The Beishan high-level radioactive waste disposal pit in China is planned to be excavated by a small-diameter blind shaft boring machine，and the gage cutter is the key component of the boring machine to control the accuracy of the hole and the most vulnerable to loss. Its reasonable design and layout are the premise to realize the efficient excavation of the high-level radioactive waste disposal pit. In this paper，the linear cutting test of gage cutter is carried out for Beishan granite by using 11 inch round edge cutter preselected by small diameter blind shaft boring machine. The rock breaking process and vibration characteristics of gage cutter under different penetration depth and installation angle are analyzed. The test results show that under the same penetration depth，the average normal force of the 20° installation angle cutter is generally larger，the lateral force is smaller，but the average rolling force of the two cutters are closer. Under the same penetration depth，the average peak value of triaxial vibration acceleration of gage cutters with different installation angles is the largest in the lateral vibration acceleration，followed by the normal vibration acceleration and the tangential vibration acceleration. The larger the installation angle，the greater the difference in the triaxial vibration acceleration of the gage cutters，the greater the lateral vibration intensity，and the higher the frequency of the lateral high-amplitude vibration.With the increase of penetration depth，the triaxial vibration acceleration of the gage cutter increases，and the frequency of strong vibration in the rock breaking of the gage cutter increases. The influence of penetration depth on the lateral vibration acceleration of the gage cutter is more significant than that in the normal and tangential vibration accelerations. This study can also provide a reference for the optimal layout of the cutterhead of small-diameter blind shaft boring machine.