Intelli-Cut 530D Digital Stack Paper Cutter Review
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
Stack paper cutters slice through and cut hundreds of sheets of paper at a time. Some are even capable of cutting up to 3″ of paper in a single pass! While not everyone can afford a fully automatic stack cutter, one great alternative is a manual stack cutter like the Intelli-Cut 530D. I recently had a chance to play around with this cutter and this is my review.
To begin with, the Intelli-Cut is a fully manual stack paper cutter. Don’t let that scare you off. While operation is manual, it is extremely easy to use and takes just seconds to operate. In fact, I am able to cut through 100+ sheets of paper simply by using a couple of fingers. I’m pretty sure even a child could operate this thing (although I wouldn’t recommend it).
So what is manual on this machine? To begin with, the clamping mechanism is activated by pulling on one handle where the cutting is done by pulling another handle. The clamp doesn’t require much force and from what I’ve seen it seems to do a great job of keeping paper in place. The blade, as I mentioned earlier, sliced through the paper like butter.
The backstop on the Intelli-Cut 530D is manual, but has some digital assistance. While you do have to turn a hand crank to move the backstop forward and backward, a digital display on the front left of the machine lets you know exactly where the backstop is located. This makes adjustments extremely easy, not to mention extremely accurate.
The cutting blade on the 530D is made from hardened steel and seems to hold up well with repeated use. As the blade cuts through the paper, it ultimately ends up in a cutting stick, which allows you to cut everything right down to the last sheet of paper. The cutting stick is easy to access and simply pulls out of the side of the machine when it needs to be rotated or replaced.
This is a video demo of the Intelli-Cut 530D in use:
Safety was definitely in great consideration when this machine was built. Much like Dahle and Triumph stack cutters, the 530D has a clear safety guard that has to be pulled into place before cutting can begin. This helps keep appendages, such as your fingers, safe from harm.
I have used the 530D to cut standard paper, card stock and laminated material. It seemed to handle all extremely well. The build quality is excellent. Just about everything I touched, prodded and tested seemed to be made out of metal. It seems to hold up well right with the great German stack cutters that I have previously used.
I personally used the 530D with the optional stand (which I love), however, you can use this cutter on a table or desk. Just be aware that it does weigh 115 pounds shipped.
Overall I highly recommend this cutter. If the digital display isn’t exactly a necessity for you, you can order this cutter as the Intelli-Cut 530M without the digital display (found here). This machine is perfect for small print shops, copy centers and others that need to quickly cut down up to 1.5″ of paper at a time.
You can find the Intelli-Cut 530D stack paper cutter here and our entire selection of stack paper cutters here.


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