Regardless of what industry you’re in, business cards are one of the most cost-effective and popular tools for sharing your business information with clients and prospects. With all of the user-friendly graphic design software available in today’s marketplace, it’s easy to create attractive and professional-looking business cards in your own office using a desktop printer. But once you’ve printed out your custom business cards, how do you cut them down to the appropriate size? In this post, we take a closer look at personal business card slitters, which accurately and efficiently cut letter-sized paper into standard 2″ x 3-1/2″ business cards with minimal effort.
The Basics
Personal business card cutters are available with either manual or electric operation, with either standard or full bleed cutting capabilities. Standard business card slitters are used to cut cards that have a blank border around the outer edge of the design, which are designed using a 12-up template (12 cards per sheet). Full bleed cutters are designed to cut cards that have images or text that run to the edge of the card, created using a 10-up template (10 cards per sheet). The resulting cards are borderless, which makes the full bleed cutters an ideal choice for graphics- or photography-based designs. While full bleed cutters can cut standard business cards (created using a 10-up template), standard cutters are not able to cut cards with full bleed designs.
Whether using a manual or electric model, personal business card cutters generally perform a two-step process in order to trim the business cards down to size. On the first pass through the machine, the pre-printed, letter-sized sheet is inserted vertically and trimmed down to two 3-1/2″ x 11″ strips. The strips are then fed horizontally through the machine to be cut into 2″ x 3-1/2″ business cards. The entire two-step process only takes around 10 seconds (depending upon the machine), which means that you can accurately cut up to 72 business cards per minute.
Uses
Personal business card cutters are designed for trimming business cards, but they can also be used to cut a variety of other useful items. If you have a photo-quality printer, you can print sheets of photographs onto photo paper and cut them into individual, wallet-size prints using your business card cutter. You can also create ID badges for trade shows, events, or for use around the office using either a 10-up or 12-up template and trimmed with your business card cutter. Teachers can design their own custom flash cards or other teaching materials with ease using their favorite word processing or graphic design program, and cut them to size using a business card slitter. You can even make your own full-color, business card-sized magnets using printable, magnetic stock and your personal card cutter. If you are using a standard cutter, you will need to leave a blank border around any item that you place into the 12-up template in order for them to be cut properly.
In Review
Business cards are a valuable tool for sharing your name and company information with clients and prospects, but not every organization has the budget to order custom cards from a professional print shop. For small runs of professional-looking business cards on a budget, you can use your favorite graphic design or word processing program along with your color printer and a personal business card cutter to create your own business cards. In addition to making business cards, you can also use the same process to create ID cards, full-color promotional magnets, flash cards and other teaching aids, wallet-size photographs, and many other useful items. Personal business card cutters are a great choice for home offices, small offices, and classrooms, with their ease of use, versatility, and affordable price point.