DIE CUTTING
Leading the custom gasket manufacturing industry, Denver Rubber Company provides flexible solutions for all custom die cutting and gasket fabrication projects. We stock an extensive inventory of rubber and gasket materials for all of your applications, including Neoprene, EPDM, Viton and Silicone amongst many other options.
DIE CUTTING can be defined as a process whereby shapes are cut from sheets of material by using a shaped knife and pressing the edge into one (or a number) of layers of sheeting. The dies that are used in this process are most often referred to as steel rule dies. After the cutting is complete, the part is ejected from the die by the use of some form of ejection material.
There are a several types of die cutting equipment, but the most commonly used are the clicker press, beam press, travelling head press and rotary die press, also known as gasket die cutters. Let’s take a closer look at the different types.
Clicker presses, beam presses, and traveling head presses are fairly labor intensive methods of cutting materials. One of the biggest advantages of this type of die cutting is tooling costs can kept to a minimum, small to medium sized production runs can be cost competitive, and tolerance of material cuts can be maintained over long periods. Different combinations of materials are better suited to this process of die cutting. It all depends on what specific materials are needed for the project at hand.
Rotary die cutting involves the unwinding of material that is then put through a hydraulic press. Afterwards a precision engraved steel cylinder die is used to first roll over and then cut a variety of shapes and sizes out of the material. This material is very manageable at this point in time. It can be carried by a release liner and rolled onto a new core or if preferred, the sheets can be made into pads. The rotary dies can do one of two things. They can cut completely through the material and its corresponding release liner (called metal to metal die-cut) or it can cut through the material and down to (but not right through) the release liner also known as a kiss-cut.
Rotary die cutting has its advantages. The tooling allows for the creation of the same part over and over again, to tolerances as tight as .005 and parts are regularly within tolerance. Another big plus is in the speed with which material can be cut. It is an effective method for longer run quantities of materials requiring a die-cut area.
Note that there are other methods of cutting materials. Please refer to our other pages for additional cutting options.
Die-Cutting Tips
When determining whether a substrate is suitable for die-cutting, the following points should be considered:
• The thickness and firmness of the material.
• The stretch and elasticity, or spring back, of the material.
• The coatings or laminated components of the material.
• In order to provide a high quality die-cut, the following factors should be considered:
• The type of substrate that will be die-cut.
• The type of die and blades used for the cut.
• The cutting surface (hardened steel? compressible substrate?) on which the substrate will be placed during the process of die-cutting.
• The type of equipment that is used to apply the die-cut.