Cutters, Choppers, Guillotines, Slicers

[tmj]

2 minutes ago, MintGum said:

As is often the question, what was the OEM(s)?  Amazon, Vevor, Harbor Freight, Micro Mark, etc... all appear to be copies of which OEM?

OEM? Some Chinese company, I'm pretty sure. Chinese companies ripping each other off, in competition, to see who can effectively grab the biggest market share before some 'other' Chinese company takes them down! Who cares? The darned things simply work... despite there being a hundred different labels of the exact same silly thing! LOL

[hollowneck]

I have used the NWSL Chopper II for more than 10 years and I've only had to replace the insert matts once (you can also reverse them). The razorblade edge does eventually wear a groove that's awkward, but the solution (other than replacing or flipping them over) is to rotate the matt 90 degrees and Voilá! The base is solid, doesn't move around and the footprint on your bench is small.

 

This cutting tool is only appropriate for cutting thin strips. Also, one must tighten the separate angled stop pieces firmly to hold the measured position; the cutting action can slightly shift the wood piece and make repeatable items out of tolerance. You'll also need to change the single edge razorblades often. You'll know when to do this since they will crush the wood and make a raggedy cut when dulled. No biggie: I still have a box of many new razorblades I bought years ago.

 

One caution with this device: after substantial use the cutting arm will loosen and want to "freefall" as you're placing stock up against the fence. Don't ask me how I learned this!

[Tossedman]

2 hours ago, tmj said:

I have the complete 'Ultimation' line of products and love them all. The chopper will indeed cut a bevel on one end, but I deal with that in one of two ways. If it's planking, I'll often use that bevel to my advantage by turning the points 'up' and making a really tight butt joint against the preceding planks. If I don't want the beveled cut, I simply cut my pieces a tad long and use the sanding repeater to sand all of those parts to exact lengths while also removing those tapered cuts. As for the hand powered sander, itself. It is a gem, indeed. It's saved me many times when the complex geometry of a curious part and compound angles would make it difficult to accurately sand such a part via a powered disk sander where you must sand on one side of the disk due to rotation, etc. With the Ultimation sander, I just turn the crank in whichever direction best suits the needs for the part needing to be sanded. I have nothing but 'PRAISE' for all of my Ultimation tools!  

I completely agree with all that tmp said. You cannot go wrong with the Ultimation sander and slicer if your budget can handle it. The blade is flat on one side and give square cuts only on the left side of the blade. It's marked on the cutter. The cutting blade is a single bevel blade that is used for carpet trimming. Love both the sander and the slicer. Gave away my NWSL chopper when I got the Ultimation tools and haven't looked back.  

 

Cheers,

 

Todd

[MintGum]

1 hour ago, tmj said:

OEM? Some Chinese company, I'm pretty sure. Chinese companies ripping each other off, in competition, to see who can effectively grab the biggest market share before some 'other' Chinese company takes them down! Who cares? The darned things simply work... despite there being a hundred different labels of the exact same silly thing! LOL

 

OEM's generally produce higher quality products at an increased cost.  Find the OEM and quality/cost comparisons are possible vs the plethora of copies.

 

[tmj]

Sorry, but you were asking for opinions from folks with firsthand use of certain tools. You got those opinions then quickly switched to OEM. If OEM is more important than how well the tools work... maybe, you need to rephrase your question and ask again on another thread. Useability and OEM are two totally different things.  

 

  Good luck!

 

[MintGum]

27 minutes ago, tmj said:

Sorry, but you were asking for opinions from folks with firsthand use of certain tools. You got those opinions then quickly switched to OEM. If OEM is more important than how well the tools work... maybe, you need to rephrase your question and ask again on another thread. Useability and OEM are two totally different things.  

 

  Good luck!

 

 

You are correct, I started a thread asking for OEM and experience concerning the various choppers and slicers on the market.

 

2 hours ago, tmj said:

OEM? Some Chinese company, I'm pretty sure. Chinese companies ripping each other off, in competition, to see who can effectively grab the biggest market share before some 'other' Chinese company takes them down! Who cares? The darned things simply work... despite there being a hundred different labels of the exact same silly thing! LOL

 

I interpreted the various question mark symbols (?) in your response as being questions that I responded to.  OEM?  Who cares?  I care about OEM's as their design and manufacturing tend to be original and superior than those of non-licensed after market manufacturers.

 

Do you use your mini chop/cut-off saw to cut deck planking?  Have you used it on the thin planks of Occre or Artesania Latina kits?  How did it perform?

Edited December 31, 2025 by MintGum

[tmj]

20 minutes ago, MintGum said:

Do you use your mini chop/cut-off saw to cut deck planking?

Please reread my responses. I've already answered that, as well as your OEM questions a few posts ago.

