How Does Die Cutting Work?
When you buy blank
labels from an office supply store they are always die cut into
shape. Then you print on these blank die-cut labels. In the world of
professional label printing it works the other way around. We load a
roll of blank label material into our digital label printer and we
print on this material. Then we die cut the material into shape to
create finished labels. Sounds easy, right?
Die cutting is
actually a very complicated and intricate process where dozens of
variables have to come together to produce a good looking finished
label. Take a look at the above diagram. The cutting blade of the
die has to cut through the label material with just enough strength
to ensure a clean cut, but not too much strength that is cuts into
the backing paper. As you can see here, this requires a great deal
of precision.
The other difficult
part in die-cutting is precisely aligning the die. While we
certainly strive for a perfectly die-cut label, we are dealing with
a roll of material this is moving through a machine, so some tiny
shifts can occur. The tolerance for our die-cutters are plus or
minus 1/32". For most labels you will never notice this tiny
movement, but if you have a very thin border it can become
noticeable. Now, we work hard to keep this movement to an absolute
minimum, but the reality of working with a mechanical machine is
that we can’t eliminate it.
So, next time you
peel off a beautifully die-cut label take a second to appreciate the
effort and precision that went into bringing you this label. While
we love to talk about the brilliant quality of our digital label
printing, it is the die-cutting that provides you with a label you
can actually use.
