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.
- Fast Order Turnaround
Time
- Tight Tolerances to
within +/- .005
- High Volume production
- Prototype and Short
Run production
- Design and Engineering
Support
- CAD/CAM Support
- Material Selection and
Acquisition
 back to top
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
ROTARY DIE CUTTING MATERIALS:
Silicone, Neoprene foam, rubber, polyurethane, foils, felt,
nonwovens, all with adhesive CLICK
FOR CHART
Given these features, rotary
die cutting is ideal for:
- High
volume applications
- Kiss
cutting
- Combining
with other processes
- Precision
cuts up to +/- 0.002 per inch.
- Low
piece part cost (based on volume)
- Just-In-Time
application
 Rotary
Die Cutting Tolerances(xls 72Kb)
back
to top
|
PLI can custom-cut parts from
most any material that can be bonded to an adhesive or
tape. The process is similar to adhesive-backed labels.
Foam arts are cut through the material and adhesive,
to - but not through - the fabrication liner... a process
known as kiss-cutting. Kiss-cut parts are often used
for ease in removal of single parts on customer assembly
line systems. PLI has the ability to kiss-cut parts of
thick non-rigid, as well as thin gage metal materials
that have adhesive two-sides; or multiple thickness laminations
of two or more materials.