I'm looking for some input on some "cutters". We just opened a"one shop stop" business out in the midwest. We can design and print everything from brochures and small 12x18 posters on a Xerox docucolor to printing large posters and wallpaper on a Roland inkjet.

We've had serveral orders for posters and newsletters that can be printed on the Xerox but have had a problem with the cost of paying someone to manually cut off the bleed. Does anyone have any suggestions for this a better way or equipment that we should look at purchasing?

Also, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on where I could find a 8 foot -10 foot paper cutter that can be used for cutting off the bleed on tradeshow graphics and other large format printing that we do.

Thanks!

I can't offer advice on the 8-10 foot cutter; I would think anything in that size other than a rotary cutter is going to set you back a large amount of $$,$$$

For cutting 11x17 full bleed, we bought an MBM Ideal Triumph 4850-95 EP this summer and I've been really pleased with it. The machine weights about 800 lbs but runs on standard 110/20 amp. The electric clamp and backgauge with program functions make it really wonderful to operate. I have 9 programs stored, one for inside pages at 11 x 17, one for covers with a little extra, one for cards, one for trimming finished booklets, etc. etc. A real plesure so far - simple to operate yet just right so far. We purchased the Ideal 4850-95 EP used for $3000 / $500 shipping and I consider that a bargain so far.

Thank you for your imput I will do some research on this piece of equipment!

LM

Electric cutters do wear quicker than their Hydraulic counterparts. Once your electric cutter starts breaking down, get a replacement quickly as they tend to start breaking all at once and loose their resell value about as quickly.

Our plan is to get a new programmable cutter and a manual cutter for simple cuts to reduce the load and increase cutter availability.

That's probably wise, but after using a basic electric programmable for a few months, I just can't see myself ever going back to a manual again.

Even for cutting 11x17's in half? What about timing booklets? Set once, cut 100 times, forget about it...

I guess because I myself am a one-man shop I really love the programmable and automatic, even though I just have a basic model. When I get to the cut phase I'm usually running a bit tired from the print phase, so I love being able to just hit "program 1" and "start" instead of having to dial it in. And having it automatically adjust for sides 1, 2, 3, and 4 to cut 12x18 to full bleed 11x17 is a real time saver. Before I used to do stacks to cut one side at a time so I didn't have to readjust the trimmer but it's a lot easier for me to rotate the stack on the cutter table so it doesn't get skewed between cuts. And I really love the auto clamp / auto cut with one (well two for safety) button press (wasn't sure if by manual you just meant non-programmable or whether you were going all the way 'old school' with a manual clamp, etc.)

Cutting 11x17's in half I'll give you the programmable isn't useful, but even for trimming booklet edges I like it -- I have my program 8 set to just clamp the edge to get them really flat and then program 9 sets for trim, ejects, sets, ejects since I like to do them a few at a time so they don't slide or skew on eachother due to the bound edge thickness.

We were thinking about getting a Challenge cutter, does it really have only 9 cutting sequences?

With 9, I was referring to my MBM Ideal Triumph. It was new to me this year, my first programmable, but it's several years old. I'm sure the new computerized programmable cutters offer much more, but I'd take my "old" programmable any day used over a new manual cutter.