To remove tipping glue and printing ink residues on the second cut circular knife in ZJ118 filter cigarette maker, an automatic cleaning device for the circular knife was designed. By optimizing the structure of the second cut circular knife mechanism and adding a felt cleaning head with a screw type infeed function, the circular knife is cleaned while it is cutting into the felt cleaning head. At the same time, the felt cleaning head is lubricated to reduce the temperature of the circular knife. The designed cleaning device was tested on two ZJ118 filter cigarette makers at Shenzhen Tobacco Industrial Corporation Limited. The results showed that the temperature of the circular knife was reduced by 36.1 ℃, its service life was extended by 413.5 h, and the average output was increased by 1.422 million cig./shift. This technology provides support for improving the operation efficiency of slim cigarette makers and the quality of cigarettes.