Palestine Technical University Kadoorie Research Journal, 2014, 2(2), 19-24

(http://www.ptuk.edu.ps)

Development of a Manually Operated Guillotine Cutter

1
Omiogbemi Ibrahim Momoh Bello, 2 Itsisor Daniel Omomoh, 3
Oaikhinan Patrick Egwakhide,4
Obada David Olubiyi, and 5 Chira Chike Vincent
1, 4, 5
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State.
3Department of Materials and Production Engineering, Ambrose Alli University, Edo State.

* bellistic4real@yahoo.com

*obadavid4@gmail.com

Received 21 July, 2014, Accepted 1 September, 2014, Published 08 September, 2014

Abstract: A manually operated foot leverage pedal with adjustable blades guillotine cutter was designed and
constructed using locally available materials. This machine was designed to shear variety of materials with
various thicknesses and sizes depending on the cutting blade capacity and the shearing angle, which cuts the
materials with minimal waste and without the formation of chips and bending of the material. The machine is
foot powered. It works by first clamping the material with a ram. A moving blade then comes down across a
fixed blade to shear the material. The moving blade was inclined at 0.5°, this angle is called the rake angle, to
keep the material from becoming wedged between the blades. Test carried out on mild steel shows that the
machine is capable of shearing the metal sheet with maximum thickness of 0.5mm.

Keywords: Guillotine, Cutter, Manually, Materials.

.
Introduction make it a sturdy stable unit capable to withstand
highest stresses due to heavy duty usage. The
With the quest and search for a technological footplates are reinforced with bracing angles so that
independence and breakthrough as a nation, it has they give firm stability to the shear. The machine is
become a necessity to design and fabricate provided with section knives with sliding blades
engineering equipment, components and machines which can be adjusted by hand to make 90 cuts on
from locally sourced raw materials. One of such angles and T-sections of different sizes as well as
machine is a manually operated metal sheet with openings for cutting round and square bars.
shearing machine, otherwise known as guillotine (Fournier, 1990)
shear (cutter).
The machine could also be called a squaring shear,
A bench shear, also known as a lever shear, is a power shear, or guillotine. The machine may be foot
bench mounted shear with a compound mechanism powered (or less commonly hand powered), or
to increase the mechanical advantage. It is usually mechanically or hydraulically powered. It works by
used for cutting rough shapes out of medium sized first clamping the material with a ram. A moving
pieces of sheet metal, but cannot do delicate work blade then comes down across a fixed blade to
(Warg, 2001). For the small shear, it is mostly shear the material. For larger shears the moving
designed for a wide field of applications, light weight blade may be set on an angle or "rocked" in order to
and easy efficient operation, yet very sturdy in shear the material progressively from one side to the
construction. The cutting blades fitted are carefully other; this angle is referred to as the shear angle.
and accurately ground to give easy, clean quick cuts, This decreases the amount of force required, but
and free of burrs. These special features help the increases the stroke. A 5 degree shear angle
operators save a great deal of their energy. But decreases the force by about 20%. The amount of
some shearing machines can cut sheet bar and flat energy used is still the same. The moving blade may
bar up to 10 mm. It is electrically welded together to also be inclined 0.5 to 2.5°, this angle is called the

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Development of a Manually Operated Guillotine Cutter

