Finding a good rotary paper trimmer can be tough and finding one that is affordable can be even more difficult. One model you may want to consider is Dahle’s 550 series of professional rotary paper trimmers. This includes the Dahle 550, 552 and 554 trimmers. We have some of these cutters on our showroom floor and I have had a chance to use them. This is my review.

The Dahle 550 series of rotary trimmers, sometimes called rolling paper trimmers, are often brought up as alternatives to Rotatrim paper trimmers. This is because the Dahle 550 series trimmers bring a similar level of quality and productivity at a lower price.

The Dahle 550, 552 and 554 are pretty much the same cutters, but are in different lengths. Each trimmer uses a round rolling blade to cut material. The blade looks a lot like a pizza cutter wheel and even rotates as it is being used.

These trimmers can be used to cut paper, photographs, card stock, laminated documents and more. They are rated to be able to cut up to 20 sheets of standard 20# paper at a time. This number will decrease if you are cutting thicker material or card stock.

Capacity isn’t the selling point for a rotary trimmer though. What most people consider to be most important is precision and the ability to cut a straight line. The Dahle 550 series trimmers can do this well. The cutting head is easy to use and slides easily along the bar. The clamping mechanism seems to hold the paper well, preventing crooked cuts.

One feature I would like to see in the Dahle 550 line of trimmers is two sliding rails instead of just one for the cutting head. Multiple rails, as found in the Rotatrim Professional Series, make the trimmer more stable when cutting multiple sheets of paper. The single rail used does still seem to be stable and should still provide accuracy when cutting photographs and other material.

The Dahle 550, 552 and 554 have a printed grid patterns on the base of the trimmer. This grid can be used to align pictures, paper and helps to ensure a straight cut. Be aware, however, that the grid is in metric measurements. Even the common paper sizes printed on the base are metric paper sizes (A4, A5, etc.). I would like to see grid patterns in inches for those of us in the United States.  It does, however, include a side ruler in inches.

Overall I consider the Dahle 550 series of trimmers to be good machines, especially for the price. Are they as good as Rotatrim? No, but that is like comparing a Ford to a Porsche. The Porsche is great, but the Ford is probably just fine for most people.

You can find the Dahle 550, 552 and 554 professional rotary trimmers here. You can find our entire selection of rotary paper cutters here.

We’ve all been to restaurants and have all handled and used the menu. While not always the case, most restaurant menus consist of a single folded 11 x 17 sheet of paper or an 11 x 17 sheet of paper cut in half. Restaurant menus have soda spilled on them, dipping sauce smeared all over them, experience chicken wing accidents and much more. So how do menus endure daily abuse and use? They are laminated.

Laminating film makes a menu easy to clean off, prevents liquid damage and gives menus the rigidity they need to keep from tearing. So what are the best laminators to use for laminating a menu? There are two ways to do this. You will either want to use a pouch laminator or a roll laminating machine.

If you are using a pouch laminator, you will want to use a large 12 x 18 –inch pouch (found here). Place the printing menu inside the pouch and run it through the laminator. Once laminated, the menu can be creased or bound for use. Often times the menu isn’t folded or bound, but left as a single sheet. The slightly larger pouch will allow for a small overlapped border around the menu. If you don’t like this, it can be easily trimmed off.

If you are using a roll laminating machine, you can often laminate two menus simultaneously. This can be easily done if you are using a roll laminating machine that is 25-inches or wider. Once laminated, the menu can be trimmed down using a rotary trimmer. The most common roll film our customers use for menus can be found here.

Roll laminators are typically better for high-volume laminating, but I have found that more restaurants use a pouch laminator for menus.  The thickness of film used will depend on the restaurant’s preference. The higher the mil thickness, the thicker the film will be. A mil is one-thousandth of an inch. I probably wouldn’t go with anything thinner than 5 mils thick.

While not completely necessary, many of our customers also like to use a corner rounder to round the corners on the menus. This makes the menu less dangerous (pointy corners = ouch) and makes the menus look nice.

Here is a list of what you may need for your restaurant menu:

• Pouch Laminator or Roll Laminator
• Pouch Laminating Film or Roll Laminating Film
• Rotary Paper Trimmer
• Corner Rounder
• Paper Creaser

Good luck with your menus! We have a lot of people that do this, so don’t feel too overwhelmed. The end results will look great!

I had a customer ask me the other day what the difference was between a rolling paper trimmer and a rotary paper trimmer. Rolling paper trimmer? I had to think about that one. I had previously never heard the term.

After doing a little research I discovered the answer. The biggest difference between a rolling paper trimmer and a rotary paper trimmer is this: NOTHING. They are synonymous terms for the same thing.

It ends up that Dahle is coining the term rolling paper trimmer for the type of cutter that most of us refer to as a rotary paper trimmer. Perhaps this change in terminology is warranted.

How does a rotary paper trimmer work? Typically, a round “rolling” blade is encased in a cutting head that slides along a bar. As the cutting head is pushed, the round blade rolls along and cuts the paper.

Regardless of what you call it, these types of paper trimmers are quickly becoming one of the most popular types of cutters used today, due in large part to the booming scrapbooking industry. If you ask a photographer what type of cutter they use to cut photographs, they will tell you that they use a rotary paper trimmer (usually a Rotatrim).

You can find our entire selection of rotary “rolling” paper trimmers here.

Rotary paper cutters and trimmers are one of the most common types of cutting devices used today. These cutters are used for cutting paper, card stock, laminated documents, photographs and much more. What are some of the biggest advantages and disadvantages of using a rotary paper trimmer? This article will highlight some of these.

Rotary Paper Trimmers Advantages / Disadvantages:

Advantages: Rotary paper trimmers, such as Rotatrim, are best known for their precision cutting abilities. They can cut a photograph with a perfectly straight edge. The bases often include a grid for proper alignment and an adjustable guide bar for additional alignment.

Disadvantages: Rotary paper trimmers don’t have the cutting capacity of a guillotine trimmer. Most rotary trimmers can only cut a few sheets at a time. Higher-end cutters, such as Rotatrim, can cut more paper, but capacity is still something to take into consideration.

Things To Look For: For added stability, you will want to get a rotary trimmer with a double slide rails or a square slide rail. This helps keep the cutting head in place. If inches is a necessity, you may want to ask prior to making a purchase. Many rotary trimmers have measurements in metric only.

You can find our entire selection of rotary paper cutters here. Have a question? Post it in a comment.