Guillotine VS rotary trimmer?

I've just been through my 4th guillotine cutter and I'm not really sure what I want to get now. This last one I only had 1 day before I packed it up to ship it back! I've only owned guillotine style cutters, so I was wondering what the pros and cons were between the two types.

My cutter will not be taken anywhere, so I like the heavier more stable kinds. I'm eyeing two guillotine style cutters right now, X-Acto 12" laser cutter and the Tonic Studios 12" cutter.

With the rotary style, I'm worried about not being able to see where I am cutting my mat around pictures as I only eyeball them, I don't measure. But, it would be nice to be able to get different blades for decorative edges and scoring.

What do you think?

the LSS I worked at had the carls trimmer...... it was easy to use but I never used it to cut mats.......we used it for cutting lg quantities of paper........ my only experience with guillotine cutters was as a teacher.......I hated the ones we had at school because of inaccuracy.....but again I was cutting lg quanities of paper........ I use the fiskars trimmer(sold here for $8.99) for cutting mats & my card pieces & I love it!!....... I also have the We R Memory Keepers cutting system & REALLY like it.....plus I have the fiskars rotary trimmer & like that for cutting decorative edges & lg quantities of paper........ i probably haven't been any help at all since I didn't really talk about the products you are interested in....sorry

I have one of each....

I have the small Creative Memories guillotine cutter and use it to crop pictures and a lot of matting.

I have the cutterpede rotary trimmer for cutting 12 inch strips, decorative edges and scoring......

I'd be lost without either one of them.

I love my roatary trimmer. You can cut multiple pages at a time although I tend to only do one at a time. You can see where you are cutting with the rotary. I have fiskars desktop rotary. Actually i'm getting a free one from them because mine cuts about a degree or two off from the straight line. There customer service was wonderful. Now questions asked either. And I get to keep the wonky one which really isn't that hard to straighten the line out. I can easily change the blades too which what i'm doing for the project, whether it be a straight line or a wave, etc. It also has a nice holding see through tool so you can keep your paper in place while cutting.

I have a rotary and I do the eyeball thing with my mats too. Works pretty well.

I like my rotary trimmer in that I can switch out the blades for scoring, pinking, scallop, and such.

I love my rotary trimmer. The guillotine has never worked for me, particularly since I can never seem to hold the paper steady once it gets to the end. Plus I really love being able to change out the blades to score or get decorative edges. Have you considered the Purple Cows trimmer? It's got both a rotary and a guillotine in one.

I use a plain old manual rotary cutter for everything. I simply bought a clear 22 inch ruler (the quilting type), which allows me to see the LO underneath. You do need to use a self healing mat underneath. I make quilts, so it was a simple switch. It's quick and easy, and inexpensive if you already have a mat.

• mrbabcock Said:

I am impressed. Even with a ruler my cuts would probably still be a big mess!

• cschissell Said:

Ditto on the impressed! I could never cut a straight line manually!!! I tried to use a ruler and a handheld scorer on a card and that didn't even go straight...lol

I love my Making Memories paper trimmer... I like the accuracy I get if I need accuracy and it is always sharp and it is portable.

I have a MM 12x12 trimmer that I love. I also like to use my Xacto knife and ruler for smaller cuts. I've used a guillotine cutter at the library I worked at and liked that too. For some reason, I've never considered one for crafting. Hmmmm....

i have the carl brand rotary you have listed and love it. but i also use a small fiscars trimmer for crops since carl one is heavy.

i got my carl one at micheals with a coupon

I persoanlly just have fiskar trimmers which I know some dont like. But I need to be able to take them with me. My friend has the purple cow that has both. I love that you can cut 8 x 10 pics with the guillatine part,

We have a Carl trimmer at work. It's great. I keep trying to figure out how I can adopt it and take it home. :-)

I have the purple cow that has both as well as the paper trimmer from cricut. I find I use the one from cricut more.