wire cutting guillotine

[thehomeengineer]

Hi All

Following on from the chains I made for my 1" traction engine Re-think on wire bender for making chain links I thought I would share the wire cutting guillotine I made to support the manufacture of the chain links.

There are commercially made wire cutting guillotines mainly used in the jewellery trade that can be purchased from the normal websites, but reading the reviews I decided to make one that would be a little more industrial for my purpose.

The criteria for the tool was to be simple to use and a stop that could be accurately set. The cutting blades to be made interchangeable so if worn or damaged can be replaced. Commercially made cutters don't offer this so once worn the whole tool will need to be replaced.

The stop on my guillotine is set by using slip gauges.


The stock material is a combination of mild steel and gauge plate. Stock metric screws and spring also used in build.


Brass slug used to prevent stop shaft being damaged from screw, see link for more details
How to prevent grub screws from damaging outer diameters


Stop and shafts


Main body and base. The base allows for the tool to be held in bench vice.


Guillotine handle and handle retainer.


Gauge plate blades hardened and tempered. Several size wire diameters can be cut.


Removable cutting blades in place in main body and handle


Spring return of handle


Setting the piviot pin and locking in place with grub screw


Stop and wire being fed into guillotine.


Completed tool


Wire cut to length.

I hope this is of interest and thank you for viewing.
The Home Engineer