A Die-cutter works in a surprisingly simple way. The mechanism is pressed into the material, e.g. balsa wood, and using force to ‘cut’ the desired shape. Overtime, the accuracy and precision of the Die-cutting method has increased and has been become an extremely effective way of creating custom packaging.
To start the Die-cutting process, the packaging outline is transferred to the ‘die board’, ready for the cutting stage. To achieve this, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is generally used to digitally impose the design lines onto the board via laser cutters.Ensuring that all of the lines are mapped out accurately onto the board is very important before progressing to the next stage.
There are several types of die-cutting that are used for different requirements. Typically, ‘through cutting’ is used to cut through the material and create a shape of material. This is most often used for custom packaging designs. ‘Creasing’ is used to indent the material with a line, which makes it easier to fold. ‘Scoring’ similar to creasing, leaves a partial cut or indentation. Finally, ‘Perforating’ creates a line of small cuts into the material which results in a line that is easy to tear.