Updates - Rotary Dies & Tooling

2003.12.12 | 12.12.12

	The conventional method of producing and sharpening dies is giving way to new processes which, which some predict, will change the tools for better. (Excerpt from Labels & Narrow Web article by Jack Kenny).

	Rotary Dies & Tooling

A cutting die is a timeless tool. The power to create a shape in a substrate, be it a hole, a border, a crease or a perforation, has changed the packaging industry over the years. The web fed press gave rise to rotary tooling, which is the predominant type used in the narrow web industry today.

For a while it seemed that the creation of dies would also remain consistent. Fashioned from steel using engraving techniques, the nearly finished rotary die goes for its final baptism to the hand finisher, the skilled worker who uses the human eye to bring the cutting edge to perfect sharpness. Dies are still made that way throughout the world. But changes are taking place that could have a significant effect on the sharpening process.

Laser consolidation
On the horizon for rotary dies is a revolutionary process called laser consolidation. Research on the method has been under way for a couple of years at the National Research Council of Canada's (NRC) Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Institute, in London, ON. Prototypes of this next generation of dies are being worked on by Rotoflex International, in Mississauga, ON.

Laser consolidation produces a die that is made in a manner opposite to that of conventional dies. Whereas conventional dies begin as a steel cylinder whose cutting shape is created by removing metal, the laser consolidation die is made by building up the cutting edge onto a cylinder.

According to an abstract published by NRC, the dies are made as follows: a Nd:YAG laser beam is focused on the blank surface of the cylinder to create a molten pool, while metal powder is simultaneously injected into the pool. The blank is mounted on a stage, and the stage moves according to the die design to form the cutting pattern. "A layer of molten material is deposited on the blank surface which rapidly re-solidifies and forms a metallurgical bond to the substrate and forms the first layer of the cutting blade to be built. Subsequent passes are then deposited on the previous pass until the desired height of the blades is achieved. The process produced fully dense and metallurgical sound cutting blades without porosity or cracks."

"We've been working with NRC of Canada for well over a year on this," says Val Rimas, vice president of sales and marketing for Rotoflex. "Here's the advantage we saw: We're going into a green revolution, and we have to consider what to do with the old dies that are out there. We could see this process as allowing us to take older dies and build blades on them through the laser process. We also saw that different blades could be made using different materials, to get the correct hardness."

Rotoflex currently is in the prototype stage. "We've manufactured a number of these dies, which are being used by our customers, and we're getting data back from them now," Rimas adds. "The response so far is fantastic. The dies perform better than conventional tooling." The company also is working on laser sharpening of dies, as well as machine sharpening. Read the full article ...

Excerpt from Labels & Narrow Web article by Jack Kenny


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