Rotary Gasket Die Cutting

Rotary die cutting involves cutting materials including foam, foam rubber, foils and nonwovens between the blades on a cylindrical die and an anvil which is a smooth hard cylinder. Though sheets of material can be fed through a rotary die, it is more common to cut material including foam parts in continuous roll form (defined in the industry as a web).

The capacity of a rotary die process is defined as the widest possible part that can be cut on the equipment. For example, our 13" (330mm) can be utilized in die cutting foam, foils, rubber materials for gasketing, cushioning, vibration control, stablization and medical applications.

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Rotary cutting has a number of distinct advantages:

The depth of cut can be controlled precisely between the anvil and the die which makes it ideal for 'kiss' cutting and results in long life and clean cuts for 'thru' cutting.

Cuts tend to be consistent since the dies are machined from a single piece of tool steel. The blades will break or wear out before moving. It is possible to make a bad cut by deforming the material going through the die.

Material can be processed at high rates of speed. The limiting factor for productivity rarely lies in the cutting. It is usually the material handling, the size of the rolls, or other in-line processes that limits the process speed.

Rotary processes lend themselves to being combined. It is not usual to combine rotary cutting with coating a substrate, laminating a foam gasket material, and embossing it before die cutting.

Because processes can be stacked, the register (timing) between each process can be maintained. A Flexo printed label is an example of this. Each color is a separate rotary process as is the cutting out of the label. When combined in a single rotary process, the relationship between these steps can be adjusted and an aesthetic product is produced at high speeds.

See: Disadvantages of rotary processes