What Fabrication Processes Are Available to Business Owners?
Anytime a business needs to produce large numbers of identical and highly accurate shapes through cutting, forming and shaping sheet or rolled metal, or some other material, such as paper or plastic, business owners frequently use a versatile fabrication process called die cutting.
Different manufacturers use varying die cutting processes, which include:
- Flatbed
- Press
- Laser
- Rotary
What Is the Rotary Die Cutting Fabrication Process and Why Is It Chosen So Often?
Since the rotary die cutting procedure takes place on a heavy-duty cylindrical anvil, or rotary press, it provides a stable and efficient method that works well for clients’ high-volume projects. This type of fabrication process produces little waste, mostly due to the sheer simplicity of the machine’s design and specific capabilities.
Similar to the idea of a mold in other processes, a die serves as the customized tool that makes the cuts and shapes in the materials chosen. the The most common dies used in the process include engraved dies that offer stability and a solid base due to its mass, adjustable dies for varied blade options and magnetic plate tooling that also offers a stabilizing force due to the power of the magnets.
The rotary die cutting process begins when an operator feeds a long web or sheet of material into the die cutting machine’s “station,” which is the spot that contains the rotary cutting tool that creates the designed shapes by various methods, including cutting programmed shapes, creating perforations and creases or whittling the sheet or web down to smaller pieces. A set of well-calibrated gears ensure that a rotary die cutting machine will work at the same speed as the rest of the process for high accuracy and quality. As for the flexible foam material, it goes through the machine, the small amount of waste material filters into a catcher for easy clean-up and disposal.
Since the rotary die cutting cylinders feature a limited size, they are only suitable for smaller projects — a few feet wide or less — but that still leaves plenty of options for manufacturers, which include:
- Polyester foam packaging
- Gasket foam seals
- Polyester foam rollers
- Waterjet cut foam gasketing
- Waterjet cut polyester foam spiral
- Polyester foam case insert
- Reticulated polyurethane foam filter
- Flexible gasketing material
- Fabricated foam gasket
Ultimately, this process offers many benefits to a company that regularly needs precision cutting on various materials, quick turnaround times and the potential for taking on multiple projects at once since users can combine die cutting with coating, embossing and lathing processes.
