Tissue paper cutting saw - GIF

[Hoosiersmoker]

Reciprocating motions are immensely more complex and troublesome to maintain due in part because every cycle must start and stop twice to complete a full cycle . Not to mention in this circumstance if the saw blade was traveling in the reverse direction the possibility of the tissue stack unfolding the top layers could be an issue. Rotary motions take advantage to continuing kinetic energy built up in the flywheel effect greatly lowering the power requirement

Not sure I buy "immensely more complicated", locomotive action is very simple and used in massive machinery that runs for years. Also, the wear factor if it's an electrically operated saw would be much higher given the methods of power transfer. I could see a maintenance crew replacing contact discs every few days and dropping a leg would be potentially catastrophic to an electric motor. I can't tell, but if it's a pneumatic powered saw, then slightly less wear of the connections and seals and much simpler overall. The rotating motor takes considerably more space too, which isn't always a major issue. I think the way it's being held down would eliminate the issue of flipping up the plies of tissue during cutting. There's always more than one way to approach these things and neither is any more right. I imagine your design and mine would vary greatly but function equally well (well, maybe mine a little more equally than yours )

By the way, congratulations on #1 Tool Builder!! Just edged out rgsparber, way to go!