rake angle, to keep the material from becoming very expensive model guillotine cutter, it thus
wedged between the blades, however it become imperative to design and construct a
compromises the squareness of the edge (Degarmo, prototype of a manually operated guillotine cutter
2003). The requirement of a guillotine shear (cutter) with adjustable blade using locally available
is not restricted to big manufacturing industries but materials without sacrificing quality, economical
other areas such as small factories and workshops usage and efficiency. This will go a long way in
where sheets of metals are sheared into various enhancing our small scale industries that are
shapes and sizes for one use or the other. The interested in the production of such machines. It will
operating principles normally involve an action of also boost our technological know-how and serve as
shearing forces applied to the metal placed between a factor for reducing expensive importation of goods,
two blades which are made of materials that can hence appreciating the value of the Nigerian
withstand the wear, abrasion and shock that result currency (naira).
from the shearing process (3001 Series Guillotine
Shears, 2008). Figure 1 below is a pictorial Material and methods
representation of a steel shearing machine. The
design of press tools is an engineering compromise. Materials Selection
A sharp edge, strength and durability are ideal;
however, a sharp edge is not very strong or durable The choice of materials for the guillotine cutter
so blades for metal work tend to be square-edged depends on the particular purpose and mode of
rather than knife-edged. Typical workpiece materials operation of the machine components. The design of
include aluminum, brass, bronze, and mild steel engineering components is based on the materials
because of their outstanding shearability ratings, performance requirements which are broadly divided
however, stainless steel is not used as much due to into five categories,namely; functional requirements,
its tendencies to work-harden (Fournier, 1990). processibility requirements, cost, reliability and
resistance to service conditions (Myer, 2002).The
questions of “what materials to be selected” for the
components of the metal sheet cutting machine are:
will they meet the performance requirements? Will
they be available and affordable? Do they have the
right aesthetic properties? In response to the above
questions, the following component materials were
selected for the design and fabrication of a prototype
of the guillotine cutter (shear).

Shearing Blade

To avoid or minimize wear, high carbon steel

material, which is a high cutting tool material, was
Figure 1: A steel shearing machine (Image credit: used for the cutting blades, due to its mechanical
Steel Shearing Machine, retrieved 2014-07-29)
properties of hardness, toughness, malleability e.t.c.
Over the years, a variety of methods have been used
Helical Spring
to obtain the desired objective of easy shearing of
metals both at the local level and in the world all
It is required that the spring must possess the
over. In countries such as America, Germany,
property of strength, toughness and elasticity. The
Britain, Canada e.t.c, pneumatic and hydraulic
selected least expensive material that satisfies this
methods have been in use to bring about the
requirement was plain carbon steel.
shearing force. This involves a hydraulic pump which
is powered by a heavy duty electric motor circulating
fluid energy. The energy is made to drive a piston
Foot leverage pedal
which does work on shearing mechanism. However,
these methods are quite expensive to achieve and
The pedal constitutes part of the cutting mechanism
requires a higher level of technology for their
of the force. In order to withstand the applied force,
attainment.
mild steel was used for the required properties of
strength and hardness.
In an effort to respond to the need of our small scale
industries who cannot afford the above gigantic and

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Development of a Manually Operated Guillotine Cutter

