HFS(R) Heavy Duty Guillotine Paper Cutter 400 Sheet Capacity | Solid Steel Construction (A3-17'' paper cutter)

As a retired printer for over 50 years I was a little hesitant. It arrived in in a well-made carton with foam protection in an additional Amazon box. The outside box was dinged, but the foam protected the cutter. Easy to set up, with included printed directions. Very well made, heavy with good engineering and precision manufacturing. That said, it's slightly unsquare (1/16" off per 11"), as the blade is not exactly perpendicular to the right hand edge of the cutter. Not a big problem, as you can adjust the back stop to be parallel with the blade, so that the final cuts are square. It cuts extremely well. Overall, I'm very pleased with this cutter which should hold up for many years to come. A great value.

Pretty straightforward to set up, but could be confusing upfront. Ditch the blue safety guard, who needs safety anyway? The blade is hefty, and the pressure bar is great for aligning paper on the board. So far it looks like the measurement indicators are pretty spot-on. Only a mm or two difference between cuts, but it can easily slice through extra thick stacks. For anyone setting it up for the first time, DO NOT UNSCREW ANYTHING before reading the instructions thoroughly. I unscrewed the black alignment bar from its track like a doofus, and then I had to take a good portion of the cutter apart in order to get the alignment bar back into its mounting bracket, which is held together with tension. If you unscrew it, the bracket will fall to the bottom of its track, and you will NOT be able to reattach it without taking the track apart. The adjustable alignment bar is hit or miss. I don't use it too often, as it feels a bit loose once it's tightened down. I just use the printed measurements and it's treated me well. One thing to be aware of is that the grid on the cutting board is for cm measurements, NOT inches. You need to align your cuts to the two rulers on the board instead of the grid. That might be a little confusing for newcomers. Overall though, the guillotine is fantastically sharp and has held its edge for the month I've had it. Hopefully it holds that edge for a good long while.

I called hardware factory supply in California on August 15th to ask about getting their 17 inch guietine cutter warrantied. The platen or the piece that you crank down to hold the paper tight has bent as it will not hold paper tight or flat. This is a solid piece of metal bolted together it should not warp or bend, but it has done both and in doing so stripped the bolts from being able to hold securely. Upon calling multiple different extensions as no one would answer, I was finally greeted by a women named Vicky who once I explained my issue to she asked me if she could have a different sales person call me back. Strange, possibly deflection but I agreed as possibly she may not have known the answer. So I called back to a different extension and she (Vicky) answered again. I asked ok so who could I speak with then. She exclaimed “geez you didn’t even give me a minute,” and put me on hold. Horrible customer service example one. She came back on and gave me an email to a women named Shirley and asked me to send her my order number, date purchased, and the item number. I went a few steps above and provided a picture of the issue as well as my invoice. No response from this Shirley person instead someone named Zora Hong from China intercepted the email and began the whole thing all over. First asking for everything I already provided. In my first email I explained that I had already tried trouble shooting to see if it was something to be fixed. The next email from Zora 24 hours later was asking me to try trouble shooting from the guides provided online. I already had and had just told them this. The next email which was the next day 24 hours later asked if I really needed to be using it where it was loose and if I could cut further down. What?? No I want to use the product how it was intended. Now after pictures and asking if they will uphold their warranty a full 24 hours later they are wanting a video to send to their factory to confirm. This is the video I provided in this review. The reason this is going on like this is because they have a 1 year warranty which I purchased the cutter on September 7th, 2023 it is August 19th 2024, so as you can see they are purposely dragging this on by responding to one email every 24 hours to try and go past the warranty date. My advice do not buy anything from this company as they are a complete joke and the products they sell match the customer service I am receiving. I Have had to buy 4 of these in the last 5 years, this year I noticed they had the warranty and wanted to use it since the problem occurred within the warranty time frame. the unfortunate part is of all the cutters available on amazon they are all the same, just with different company logos. I went with HFS because I assumed them having a US presence and being in many other sectors it would be a better customer experience. Boy was I wrong, learn from my mistake and do not buy anything from HFS. Horrible value horrible customer service and absolutely zero accountability for their customers who keep them in business.

Overall a good paper cutter. But even though it sells as a 400 sheet capacity, I would not recommend cutting anything that thick. When cutting small length of paper it cuts with ease, but the thicker the stack and the longer it is, the more difficult it can be to cut and can be less accurate. Especially with card stock or index. Keep the stock height for card stock to .5 of inch or less. The movable cutting stop is challenging to set parallel to the blade. Even when the guide is parallel to the blade the fence is not at a 90% angle, it's slightly off. The movable guide is also not even. it's made of plastic and only claps at on end. And be careful when placing a stack of paper in, if one taps the guide too hard it will move. And recheck the guide after each cut, because it can move from the force of the cut, especially when cutting card stock or index. I've read complaints about the knob stripping out from over tightening, so it's a fine balance to apply enough pressure to hold it's position, especially when make multiply cuts the same size. I've used it long enough now that I needed to replace the cutting wick. That was interesting. You have to turn the cutter on it side. I can't image how difficult that would be on the larger size cutter (17'). It's very awkward to do. I have not needed to change the blade yet, I'll let you know how that goes later. The biggest disappointment is it's listed as a 12" cutter, that's only 12" in width not length. It should be 12" both ways. I purchased this cutter when my 18" 35 year old electric cuter, finally quit. A new one is several thousand dollars and I could not find a used one. My cutting needs were also less, but still needed to have something on hand. (self employed printer since 1997), so I opted for the 12" manual cutter rather than the 17" that they also sell. Given the price, I have to admit that over all it does the jobs I need for now, even though It requires many more cuts to get the job done. One more thing for safety, even though they have a plastic guide that covers the front of the blade, be carefully when removing paper from the cutter, the cutting edge of the blade is exposed and it is possible to nick your fingers, because that plastic guide moves up easily. So be mindful, the blade if very sharp.

