Ask almost anyone unfamiliar with the diecutting process "What is diecutting" and they will probably look at you with a puzzled face and shrug their shoulders to indicate that they have not the faintest idea what diecutting is. Go to a library and ask for books on diecutting and most likely you will not find a single book on the subject. Diecutting is an invisible process inside many converting manufacturing operations. It is a vital process that in it's own way affects almost everyone in their day to day lives. To the common person, the most visible reference to diecutting probably is a listing in the Yellow Pages of your phone book entitled "Diecutting". You probably could also find the Diecutting listing in regional urban Business to Business Phone books. People who consider themselves experts in one of the many segments of the diecutting process are often unfamiliar with how someone else in another area of diecutting accomplishes their diecutting on different materials or products. The total diecutting process is immense but is also very segmented. A company diecutting individual component parts of leather wallets on a swing arm clicker press probably has no idea of how a folding carton manufacturer diecuts and creases folding cartons on high volume automatic platen presses.

Diecutting in it's most basic form can best be equated your mother making cookies. At Christmas time she could roll out cookie dough on a kitchen counter and cut out shapes of Christmas trees, snowmen or other figures using a tin cookie cutter. She could cut out as many Christmas tree shapes as she wanted to make identical shaped cookies. She is in effect diecutting her cookie dough into cookie shapes. This same concept has been used for decades to cut duplicate items out of many soft to semi hard materials like, leather, paper, fabrics, plastics and a whole array of other materials.

Diecutting as a process in manufacturing developed as a result of the Industrial Revolution when manufacturers started to standardize the component parts of their products. Take the manufacturing of shoes, for example. Leather shoes are manufactured from a number of component parts to include vamps, quarters, outer soles, inner soles etc. Before the Industrial Revolution, a shoemaker would make a tracing of a customer's feet and hand craft a pair of shoes or boots to fit the customers feet. The fit of the shoes depended upon the skill of the craftsman making the footwear. Eventually, made to order shoes we made available to customers. A shoe manufacturer developed patterns in size ranges and started to cut out the parts using a pattern with a hand held knife and eventually cutting dies.

In the mid 1800's, several new development took place. Shoe manufacturers started to use a cutting die called a mallet handle die. This hand held die usually in the shape of a sole of a shoe was used to cut the sole design out of heavy leather. Imagine a person holding the handle with a die attached in one hand. With his other hand holding a heavy rawhide mallet, he would strike the end of the handle while the die was pressed down on the top of a hide of leather. The leather would be placed on top of an end grained maple wood block and the die would cut throughout the leather slightly penetrating the surface of the wood block. With a whomp of the mallet, the sharp edge of the die cut through the leather and produced a perfectly diecut part of the shoe. Mallet handle dies were the beginning of the diecutting process. Dieing machines or basic belt driven die presses were used to cut out shoe parts in the late 1800's. A later development was the development of the swing arm clicker press about the turn of the century. It was then possible to make heat treated 9/16" and 3/4" single and double edge clicker dies to cut out the various right and left component parts of shoes.

In an entirely different part of the converting process another development happened. Again, in the mid 1800's the printing press was used to print and to crease paper to make a fold in the paper stock. An almost identical event happened both in England and also in the United States. There are many stories to tell of who first stumbled onto the idea of diecutting paper, but, here is the way it happened. A printer in New York City was setting up his printing press to crease some paper stock. He applied too much pressure to the creasing rule in the press and the creasing rule cut into the paper. The press operator had an idea. He took the crease blade and ground a sharp edge onto the crease rule. He then put the rule back into the press and the rule cut through the paper. The era of diecutting paper and paperboard was upon us. In England another printer experienced the same situation and a company by the name of Notting started to produce steel rule cutting blades.

From the early developments in the shoe and printing industries, companies producing soft goods discovered that they could die cut thousand upon thousands of identical parts that could be assembled into products. The diecutting operation was always a part of the total manufacturing operation, one of many different operations in the whole process. It was truly an invisible operation that was taken for granted and did not receive much notoriety. Looking at a product, it was difficult for the consumer to visualize that diecutting was an integral parts of the manufacturing process.