Edited December 31, 2025 by tmj

[tmj]

It's time for me to leave this thread. Find whatever tools suit you best. That's what counts. 

Good luck and Happy New Year to you!

 

 

[MintGum]

23 minutes ago, tmj said:

Please reread my responses. I've already answered that question a few posts ago.

 

#28 is where you commented on cutting 1/32" planks.  Thanks!

 

Was the saw kerf an issue in efficiently utilizing the material provided in the kit?  IOW, were you able to get reasonably close to 5 - 80mm planks from a 400mm?

Edited December 31, 2025 by MintGum

[MintGum]

6 minutes ago, tmj said:

It's time for me to leave this thread. Find whatever tools suit you best. That's what counts. 

Good luck and Happy New Year to you!

 

 

 

Will do.  Stop back anytime!  Good luck and Happy New Year!

 

[MintGum]

For those who own the mini chop saws, does the hump in the clamp affect what or how you cut?  It seems that it would work well for solid pieces but if cutting a stack of thin planks it would allow them to flex - especially when nearing the end of the stack.  Also, the work piece would be susceptible to wobbling.  It appears that even the high end Proxxon KG50 is designed this way.  Though the KG50 doesn't appear to be available in the US.  The higher end Proxxon KGS80 doesn't have the "hump" but instead it has a bowl shape underneath the blade.  Not sure why these aren't designed with a simple slot in the table for the blade to pass through with the vice clamp level with the table... maybe it adds more cost.

 

 

[wefalck]

On 12/30/2025 at 10:53 PM, MintGum said:

As is often the question, what was the OEM(s)?  Amazon, Vevor, Harbor Freight, Micro Mark, etc... all appear to be copies of which OEM?

These chop-saws seem to be copies of the PROXXON KG50, which they offered for many years and is currently priced at 110€ here in Europe. More recently they also offered a heavier version the KGS80, which kost 270€. 

 

On the actual topic of this thread: I would rather use a circular saw than a guillotine on materials thicker than a couple of millimeters, particular hardwoods. This ensures square ends.

Edited Wednesday at 04:53 PM by wefalck

[MintGum]

23 hours ago, wefalck said:

These chop-saws seem to be copies of the PROXXON KG50, which they offered for many years and is currently priced at 110€ here in Europe. More recently they also offered a heavier version the KGS80, which kost 270€. 

 

Agreed, though the KG50 doesn't appear to be available in the US.

 

23 hours ago, wefalck said:

On the actual topic of this thread: I would rather use a circular saw than a guillotine on materials thicker than a couple of millimeters, particular hardwoods. This ensures square ends.

 

Do you use a circular saw (chop or table) for thicker materials?  Which model?

 

Not sure if the Ultimation Slicer would be capable of square ends in thicker hardwoods.  Haven't seen any evidence confirming or denying it.  Any members willing to try their slicer on thicker (1/8 in - 1/4 in +) hardwood (pear, boxwood, rosewood, etc...)?

[RossR]

With the Ultimation slicer, for material thicker than 1/16, you would want to make your initial cut a little long the trim the final 1/32 to 1/16 off with a second cut.  You will get a really nice square cut using this method.  I also have the Ultimation sander and will often use that to square up the end.  
 

I don’t know if I would use the slicer on material 1/4 inch thick.  I am sure it would cut it, but seems like it might be pushing the limit of the tool.   When I have stuff that thick I cut with a had saw and clean up the end with the disk sander.  
 

[MintGum]

30 minutes ago, RossR said:

With the Ultimation slicer, for material thicker than 1/16, you would want to make your initial cut a little long the trim the final 1/32 to 1/16 off with a second cut.  You will get a really nice square cut using this method.  I also have the Ultimation sander and will often use that to square up the end.  
 

I don’t know if I would use the slicer on material 1/4 inch thick.  I am sure it would cut it, but seems like it might be pushing the limit of the tool.   When I have stuff that thick I cut with a had saw and clean up the end with the disk sander.  

 

I'm surprised Ultimation doesn't publish limits or at least guidelines for both soft and hard woods.  They do have videos showing the slicing of fairly thick what appears to be a softer wood using the squaring technique.

[palmerit]

I don't know, there's so much variability in uses, needs, wood types, and even within the same wood type that I can't imagine it would be possible to do those kind of comparisons. And I imagine companies that produce these kinds of niche products operate on small margins. And can you imagine if they published some specs and someone complained or sued. I can tell you that it's not going to slice a 2x4 😉 

Edited 9 hours ago by palmerit

[Paul Le Wol]

The  piece on the left is 5/32"x 5/32" pear and the piece on the right is 1/8"x 1/8" cherry.  It cut okay but I wouldn't want to try anything larger. I agree with @RossR's evaluation.