Die Cutting Industry Information
Die cutting is the manufacturing process of stamping or cutting two
dimensional parts out of flat sheets of material. This process, often
used in conjunction with laminating services, is a crucial finishing
service for a wide spectrum of two dimensional parts, including rubber
and foam gaskets, circuit boards, ID cards, stickers and a wide range
of adhesives used in both promotional and medical industries. Die cutting machines come in a variety of configurations, each specialized for creating different types of die cut shapes. Rotary die cutting is a continuous process that pushes material sheets through rolling calender dies, while steel rule dies cut single or multiple sheets in batches. Laser die cutting,
although it requires no die tooling and produces much less waste
material, can be time consuming and costly for long runs; ultrasonic
die cutting is a relatively new technology which uses ultrasonic
vibrations to cut and heat seal edges simultaneously. Die cut foam
is used extensively in medical, hydraulic, electronic and consumer
industries as gaskets, vibration absorbers, bandages and adhesives,
while plastic die cutting produces a wide range of display items such
as die cut handle bags and stickers.
Rotary, steel rule, crush and kiss die cutting are performed on flat
sheets of material by a cookie cutter-like cutting tool called a die.
Steel rule die cutting, the simplest and most common type of die
cutting, uses sharpened, thin "steel rule" blade dies which are
embedded in rubber and mounted on a solid wood block; the rubber
surrounding the steel rule's cutting edge allows serves to eject
punched out pieces, and the sheets of foam, plastic, rubber or
adhesives are rapidly crushed between the die and a rubber pad with
several tons of force. In rotary die cutting, sheets of material are
crush cut between the angled blades on a cylindrical die and an anvil.
Typically, the material is cut in continuous roll form, though sheets
of metal can be fed through the rotary die. Rotary steel rule drum is a
combination of rotary and steel rule die cutting which is used to cut
large parts such as boxes or garments with a high degree of accuracy.
In ultrasonic die cutting services, a metal horn vibrates in a manner
similar to that of an audio speaker, although ultrasonic waves are
below the level of human hearing; the resulting vibrations generate
heat and pressure that will seal thermoplastic materials. Laser die
cutting machines, which are operated by CNC, are driven by a 3-axis
table. Laser die cut machines come in two types: flat cutters, which
cut flat sheets of material, and rotary cutters, which cut material
from a web.
Steel rule dies are made for a number of applications. Conventional
dies can attain the highest accuracies and the most intricate of forms
as well as fold lines, scores and perforated or partial cuts. These
dies are typically used to cut corrugated boxes, folding cartons,
gaskets, plastics, fabric, rubber, foam and composites. The blades are
held in place by high density plywood; the thickness of the blade is
usually between .028" and .056". Heavy duty steel rule dies, such as
clicker dies and bolt dies, have thicker blades (.056"-.112") to cut
through thicker, tougher materials such as plastics, Kevlar, fabric,
rubber, leather and composites to make a range of gaskets, vibration
absorbers and plastic parts. Both rotary and steel rule die cutting can
perform either kiss cutting or crush cutting. Crush cutting creates a
cut all the way through the material sheet, making a clean, complete
hole; foam pads, adhesive bandages, gaskets and rubber parts are
usually crush cut. Kiss cutting, which is used only on backed
adhesives, cuts through the top layer of a backed adhesive material
without cutting through the backing as well. This is used to create
sheets of stickers, foam adhesives, bumpers and many other products
which may be peeled off a backing sheet.
Rotary dies are typically used in the corrugated box industry, but are
also commonly utilized for plastics, foam, rubber and textiles. In
rotary die cutting, parts are consistently within a tolerance as tight
as .02", slightly higher than typical steel rule die cutting, which
must be carefully aligned by hand and is more error prone. Laser die
cutting can cut intricate, precision tolerance shapes and is very
useful for cutting materials that are impossible for conventional steel
rule dies to cut, such as steel thicker than .5". Laser die cutting can
also be used to cut ABS, acrylic, aluminum, brass, composites, copper
and cured fiberglass. Because laser die cutting uses no dies, it
requires none of the costly initial tooling which all other types of
die cutting requires; this cuts down on cost, while the laser die
cutting process cuts down on wasted material due to its high tolerance
capabilities. These properties make laser die cutting ideal for
prototyping and short runs, but laser die cutting cannot cut parts at
the speed and volume rotary and steel rule die cutters can, and most
typical long run projects are still performed more time and cost
efficiently by traditional dies. Ultrasonic die cutting is ideal for
cutting thermoplastic material that tends to easily fray. However, this
type of die cutting is limited in that only relatively thin materials
can be cut, and parts have a small maximum width.