Cutter blade Support or use of burning or melting (Myer, 2002). In con-

sidering the major properties required in shearing
It is required that the cutter support has hardness, blade, which are: hardness, strength, impact,
resistance to wear, and abrasion. The material used toughness or high mechanical vibrations at elevated
here was mild steel because of its cost effective- temperature and over a long period (tool life), car-
ness. bon tool steel is used for the design of the shearing
blades as compared with the other shearing tools
Body frame such as alloy tool steels, high speed steels, ce-
mented carbides, ceramic-tools, diamonds and
The frame carries the pedal and the weight of the abrasives as shown in Table 1 (Ibhadode, 2001),
machine in addition to the weight which is welded in since the objective is to select the least expensive
between, stands for stability purposes. The body material that satisfies the requirements.
frame was made of mild steel also.
A punch (or moving blade) is used to push the
The metal sheet holder workpiece against the die (or fixed blade), which is
fixed. Usually the clearance between the two is 5 to
The metal sheet holder provides the base for the 40% of the thickness of the material, but dependent
metal sheet to be placed during cutting. The im- on the material (Todd et al, 1994). Clearance is
pacted load on the sheet is directly absorbed and defined as the separation between the blades,
clamped by the sheet holder and it guards its edges. measured at the point where the cutting action takes
For this purpose, the metal sheet holder was de- place and perpendicular to the direction of blade
signed to have a considerable thickness to over- movement. It affects the finish of the cut (burr) and
come the vibration. The suitable material chosen the machine's power consumption. This causes the
was mild steel. material to experience highly localized shear
stresses between the punch and die. The material
Column will then fail when the punch has moved 15 to 60%
the thickness of the material, because the shear
The column is used like the spring to connect the stresses are greater than the shear strength of the
cutting assembly and the pedal together. The material and the remainder of the material is torn
suitable selected material for this column was mild (Wick and Veilleux, 1984).
steel.
Table 1: Values of hardness and maximum cutting
Design analysis and calculations temperature for various shearing blades materials
(Ibhadode , 2001)
Materials Hardness Maximum cutting
The optimum design of metal sheet guillotine cutter values temperature
(manually operated type), with the consideration of 1 Carbon tool 58 – 64 RC 200 – 250oC
the above listed materials were considered to be steel
designed for. 2 Alloy tool steels 68 – 77 RC 250 – 300oC
3 High speed steel 62 – 65 RC 600oC
1. Two shearing blades (fixed and movable) (HSS)
2. Two helical springs arranged in parallel 4 Cemented car- 87 – 92 RA 800 – 900oC
3. A foot leverage pedal bides
4. A shaft 5 Ceramic tool 89 – 95 RA About 1200oC
6 diamond About 1500oC
5. Two columns;
Where;
6. Eight hexagonal head bolts and nuts RA- Rockwell Hardness Test value of scale A
7. Body supporting arms RC- Rockwell Hardness Test value of scale C
8. Two metal sheet guards
9. Metal sheet holder for cutting, and
10. A frame The Shearing Blades Design Calculations.

For the purpose of this paper the design analysis The design for the shearing blades was as adopted
and calculations of the two shearing blades will be by (Khumi and Gupta, 2006).
discussed.
 = Shearing angle
The Shearing Blades Design Analysis tm = metal sheet thickness (maximum).
ls2 = maximum shearing length
Shearing is the mechanical cutting of materials in fs1 = F1 + F2 = maximum shearing force
sheet or plates form without the formation of chips

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Development of a Manually Operated Guillotine Cutter

Figure 2 shows the metal sheet shearing operation. mb = Mass of the shearing blade = vb x eb
A punch (or moving blade) is used to push the
workpiece against the die (or fixed blade), which is vb = lb x bb x tb
fixed. F1 and F2 are the shearing forces. lb = blade length = 570mm

F2 bb = blade width = 50mm

tb = blade thickness = 7mm

F1
vb = 570 x 50 x 7 = 199.5 x 103 mm3= 1.995 x 10-4m3

bla de mb = 1.996 x 10-4 x 7.83 x 103 = 15.62 x 10-1 =

a ble cutting 1.56kg
mov
wb = mg = 1.56 x 9.8 = 15.29N

Fixed cutting blade since the blades are two,then

The total weight wb = 2 x 15.2 = 30.4N.

Figure 2: The metal sheet shearing operation (Myer
Kutz, 2002).
Machine efficiency
(a) The shearing angle  = Sin-1tm
The efficiency of the guillotine cutter is given by
Ls2 ……(1) (MA/VR) ×100………………………………….(4)

Where;
Where tm = maximum metal sheet thickness =
MA is mechanical advantage
0.5mm
VR is velocity ratio
Ls2 = maximum shearing length = 85% x blade
length (Lb) (Khumi and Gupta, 2006). MA = Load/Effort =L1/b1 ……………………….(6)

