CUTTING

To size the sheets

 before printing
after printing to achieve the required dimensions
Sizing up of sundry materials and other covering
materials
Final sizing of the finished products

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 Art of Cutting

The cutting can be executed under two main groups:

•Knife cutting against the cutting stick
ex. Paper cutter, guillotines, three-knives cutters
•Knife cutting against the sleeves or counter collars; also
defined as scissors cutting
ex. Cutting wheels in folders, shears for cutting
boards etc., edge cutting in saddle stitching units

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 JOGGING

The sheets have to be jogged before cutting

If not jogged properly the cut sheets show variations

This invisible variation might develop in further

operations such as folding, gathering,etc and show bad
quality

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 The configuration of an automatic jogger:

The sheets are jogged by means of constant vibration of

the jogging table

The table has many air nozzles

The table can be inclined to about 30o either to the left or

right side of the operator by means of a lever

Care should be taken while the small pile of printed

sheets are laid on the table constantly over an another and
jogged 6
When the sides show evenness the table is brought to
the upright position by means of operating the lever

The height of the jogger can be set as to the height of

the table

These air tables are available in various standard sizes

and can be set up in the optimum manner to reach
maximum productivity

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The air tables are made of frictionless material such as
plastic

 the ball jets in the tiny air boxes are supplied with air
which come from the central air blower

The air table function as buffer station

The cutting machine operator pushes the pile which is

on the air table to the machine
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As the table of the cutting machine has also possess the
ball jets the transport of the pile does not require any
physical strength and assure that the jogged sheets are not
disturbed

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 THE GUILLOTINES / SINGLE KNIFE
CUTTING MACHINES

•They range from 55 cm to 185 cm.

•This specification symbolizes the operational width of the
machine – the diagonal length of the paper size
•The sheets have to be turned at their diagonal to avoid
bringing them lengthwise and turn which is very laborious
•Most of the cutting completed prior to the pressrun is to
prepare the stock for sheet fed presswork

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•Newly arrived stock may need to be cut into smaller
sheets for use on presses that cannot handle the large
sheet as delivered

•The binder usually does not see until after the job is
printed

•At this time the sheets are cut to fit the folder size, and
jobs running two or more on one sheet are cut apart

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 COMPONENTS OF GUILLOTINE CUTTER

A KNIFE
CUTTING STICK
TABLE
SIDE AND BACK GAUGE
CLAMP

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 KNIFE

The cutter’s long, heavy knife

bolted to a bar
mounted near the front of the machine
 descends to the bed
 slicing through the stack of paper
The cutting edge is sharpened to a bevel shape
The angle of the bevel should be suited to the material
to be cut
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To achieve quality cuts and top machine productivity, the
operator must choose the correct knife cutting angle

The knife angle is determined by the characteristics of

the material to be cut

The cutting angle for cutting

airmail paper – 19o writing paper – 22o

manila board – 24o 17

Although no angle is universally suited for all materials, a
fundamental rule states that soft materials need a narrow
angle and hard materials require a wide angle

MATERIALS:

Standard steel knife: commonly used knife, which is easy

to grind and horn

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High speed tool steel: more expensive than standard
steel knives but have more abrasion and impact-
resistant. The cutting life is four to five times greater
than standard steel knives.

Carbide insert knives : have steel backings with

piece of carbide soldered or braised into them

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The initial cost is approx. five times greater than standard
knives, and regrinding costs are also five to seven times
higher

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CUTTING STICK:
It is inserted into the groove on the cutter table
immediately beneath the cutting knife
Without cutting stick, the knife would become dull
easily or even break because it would hit the metal
cutting table every time it sliced through a pile of sheets

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 SIDE AND BACK GAUGES

For positioning the sheets accurately under the knife,

squaring them before cutting
The side gauges are stationary, while back gauge can
be moved to accommodate various cutoff lengths
A back gauge that is divided into two or more
segments is called split gauge

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 THE CUTTER CLAMP

Is a metal bar that runs parallel to the knife and it is

placed at a 90o angle to the table
It has two functions: a) To expel air from the pile of
sheets prior to cutting b) to hold the pile firmly in
place during the process
The clamp pressure can be modified electronically. The
clamping pressure has to be adjusted only once for each
particular stock

