Challenge (Bourg) DocuTrim

[Keness]

Wondering if anyone here has any experience with these machines? They've been discontinued a while, so it is pretty hard to get details, so I was wondering about personal impressions.

They appear to basically be a pretty straightforward paper cutter, but with the additional of a robotic arm to rotate a book for three sided cutting.

One of my biggest concerns was the direction of sheer of the blade. If the sheer is always left to right as it comes down (or right to left) that means that sheer direction would be going into the spine for either the head or foot of the book, which is good of course, but would be going away from the spine when it is rotated 180 degrees. Very bad.

The (bigger) machines that currently still exist, like the Challenge CMT-130 or the Horizon HT-30 reverse the sheer direction for the head and foot for cleaner cuts.

Asked one sales person, and he said it did, but have since (finally) found a YouTube video of one in operation and it is looks like he is incorrect. It sheers left to right for all three cuts.

Seems like an Achilles' Heel if true... The spine at the foot will fray.

Anyone ever use one of these?

Thanks in advance!

[kheslin]

Yes, all three cuts are left to right, and this will cause tear-out at the foot.
We have one and finally stopped using it for this reason. At one time Amatco was modifying these to resolve this problem.

[Keness]

Yes, all three cuts are left to right, and this will cause tear-out at the foot.
We have one and finally stopped using it for this reason. At one time Amatco was modifying these to resolve this problem.

That is what I suspected. I opted for a programmable "general purpose" cutter instead.

How did they resolve the problem? Seems like all the mechanics involved in the blade travel would not be modifiable without some crazy serious engineering...

Thanks for the input!