The Framers Forum

Some time ago I bought a couple of older bench end guillotines and recently I've been starting to ready them for action. They're real beauties, from the days when things were build to last, with really solid 10mm thick Sheffield steel blades.

At first I set-up one using an accurate tee square against the bottom (fixed) blade of the guillotine, but was suprised to find that it did not cut as square as I expected. I have now re-adjusted the fence / rule so that it is no longer square with the bottom blade, but it now cuts perfectly square.

Does anyone know if this is nomal.

I have a guillotine that I bought off a retired printer 30 odd years ago and it was old then. The rule was at 90 degrees to the base blade, but it never cut square, only about 1/32" or so out, but out. I tried moving the rule, but put it back, as it was better to not quite push the board up to it ( you get skilled at it after a while). I think the problem is the backend of the base blade has got slightly worn over the centuries and this causes shear to occur.

The angle produced by a guillotine blades depends on several things, like the sharpness of the blades, the hardness of the wood, the shape of the profile, whether the wood rocks or slides slightly when being cut.

You can prove this by cutting several mouldings into 6 x 6 frames. Choose a scoop, a reverse and a flat topped one and preferably different hardnesses. When they are cut, ust fit them together dry on a flat workbench and you will see the difference in the angles of the joints.

No no no Ormond

Bench end guillotines - for cutting paper and card like this one

Roboframer wrote:No no no Ormond

Bench end guillotines - for cutting paper and card

Yeah, yeah, I know that but it's a way of showing that blades in general don't always cut at the perfect angle they are set at.

Ah - I see.

Maybe the problem with the paper/card when being cut is that the blade moves it apart.