PURPOSE: To prevent the possibility for hands and legs to be injured by being caught in a holdfast beam, by detecting distance of the holdfast beam to an article when the holdfast beam descends, and reducing the pressing force of the holdfast beam when a predetermined distance is detected in a cutting machine where the holdfast beam is placed on a plate-shaped article to cut the article.

CONSTITUTION: In a Guillotine cutter where a holdfast beam 8 ascends and descends in interlocking with the ascending and discending motion of a cutting blade 7 supported by a gate-shaped frame 9, and an article 1 such as the stack of paper and cardboard is cut in a state that it is pressed by this holdfast beam 8 from its upper part, a photoelectric device-type sensor 14 having a light source and a photoelectric cell is mounted under an effective surface 8a of the holdfast beam 8 contacted with the article 1 within a range of both opposite end surfaces of the holdfast beam 8. A hydraulic device of the holdfast beam 8 is controlled to reduce the pressure force of the holdfast beam 8 when a distance between the holdfast beam 8 and the article 1 becomes a predetermined value (10-20 mm), the light source is interrupted, and the sensor 14 is started when the holdfast beam 8 is contacted with the article 1 and descends to press the article.