Abstract: A die cutting roll carries outwardly projecting die cutting blades, and a parallel back-up roll carries a resilient mat which is engaged by the blades. The rolls are driven by a set of helical gears, and the back-up roll is reciprocated axially by a set of air cylinders, so that the back-up roll moves in a helical direction when the blades are out of engagement with the mat to avoid a repeating pattern of blade engagement with the mat and thereby extend the useful service life of the mat. The sheets to be die cut are successively fed between the rolls from the bottom of a stack by a reciprocating feed member driven by oscillating arms pivotally supported by a shaft. The shaft may be rotatably adjusted on an eccentric axis while the sheets are being fed for quickly phasing the feed of the sheets relative to the rotation of the die cutting roll to obtain precise registry of each sheet with the die cutting blades.