Dahle 508 Personal Rotary Trimmer, 18" Cut Length, 5 Sheet Capacity, Self-Sharpening, Automatic Clamp, German Engineered Paper Cutter

Sturdy and well made. Easy to use and excellent cuts straight out of the box with no assembly.I read the reviews of people who had issues so I inspected the blade location and read the instructions before use and I didn’t have any issues. It took a few tries to gage exactly where the edge needs to be to cut where I want it to, but I was able to trim off very thin 1mm or thinner pieces of photo paper with no problem. What a huge upgrade from my Fiskars plastic cutter that always drove me nuts! Happy with this and the quality.

I use this to cut 17" wide heavy weight photo paper and inkjet matte art paper to precise lengths for printing posters and for trimming margins from artwork. The guides and rails are straight, the base is stable but not too heavy, and it's a good size for storage. I do wish they could somehow make it easier to load the stiff roll paper into it and I wish the clear plastic paper holder were easier to get in and out. The manual was very clear and explained how the wheel must not be allowed between the metal cutting rule and the body of the device, which happened to me on my third cut but was easily fixed.This is my first rotary cutter and I am wondering where they have been all my life. Yes you lose the drama and tense anticipation of using a swing-arm cutter, it doesn't feel as cozy as the wood and large steel swing blade, but the Dahle rotary cutter makes straighter, more precise cuts and is easier to store, move, and align paper on. No finesse required, just place the material, position your fingers on the paper holder, and use steady pressure on the cutter bogey as you slice the paper and leave a true straight edge as good as factory cut sheets.

This paper cutter was lousy from the start. I have ruined every sheet of paper and photo I've tried to cut with it. The "cut" edges look like the side of a saw blade. My good old fashioned scissors from the junk drawer cut cleaner than this "German engineered" paper cutter. I wish I hadn't given my old guillotine-style paper cutter away. It was a work horse compared to this over-priced, over-rated, under-performer. Sadly, because I didn't try this paper cutter within the 30 day return window, I'm unable to return it. Lesson learned. Also, the 18 inch model was not available through Prime, so if I did choose to return it, I would have to pay for the return shipping cost. Instead of ruining another project, I have decided to unfortunately, add this piece of junk to the landfill (UGH!) What a waste of resources and money!

Just know that you will likely only get 1 or 2 of the rubber feet that it's supposed to have, but it works well so far, seems well engineered that triangular(?) rail that the cutter rides on really adds to a precise ride (slide?). So I guess I took away a star for rubber feet and flimsy packaging.

BUY THIS!!!This cutter is divine !!!Yeah she’s a big girl but I got big things to cut so yeahI have arthritis in my hands but this has ease of operation.

From going from an old worn out guillotine cutter that was heavy and hard to store to this was great. I wish the plastic piece at the edge that your paper goes under was more flush with the edge so I could line up the cut by eye instead of guesstimate. Other than that, I have no complaints. I know the more expensive models are more durable and nicer, but for the money, I couldn't be happier.

This cutter seems to be heavy duty and well made. I really wanted to like it. It says the blade is "self sharpening."I bought my Dahle October 2023 and this is December 2024. So - a little over a year. . . I rarely cut more than one page at a time. I never cut heavy paper - I print our appointments and magnet them to the refrigerator.The blade is so dull it does not cut -- but kind of leaves a rough edge.I was going to get a new blade - the blades are $19.72 each. They got mixed reviews, It seemed there were quite a few people who had the same problem I had when they bought the new blades. I decided not to beat a dead horse.I am going to invest in something else. It's a shame something this nice is such a disappointment. It still looks brand new - they almost made a quality product -- they just didn't. OH WELL!

As I needed a rotary trimmer that could cut 18", I narrowed my choices to the Dahle 508 and Carl RT-218 models and purchased both. The differences were stark. Most important to me is the precision of the cuts; here, Dahle was far superior. Cuts can be easily aligned before trimming. Unfortunately, with the Carl, an unnecessary ruler to the right of the blade makes precise alignments hit-and-miss, which is the biggest problem with the Carl. Its mechanism is wobbly and imprecise by design. This issue is made worse by the fact that the product is constructed entirely of plastic. By contrast, the Dahle's bed and trimmer support rail (90% of the product, I'd guess) are made of metal. Also, its narrower footprint saves space, which is a big plus for me. In this class of rotary trimmers, I strongly recommend the Dahle 508.