Finished Project

I have built several guillotines over the years. The most recent version, which also happens to be the best yet, is built out of an old weathered fence and a few other miscellaneous boards.

Design

This guillotine is designed to be disassembled into flat pieces for easy storage.

I'm not going to layout all the dimensions because I think they're easy enough to figure out. My guillotine has a 3 foot wide table and is about 10 feet tall. 

Materials

You will need

• a bunch of old 2x4s
• (3) 8' 4x4s 
• (1) 8' 2x8
• (1) 8' 1x6
• Plywood scrap, approx. 3'x1'-6"
• a bunch of old fence boards

Steps

1. Cut out and paint your blade.
2. Attach the side rails to the blade. (The side rails keep the blade from getting jammed when the blade is dropped.)
3. Build the frame around the blade.
4. Add the front and back faces, the top beams, and the bottom thickeners..
5. Add the 4x4 braces and the 1x6 head clamp.
6. Build the guillotine legs. Note that the gap should be approximately 6.5" to fit around the three boards that make up the frame.
7. Add the 4x4 braces.
8. Attach the legs to the frame.
9. Build the table and attach it to the legs and the frame.
10. Attach an eyebolt, pulley, and rope.
11. Enjoy.