Dahle 508 Personal Rotary Trimmer, 18" Cut Length, 5 Sheet Capacity, Self-Sharpening, Automatic Clamp, German Engineered Paper Cutter

I use this to cut 17" wide heavy weight photo paper and inkjet matte art paper to precise lengths for printing posters and for trimming margins from artwork. The guides and rails are straight, the base is stable but not too heavy, and it's a good size for storage. I do wish they could somehow make it easier to load the stiff roll paper into it and I wish the clear plastic paper holder were easier to get in and out. The manual was very clear and explained how the wheel must not be allowed between the metal cutting rule and the body of the device, which happened to me on my third cut but was easily fixed.This is my first rotary cutter and I am wondering where they have been all my life. Yes you lose the drama and tense anticipation of using a swing-arm cutter, it doesn't feel as cozy as the wood and large steel swing blade, but the Dahle rotary cutter makes straighter, more precise cuts and is easier to store, move, and align paper on. No finesse required, just place the material, position your fingers on the paper holder, and use steady pressure on the cutter bogey as you slice the paper and leave a true straight edge as good as factory cut sheets.

The media could not be loaded. This is an excellent paper trimmer. I am an avid crafter, and use my Dahle trimmers, daily. I sell my crafts in my Etsy shop, so my cuts need to be nice and precise. I have two Dahles and they are well worth the money. I have the 550, which too big to move around, and the blue 507, 12 inch, in this listing. The 12 inch blue is not very heavy, and may be moved around, easily, although it is heavier than your average plastic trimmer.If you are familiar with the plastic trimmers that most crafters use, then this will be a huge step-up. It cuts precisely. In order to make skinny cuts, gently remove the plastic ruler/paper holder. It’s easy. Be gentle. SEE VIDEO. Also, there is a small learning curve: Know your cutter, and learn how to maintain it. This is not a plastic hobby-store trimmer.BTW, I changed the blade in my huge trimmer, once, in 4 years. The blade replacements cost about 20.00. I’ve spent more than this on my plastic trimmer blades. In fact, I could have purchased many Dahle trimmers with the money I’ve spent on the plastic trimmer blades. I keep my blade clean and oiled, every few months. In other words, I maintain the trimmer.

Do not buy this - the blade claims to be self sharpening - it’s not. After a couple of months I had to buy a replacement blade which cost 35.00. I was hoping that maybe my first blade was defective or something. My new blade lasted three weeks. I now have 80.00 invested in a paper trimmer that no longer trims paper. And that’s not including the blade I ordered after contacting customer service to inquire which blade to buy (they gave me the wrong product number) I returned that blade and they have yet to issue a refund. In Short you will be better of buying almost anything else - this is a huge waste of money.

I feel it is good to use now

I replaced an older Fiskars rotary cutter. The Dahle 507 is a massive upgrade: the rotary blade runs along a steel cutting edge and is constantly sharpened with each pass. The blade doesn't wobble (a constant problem with the Fiskars) and so all the cuts are nice and straight and consistent. My only complaint is that the Dahle 507's deck isn't very deep-- it only provides measurements up to 6.25"/16cm from the cutting edge. When I'm trimming 5x7 from 8.5x11 sheets i have to use the cutting guide/ruler/paper clamp to first mark 7" (fortunately the paper clamp features a little fin to mark the 7" dimension) and then turn the paper and make a cut. A minor issue considering that this cutter cuts so well!

As I needed a rotary trimmer that could cut 18", I narrowed my choices to the Dahle 508 and Carl RT-218 models and purchased both. The differences were stark. Most important to me is the precision of the cuts; here, Dahle was far superior. Cuts can be easily aligned before trimming. Unfortunately, with the Carl, an unnecessary ruler to the right of the blade makes precise alignments hit-and-miss, which is the biggest problem with the Carl. Its mechanism is wobbly and imprecise by design. This issue is made worse by the fact that the product is constructed entirely of plastic. By contrast, the Dahle's bed and trimmer support rail (90% of the product, I'd guess) are made of metal. Also, its narrower footprint saves space, which is a big plus for me. In this class of rotary trimmers, I strongly recommend the Dahle 508.

Es lo mejor que he tenido! Yo corto material grueso 300gr y solo puedo meter 1 hoja gruesa (indicada para hasta 10 hojas delgadas) Si la corto doblada en dos no es buena idea, es forzar la cuchilla.El corte es preciso y no pesa, la puedo guardar y sacar sin problema en cualquier momento. Me gusta tanto que compraré una de más capacidad de corte y tamaño para proyectos de más grosor.La recomiendo definitivamente

Not a happy camper with this cutter. Does not cut 100lb paper even one sheet at a time very well. Use quality paper not cheap to make cardsOften cleaning the track. I would not recommend it to anyone. Considering tim holtz even though it's more expensive