I'm looking for a print trimmer which can handle materials (paper and film) up to 24" in length. As some of the material will have to be handled in the dark, the trimmer needs to have an adjustable stop on it. I'm considering the Rotatrim M-24, which seems like it fits the bill, but I've never seen one in person. Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-- Mark Parsons (Polar@thegrid.net), January 16, 2000

Answers

I own a Rototrim Mastercut II, and although it is smaller, I would highly recommend the company's other trimmers based on its quality. It's an excellent product.

-- Chad Jarvis (cjarvis@nas.edu), January 17, 2000.

Ditto on the Rotatrim endorsement. I have the 54" and it's great; I use it to cut everything from 5x7's to huge posters. If you don't drop it, a Rotatrim will serve you well for life. (Note, though, that the longer Rotatrims take up a lot of counter space and you don't want to be moving the big models on and off the counter all the time. . . so don't get one much larger than you think you'll need. I could have gotten by with a 36.) The only tricky part with large pieces like big posters is making sure your cut is square; the trimmer is only 12" wide regardless of length so there's not a long edge to put against the border that's at the right angle to the cut. In these cases it helps to draw a right-angle line on the material (using a large square) before putting the piece in the cutter.

Also, the ruler on my cutter seems to be placed about 1/16" close to the cutting edge, so an indicated 8" cut actually comes out just under that. Not a big deal--I compensate automatically now--but don't cut a whole batch of material without first cutting a sample and measuring it with a separate ruler, not the one built into the cutter. Then you can set the guide accordingly (to 8-

-- Simon (fourthpres@aol.com), January 17, 2000.

That was "to 8-1/6, for example, on my cutter."

Don't know why it cuts

-- Simon (fourthpres@aol.com), January 17, 2000.

I have the m-24 also and it's a fine piece of equipment. The advice about dropping it is sound as with all gear but I've a couple of warnings to add. Don't pick up the cutter by it's rails for a couple of reasons: the gunk on your hand can build up and cause the sliding cutter and or rails to get dirty and pit and don't lift it by the rails or the cutter head because you could bend the rails slightly and loose some accuracy on your cuts. It's much more robust than I'm making it sound but you can never be too careful.

-- Trib (linhof6@hotmail.com), January 18, 2000.