The Gladiator of Paper Trimmers?

Hail Forum! Since this applies to ULF I thought I'd tap this

particular well of information and experience. I need to cut down

16x20, or half 20x24 sheets of photo paper for contacts using the

banquet camera's big negatives, so I figure a paper trimmer is in

order. I am familiar with Rotatrim and like the ones I've used in

the past, however a new one in the size I require is $eriou$ly

expen$ive and to it's credit, used Rotatrims are scarcer than

Deardorff cameras at rock concerts, and the used Rotatrims that do

show up are as close to being worn out as a Rotatrim can get. There

are many knock-offs available but I've been disapointed by the

quality in the few I've seen, which leads me to consider the Dahle

line of trimmers. They are priced quite attractively. Of course

there aren't any dealers in my neck of the Empire, so I was

wondering if any of you had experience with Dahle trimmers, and if

so, was it thumbs up? Or did you throw it to the lions?

Greetings, John!

 

I indeed used one to cut many prints out of several 8" rolls of color print paper. It cut exactly as it was supposed to, but felt somewhat tacky after the old rota-trim. Still, the cut was fine.

 

The thing that bothers me about these cutters is that the bed is so narrow. If you intend to cut 16"x20" down to 12"x20" it would seem necessary to have a bed width of at least 12" or 13" so you can see where to position the left edge of the paper under dim safelight. And I don�t think it is that wide.

 

For this reason, I might consider a guillotine cutter instead. Dunno...

hey john -

 

you might want to also check out spincut rotary trimmers. they work as well as the

top of the line trimmers, but don't cost as much. i priced trimmers for a month or 2

before i purchased mine a few summers ago. the spincut was the one i bought, at

about 1/2 the price of the same size rototrim.

 

good luck!

 

- john

For cutting down paper in the darkroom (20x24 to 8x20), I use a

guillotine-type paper cutter--a 24" one. They should be available

at any good office supply store.

I very much miss the big Kuttrimmer I used to have. It qualifies as the Hummvee of guillotime types. Nothing like it. njb

Thanks for all the responses! Maybe my paranoia of using a guillotine type paper cutter in the dark room is unfounded---call me sinister..err, 'lefty'. Still, the Dahle 37" pro model is pretty affordable---I checked spincut and they look like very nice machines but even they cost more salt than my Charioteer's budget will allow right now, so I'll try the Dahle and write a review of my impressions of it after a few laps around the circus maximus! Thanks!

Your paranoia, John, may prompt you to mix metaphors and time periods. A nice, knightly pair of chain-mail gloves from the post-gladitorial period, with perhaps a couple of modern rubber fingertips, might increase the potential of you being able to write the review.

 

On the other (fingerless) hand, blood might make an interesting toner. ;-)