Where; L1 = weight of the material part to be cut

i.eLb= 570 mm, Ls2 = 85% x 570 = 484.5 mm
(Wp1)
Ls1 = minimum shearing length = 80% x blade length
(Khumi and Gupta, 2006) W m = LMmg

g = acceleration due to be gravity = 9.8m/s2

Ls1 = 80% x 570 = 456 mm
Mm = Vme
Therefore,
 = sin-10.5 = sin-1 (0.00103)
Vm = Volume of the material part to be cut
484.5
 = 0.05 o
Vm = Ls2 × tm × bm
To obtain the weight (Wb) of the shearing blade,
Where:
applying
Ls2 = Maximum shearing length = 484.5mm
Tm = Maximum metal sheet thickness = 0.5mm
W b = mb x g…………………………………..(2)
Let the breadth (bm) be unity
vb = mb/ebmb = vb x eb………………………..(3)
Vm = 484.5 × 10-3 × 0.3×10-3 × 1 × 10-3
where,
eb = shearing blade density (carbon steel) = 7.83 x
Vm = 2.4335×10-7m3
103kg/m3
e = density of material to be cut = 7.83×103 kg/m3
g = Acceleration due to gravity = 9.8m/s2
Mm = Vme = 2.4225×10-7× 7.83×103

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Development of a Manually Operated Guillotine Cutter

Mm =1.897×10-3kg The column is used like the spring to connect the

cutting assembly and the pedal together
W = Mmg = 1.897×10-3×9.8 =0.0186
:. L = W = 0.019N

MA = L/E

Where,

E = expected axial load or force to cut the metal

sheet which is 937.72N

MA = L/E = 0.019/937.72 = 2.026×10-5

For VR = DE/DL ............................................(7)

Recall that from the design, DE = 0.011mm

Where,

DE = Distance moved by effort

DL- Distance moved by load = Ls2 = 484.5mm

Figure 3: An assembly drawing of the Guillotine
cutter, (1) Metal sheet guard; (2) Pedal; (3) Suporting
VR = 0.011/484.5 = 2.270×10-5 arm; (4) Fixed blade; (5) Column and (6) Spring.

Hence, Efficiency = (MA/VR) × 100% = Maintenance

(2.026×10-5)/(2.270×10-5) × 100%
The following activities should be observed to
:. Efficiency = 89% maintain the machine.
1. Attempt should not be made to cut materials
with thickness that is not designed for.
Results and discussion 2. The spring should be checked periodically
to see if there is any failure due to buckling
The completion of this prototype design proves that and replace it if any.
imported machines can be locally fabricated. The 3. All bolts and nuts should be well tightened
machine is so designed that it could be easily oper- before any cutting operation.
ated and has a high degree of safety. Test carried
out shows that the machine is capable of shearing Lubrication should always be applied to all movable
mild steel metal sheet with maximum thickness of parts, such as the shaft component.
0.5mm. From calculations, the efficiency of the
machine was found to be 89%. Figure 3 shows an Conclusion
assembly of the developed guillotine cutter;
In an effort to respond to the need of our small scale
From figure 3, the shearing blade (fixed blade and industries who cannot afford the gigantic and very
movable blade) was to avoid or minimize wear. It is expensive model guillotine cutter, it thus becomes
required that the spring must possess the property of imperative to design and construct a prototype of a
strength, toughness and elasticity. The foot pedal manually operated guillotine cutter with adjustable
constitutes part of the cutting mechanism of the blade using locally available materials without sacri-
force. The frame carries the pedal and the weight of ficing quality, economical usage and efficiency. This
the machine in addition to the weight which is welded will go a long way in enhancing our small scale in-
in between stands for stability purposes. The metal dustries that are interested in the production of such
sheet holder provides the base for the metal sheet to machines. It will also boost our technological
be placed during cutting. The impacted load on the know-how and militate against expensive importa-
sheet is directly absorbed and clamped by the sheet tion of goods, hence appreciating the value of the
holder and it guards its edges. For this purpose, the Nigerian currency (naira).
metal sheet holder was designed to have a
considerable thickness to overcome the vibration.
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Development of a Manually Operated Guillotine Cutter

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