Metal Cutting Guillotines

Metal cutting guillotines, often referred to as guillotine shears, are steel cutting machines designed for precision cutting of metal sheets and heavier steel plates.
Metal cutting guillotines provide  straight, clean, and efficient cuts in various metal materials.

JPS Machinery Ltd offer a comprehensive range of Hydraulic and Mechanical Guillotines, models and manufacturers to meet varying specifications and financial budgets, Metal Cutting Guillotines, offering a fully configurable specification to meet your companies specific requirements

Types of Guillotine Shears:

• Mechanical Guillotine Shears: These shears are operated using mechanical mechanisms, often featuring a foot pedal or hand lever for initiating the cutting action, are basically used in sheetmetal workshops, cutting steel sheets up to 3.5 mm thick
• Hydraulic Guillotine Shears: Hydraulic guillotine shears use hydraulic power to drive the cutting blade, offering greater control and versatility, especially for thicker or harder metals.

Cutting Mechanism:

•  Mechanical metal cutting guillotines use a vertical cutting action, the top cutting guillotine blade is positioned within the top cutting beam, the top cutting beam is positioned within vertical slides The cutting blade is positioned at an inclined angle, known as the RAKE angle, which is set somewhere between 0.5° to 3.0° dependant upon the machines max cutting thickness
• Hydraulic metal cutting guillotines, use 2 different cutting actions
  a) 'Swing Beam' here the top cutting guillotine blade is positioned within a top cutting beam fabrication, that has a pivot point set to the back of the metal cutting guillotines frame, thus producing a swinging action.
  b) Vertical Cut, Variable Rake, here the top cutting guillotine blade is positioned within a top cutting beam that is suspended from 2 hydraulic cylinders. adjustment of these cylinders allows tilting of the top cutting beam the 'RAKE' angle, allowing variable RAKE angles to be used according to material thickness or strength

Control Systems: Modern guillotine shears often feature advanced control systems.
The options can be a simple digital readout, DRO which is a simple digital system that counts revolutions of a known pitch back gauge screw, or programmable back-gauge's, in some cases, NC, Numerical Control systems, both incorporating a DRO, which enable precise and automated cutting operations.

Applications: Metal cutting guillotines are integral to industries such as metalworking, fabrication, and manufacturing. They are utilized for various applications, including cutting metal sheets and plates to size for further processing, assembly, or manufacturing components.

Safety Measures: Safety is paramount when operating metal cutting guillotines.
metal cutting guillotine machines are equipped with a variety of safety functions:-
a) Operator finger guard, positioned to stop the operators hands, fingers, from been near the guillotine cutting blades
b) Rear machine entry sensors or Infra Red guards, stopping operator rear of the guillotine entry
b) Emergency stops to safeguard operators from potential hazards.

The cutting 'RAKE ANGLE' is measured along the metal cutting guillotine blade cutting length, from left to right, 'RAKE ANGLE' determines how much of the sheet or plate material length is being cut as the top guillotine blades descends.

Guillotines do not have the power to make a 100% flat cut along the length of a metal sheet or plate, so the metal cutting action is like a pair of scissor's cutting, the cut is progressively made along the cut length.

Example;-If the 'RAKE ANGLE'angle is set on high,max  setting?, then the actual length of the material being cut at any point along the cut length is a short length. If the 'RAKE ANGLE'angle is set on low, minimum setting ?, then the actual length of the material being cut at any point along the cut length is a long length

A low 'RAKE ANGLE' setting minimises the HELIX effect on the cut sheet

With many NC control systems the 'RAKE ANGLE' is determined automatically, the cutting shear operator just needs to input the material thickness of the workpiece, and the metal cutting shear sets the 'RAKE ANGLE' to achieve the best cut.

• Cutting widths up to 6050 mm | Cutting thickness up to 40 mm - dependant on model Hydraulic  or Mechanical
• As Standard general purpose steel cutting guillotine blades for cutting Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel, Aluminium
• Guillotine blades are hardened in the range 55-58 Rockweld, exact guillotine blade hardness depends on material thickness to be cut, alternative hardness ‘shock resistant’ guillotine cutting blades are available if specifically requested, for the  higher strength tensile steels such as Hardox, or for very thick material cutting. Please confirm all of your companies cutting requirements, we will advise to you the correct guillotine cutting blade Rockweld hardness requirement

Metal Cutting Guillotine Technical Support
All Metal Cutting Guillotines supplied by JPS machinery Ltd, NEW & USED Metal Cutting Guillotines, are fully supported by our In-House service team we have probably the largest independent dealer service team specialising in metalworking machinery in the UK warranty cover, service, repair, breakdown, call out’s, ongoing  telephone support, operator machine function training, annual maintenance contracts Not just for the warranty period, but for the life of the Metal Cutting Guillotine ‘experienced, reliable, professional’

Mechanical shears suit lighter sheet work. Hydraulic machines offer higher force, better control and options such as swing-beam or variable-rake for thicker and higher-tensile materials.

Swing-beam pivots the top beam from the rear — simple and robust. Variable-rake vertical action lets you adjust rake angle to suit thickness/grade for lower twist and cleaner edges.

Up to 6050 mm wide and 40 mm thick (model dependent). We’ll match a machine to your material range and tolerances.

Carbon steel, stainless and aluminium as standard, with options for high-tensile grades such as Hardox.

It’s the blade inclination along its length. A lower rake reduces helix/twist on sheet; higher rake reduces required cutting force. Variable-rake models can set this automatically.

Yes — UK installation, commissioning and operator training are included, plus warranty and ongoing support from our in-house team.