always sharp.

Know When to Replace the Blades – There are different timeframes for when blades need replacing, as it can often depend on the amount of time they are used for and the type of blade being used. For a standard steel knife blade, it will need replacing after 8 hours of operation. High-speed steel inlaid blades need replacing after 16 hours of operation with carbide knife blades replaced after 160 hours of operation.

Depending on the sort of trimmer knife used, this should give you a better understanding of when your blades need replacing before they go dull.

Use the Correct Knife Angle For Your Specific Requirements – Every type of paper stick needs a different type of blade with thinner stocks requiring less of an angled blade and thicker stocks requiring a more angled blade. The type of trimmer blade will depend on the thickness of the paper being cut. For soft paper, a 19-20 degree angle blade with low clamp pressure is required. Regular paper needs a 23-24 degree angle with medium clamp pressure whereas hard paper requires a 30-degree angle blade with higher clamp pressure.

Blades of Your Choice from AfterPrint

AfterPrint currently stocks a wide range of Ideal, EBA, Grafcut and Polar/Mohr guillotine blades. If you have any questions about guillotine knives, please do not hesitate to get in touch now. Our team of specialists will be more than happy to help.