C&P Guillotine seems to be off by 1/16, need help adjusting

I’ll admit, it’s been a while since i’I’ve used one of these, but i recently acquired an old 26” C&P Guillotine. It’s got a new sharp blade and I’ve got the blade in as tight as can be, but it’s cutting a 16th of an inch too big. Can someone run down how to adjust this?
Thanks!

Log in to reply   8 replies so far

50 years ago I used one, and we just used a big carpenter’s square to set the depth.

Does this meek have a tape gauge on the top? If so set backgauge to a measured depth an reset the tape to that number. Have done it on a mc305 that I had in previous shop.
Ted Lavin

Oops meek should read model

Make shure the gibs are tight, firmly pressing the knife bar against the cutter frame
Press on,
James ‘Mac’ McGraw

Station- Why don’t you be more specific before a wild burst of answers flood into this thread.

Too big, how?

Too big, as in as compared to the ruler on the bed of the cutter which the back-gauge measures against?
(you may have to use a ruler to measure)

Too big, as compared to a tape, if present?
(see ted lavin’s post)

Or too big, as compared to a ruler against the back gauge measured against the score left in the cutting stick by the blade?
(??)

Too big, as in when you back the back-gauge up, set the depth carefully, and then push the stock up against the back-gauge expecting an 8” cut, you end up with 8.06125” cut?
(in this case, the back gauge needs to be sent back behind your desired cut, and then brought forward; there is some play, at about a 1/16” in some models, and unless you pull forward last- this play actually will cause the back-gauge to shift.)

Or, is there a skew issue of some type? Does it cut straight?

It’s too big as in, when I lay a square against the blade in the down position the back tape ( the brass rail with inches marked off) the 5 and 1/16 mark on the square lands on the 5” mark on the tape.

Any help at all? I’m wondering if I’m missing something on how to adjust the blade? There are some set screws in the back above the blade holder, but they look like they just push the blade down, not towards or away from the frame. I’m thinking of just shimming the blade maybe?

I doubt the issue is with the blade itself. More likely either with the back stop (what you jog the paper against) or with some form of ruler (imbedded in the bed of the cutter of in the form of a tape measure that moves as you adjust the cutter).

We have a large cutter and to measure the cut we use a “zero ruler” (starts at the edge of the ruler) and measure from the back stop to the line we can see in the cutting bar (where the blade hits when it is down).