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Hydraulic clamps are used to secure difficult, unevenly
piled material
At normal working height, the clamp is quickly adjusted to
any kind of stock according to a precision pressure scale
Soft material require a high clamping pressure, hard
material a low clamping pressure
Stocks of average hardness, such as writing paper and
common printing paper can be processes with a knife angle
of 22o and medium clamping pressure
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 THE MACHINES HAVE TO FULFILL THREE MAJOR
OPERATION

The bringing down the knife by means of swing motion ie

the knife is brought down from its home position at an
inclined angle of 40o where it meets the cutting base
consists of a cutting stick
The gentle descending of the clamping bar on the
material to be cut by means of hydraulic pressure which
can be regulated according to the properties of the
materials to be cut
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The back gauge should ensure the exact dimension
to achieve the pre set size. This is operated by
electrical motor which can be regulated to get the
required size by feeding the numerical values

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TYPE OF MOTION
1.Oblique cutting
2. Dip shear

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The characteristics of modern machines are:

The knife fall is so engineered that the cut is made at 90o

with the table

Clamping should be adequate and adjustable to various

levels to suit different types of stock. The clamp action
should be complete before the knife strikes the paper

The back gauge must be easily moved by hand or be

powered.

Knives should be of good quality and of good depth to

allow many regrinds, easy knife change facilities should be
build in 28
Cutting sticks should be easily adjusted, changed or
turned, but once set , immovable

Side plates should allow the cutting of small areas

accurately

Suitable safety guards should be fitted

KNIFE

The knife should be bevelled to suit the type of work

being cut

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A bevel of 16o may be suitable for soft paper stock

19o for general work

22o for harder materials

< 16o leave the edge weak and liable to chip

> 22o although very robust and long lasting,

places an intolerable strain on the
mechanisms

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Bevels may be flat or hallow ground

Double bevels are sometimes specified and are particularly

useful when exceptionally hard stocks are to be cut

Blunt knives:

Unnecessary wear on the machines

Indications:

excessive impact noise,

blocking or sticking of the cut sheets,

heavy burr on the trimmed edges,

small crease on the face of the pile 31

THREE KNIFE TRIMMER

When finished products such as thread sewn broachers,

perfect bound books have to be cut on all the three sides to
open the closed edges of the folded sections the utilization
of a three knife trimmer is recommended

Three sides are cut in one position thus avoiding the

turning of the products for the subsequent cutting operation

These trimmers operate on the same principle as the

cutting machine

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MACHINE DESIGN:

The material is placed and pressed by means of sized stamp

made of soft wooden base pasted with boards

The size and the design of the stamp should match the size of
the products to be cut

This can be connected with book manufacturing line or to a

perfect binding unit to form a fully automatic flow line

The front edge of the book is cut at first followed by the

simultaneous cuts of head and foot
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PROBLEMS AND REMEDIES IN THE PROCESS OF
CUTTIING
CAUSE REMEDY
1. Over cut:
* High clamp pressure reduce
pressure
* blunt knife change the knife
* false grinding angle change the
knife
* knife edge is slim change the knife
* faulty setting of the back gauge back gauge has to be
set

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2. Under cut:
*lower clamping pressure - increase the clamping pressure
* false grinding angle - change the knife
* surface of material very rough or uneven - clamp
pressure has to be checked
* faulty setting of back gauge -back gauge has to be
set

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3. Wavy cut:
* unevenly clamped material especially when
handling printed sheets – use flexible clamp plate
* Knife grinding angle is too acute change the knife
* grinding fault, knife is too soft change the
knife

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4. Bulge cut:

•Pile not fully clamped at cutting line - use wedge shaped

clamp plate

•The knife enters the pile before clamping pressure is attained –

two step clamping

•Less clamp pressure - increase clamp pressure

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5. Arc or hallow cut:
Arc cut:
•Pile is clamped in center only - use flexible clamp plate
•Hollow cut :
•Pile is clamped at sides only – use flexible clamp plate

Arc cut

Hallow cut

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THANK YOU

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