Basically, you need a trimmer or a cutter when scissors won't do the job! You need a trimmer or cutter if:

• You need a perfectly straight cut.
• You need a precision cut (to a hairline tolerance).
• You want to cut through several sheets of paper at a time.
• You want to cut a heavy gauge laminated product.
• You want to cut foam board or a similar sheet material.
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There are several kind of trimmers and cutters available. Here is an overview of the different styles:

Rotary trimmer. A rotary trimmer (or rotary cutter) has a self-sharpening circular blade that cuts across the document in a straight line with a high degree of precision. The blade is safely enclosed in a housing that moves in either direction. Rotary trimmers are available in many widths, to accommodate small to very large documents. They are available in light-weight models, with a single stabilizer bar, and heavy-duty models, with a double stabilizer bar. Industrial models and powered models are also available.

Sheet material cutters. These cutters have a straight edge knife-style blade that cuts with precision in one direction. Used primarily in commercial or industrial applications, these cutters will cut material such as foamboard, gatorboard, acrylic, glass, and even lightweight aluminum.

Guillotines have a full length blade that is slightly angled and cuts down across the document. We advise a guillotine with a safety shield, such as one of our Dahle models. The guillotines we carry are for commercial use and will cut up to 30 sheets of paper.
 

For hobby or personal use, consider the RotaTrim Econocut model or the Dahle Personal Trimmer, which has special blades that make it perfect for scrapbooking. Before you make a decision, check out the Keencut Classic and the Akiles Roll-a-Blade trimmers, which are in a light commercial class, but are very affordable. A rotary trimmer for hobby or personal use will fit nicely on a desktop.

Commercial users will find a broad selection of excellent trimmers, beginning with the Keencut Classic and Akiles Roll-a-Blade. Our Keencut Advanced, Dahle trimmers, and RotaTrim Professional Series are all popular choices. Most of these rotary trimmers will fit on a tabletop, and stands are available for the widest ones.

Industrial users will find the heavy-duty rotary trimmers of choice among our RotaTrim Technical Series and the RotaTrim Power Technical Series. And, of course, wide format rotary trimmers are available from RotaTrim, Keencut, and Dahle. Stands are available for the wider models of these industrial trimmers.
 

Our sheet material cutters (also commonly called foamboard cutters) are finely tuned machines manufactured in England by Keencut. The Excalibur model was designed specifically for the large format and presentation graphics industry. It can be wall-mounted or fitted to an optional free-standing kit. The SteelTrak Multi-Substrate Cutter is ideal for sign-making.

Our Practik, Javelin, and Max cutters are a family of large format precision Keencut cutters that will cut up to 200." The perfect complement for one of these cutters is the Big Bench large format precision cutting table.

For an extremely versatile sheet material cutter, the GPC General Purpose Cutter is a good choice. This cutter has a hinge and lift arm mechnism that makes it possible to cut materials which are longer than the length of the cutter.