Just what I needed. Cuts like a dream

I bought this to replace the second hand one I got on FB. I love it because it was easy to cut when it worked. I decided it was time to get a NEW one. (my review of how the old one is, is below) My thoughts on my brand new one is that its so amazing out of the box. I LOVE IT! I make a lot of notepads and stationery items and from 1 pages to 300 pages it cuts great! Never had any issues with my new one so far... Other than MY mistake was trying to clean the blade BARE handed with a paper towel... I sliced my finger... BUT THIS WAS USER ERROR. I wasn't thinking. The second-hand one I bought online was great! I bought it because I saw that the parts are VERY EASILY available! I LOVED it, BUT it looked like she dropped it... It was also old, so I bought a replacement blade. It wouldn't hold onto my adjustments, so it wasn't cutting SQUARE anymore. I had to adjust it CONSISTENTLY, and I couldn't find any information on how to fix the fact that it wasn't cutting square. I finally got frustrated with the amount of mistakes I was making, put it away, and bought a new one. I still have it somewhere for the day I have the time to restore it or just for parts for the new one but if someone has suggestions on fixing this SQUARE cutting issue then please let me know!

Excellent 5 star amazing product. INCREDIBLE quality. Simple 3 step assembly. Sliding handle on, placing foot pads under each corner & flipping the clamping handle. (unscrewing /reverse & screw back on). Evenly cut paper with EASE. Reduced so much time I’d normally spend on my regular paper cutter. Precise, simple and excellent quality. So happy I purchased. If you’re in need of something like this don’t hesitate to purchase. I bought the larger cutter. Perfect 👌

I was skeptical after all the reviews on various models on here. I took a chance and don’t regret it…but it’s also day 1 and I’m not running a business. I received what I believe is a new unit based on packaging. Instructions were easy but I had to figure out the feet on my own. Not too complicated but they do snap in if you press down on the unit. Within a few minutes I grabbed some scrap cardstock and cut 5.5” wide pieces easily. It was a variety of brands so after I cut once, the other piece had some that were longer than 5.5” so I popped that stack in and it cut the slivers off easily. And they measure exactly 5.5”. So far, so good. The caveats are that the guide bar can move at the free end. South end if you’re looking at it like a map. So I made sure that when I added my stack of cardstock that I didn’t push too hard on that section. I have no intention of cutting an entire ream of paper so this shouldn’t be an issue. I’m mostly cutting heavyweight cardstock, and I am tired of doing 2 sheets at a time. Another thing to note is that it does make an impression on the top piece of cardstock. It didn’t go through to the second, so I’ll be sure I have a scrap piece on top each time. Not a deal breaker. I waste more than that trying to cut individual sheets. The last thing I noticed was when I clamped the paper down. The top sheets of paper wanted to shift out so I repositioned, reclamped, making sure it stayed against the guide. No issues so that’s just a learning curve. Second cut was fine, without the need to readjust. When I raised the clamp for the first time there was some paper and marks where they must have tested it once before packaging. Otherwise it looks brand new. I will be back to rate the blade durability once I’ve used it for awhile. I’ve heard they dull quickly so it was important that I have a blade easily available. One other notes about the weight. It’s heavy but not so heavy that my aging arms couldn’t manage it. I carried it in from the porch and brought it downstairs and set on a sturdy set of drawers. I up won’t be moving it much, but if I decide it’s taking up too much real estate for the usage, I can put it in another room and bring it out periodically.

Works amazingly well. Saves on labour as it cuts through large quantity of sheets consistently and with perfection and ease. I use it to cut decal paper for labels and am so glad I purchased this product.

I bought this for my bookbinding hobby and if you have ever tried trimming a text block with a knife you will understand why. Bookbinding is a very low-cost craft but in my view this piece of kit is essential and it is the only pricey tool you need to get. It works beautifully and is so satisfying to use. My only caveat is that when you first use it you must cut some waste paper initially to remove the oil used for transit. I didn't do that and so ruined a lovely text block. However, that was a one-off. It's a magnificent machine. By the way there are useful YouTube videos on how to adjust and maintain the blade.

The guillotine cuts through approx 3cm. It requires some effort but has now done about 30 books of this size without loss of sharpness. Two minor issues I've had to work around: 1. Books tend to warp a little whilst being cut, so I tend to break them into 2 thinner sections to reduce the effect 2. The last few pages don't cut cleanly, hence the scissors in the attached photo. I've tried putting scrap paper underneath the books, but that makes so much mess! Overall, very pleased.

muy buena pero es mas para oficina es grande y pesa

Absolutely love this product. Its super easy to assemble, as you only need to slide the lever handle on. I'm a pretty small woman, but the handle is easy to pull down with minimal effort. So far I've cut through a few ~160 page books, and its been extremely easy, smooth, and consistent. It's a pretty large unit, and a heavy one (~40 lbs). The weight itself isn't an issue, but paired with the size makes it a little cumbersome to move around. The blade is super sharp, and cuts beautifully. I haven't had it long enough to experience any dulling of the blade, but I've also read that a good way to sharpen guillotine blades is to cut through tinfoil with it-- something to try? All in all, wonderful product and I'm very happy I invested in this! Sorry for the instagram video, its the only one I had on hand of using this cutter!