Today it is impossible to spend an hour of a day and not wear, use or see something that has not been diecut. It can be said that diecutting influences every aspect of our daily lives. It's invisible influence affects everyone. For example, many items of clothing that you wear are diecut. All of the component parts of your shoes or boots are diecut. Many parts of women intimate apparel, bras and girdles are diecut. Your pockets in your jeans or trousers, shirts and sport coats or suit coats are diecut. Shirt collars and underlinings are diecut. Your wallet, key case or eyeglass case are diecut. In most cases the plastic eyeglass frames and temples are die cut. All your credit cards are diecut. The coat fronts of suits and coats are trimmed with cutting dies. When you ride in your automobile, remember that many component parts are diecut to include the upholstery, floor coverings, gaskets in the engine, sound dampening firewalls between the engine and the passenger compartment and even the dashboard is cut and trimmed using multi-contour cutting and trim dies. The parts are all visible, but the process to cut or trim the parts is in most instances invisible to the consumer.

In the area of packaging of products, we see a great application for diecutting. Every day you are using some type of paperboard or corrugated packaging. They are all diecut. Many packages are thermoformed or blister packed. Again the parts are cut or trimmed using cutting dies.

The application of diecutting techniques are a diverse as is imaginable. Many flexible printed circuit boards in electronic devices are diecut. Envelopes and labels are diecut. Life jackets, fish sticks, pizzas, medical products, playing cards and sanitary napkins, tobacco for cigars, number and letters for highway signs and athletic uniforms are diecut. Pressure sensitive vinyl signs can been seen displaying many products on trucks and trailers. The world of diecutting is all around us. Invisible as diecutting may be, the results of the process is very visible in everyday life.

How does this process work?

There is a wide range of types of cutting dies and diecutting press systems to cut an trim different materials and products. Which type of cutting die or cutting press depends on several basic considerations of the material to be diecut:

1. The thickness of the materials

2. The rigidity or firmness of the material

3. The compression or springback of the material

4. Surface coatings or layered compositions of the material

5. Single ply or multiple ply diecutting

6. Stretch or distortion of the material while diecutting

7. Affects of temperature and humidity.

The best solutions for cutting and trimming different materials or products depend upon the understanding of the basic elements of having a sharp knife blade penetrate through a particular layer of material to produce a good clean cut while maintaining the integrity of the material

1. The material to be diecut.

2. The cutting die used to cut the material.

3. The cutting surface that you either cut against ("Onto" Diecutting) such as a hardened steel plate or a softer cutting surface like polypropylene that you slightly cut into ("Into Diecutting).

4. The cutting press. All of the above elements above must be understood and considered to obtain good diecutting.

The correct type of cutting die is an essential element in the success of the diecutting process. For years diemakers worked at their craft of producing different types of cutting dies. Little if anything was ever written down by diemakers because they were often too busy building their dies. Many diemakers considered their skills a personal measure of their worth and did not want to share their techniques or tricks of the trade. Again, try and find a book on the manufacturing of cutting dies. You can find books on manufacturing dies, but those are male female type dies for blanking out metal products. In our Dieco Library you will find one of the finest and most complete collections of articles and written documents on the diemaking and diecutting processes

There are different types of cutting dies that are best suited to cut different types of materials. There are certain techniques or tricks of the trade, so to say, that are more appropriate to use for cutting one type of material over another. The art die diemaking and diecutting is still a trail and error process. You will note that I said the art vs. the science, because diemaking and diecutting still incorporates many craftsmen techniques and the experts understanding of how to cut or trim one material over another material.

That information on the best techniques or methods can be found in the Dieco Library on Dieco Forums or by attending a Diecutting Symposium. DDIN International (Diecutting Diemaking Intelligence Newsletter) is a quarterly 72 page publication devoted to all elements of the diecutting process. DDIN has been published quarterly since 1986. There are also several excellent publications dealing with steel rule diemaking and diecutting techniques in the folding carton industry published by Diecutting Information Exchange, Inc. There is a professional international association called the International Association of Diecutting and Diemaking that is dedicated to providing members with information on all areas of the die cutting process. Throughout the world there are groups or associations of diemaking groups that are actively trying to improve the level of diemaking and diecutting excellence.

This article is simply intended to provide readers with a taste of what diecutting is and resources to explore to more fully understand the fine points of efficiently and effectively diecutting many different types of materials. The DIECO Website will become the central source of information on the many diverse elements of the diecutting process.

Written by:

Robert A. Larson, President

Larson Associates