Best Custom Plastic Die Cutting Services
We’ve been serving corporate customers with custom plastic die cutting services for more than 70 years. Our combination of individual experience and organizational expertise enables us to provide the highest quality product within fair timelines. Plastics can vary greatly, however, so it is imperative to use the right process, die material and tooling to assure the final components meet the required specifications.
Plastic Selection and Types
While there are broadly two categories of plastics, the actual number of variants is in the dozens. They vary based on chemical properties, such as hardness, resistance to impacts or abrasions, chemical and heat protection among several other factors. We’ve provided a brief overview of some of the most common types, split between thermoplastics which can be reheated and reformed, and thermoset plastics which cannot.
| Thermoplastic | Properties | Common Applications |
|---|---|---|
| PETG (Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol) | Clear, tough, good chemical resistance | Face shields, packaging, signage |
| Polyethylene (PE) | Flexible, chemical resistant, low cost | Packaging films, gaskets, containers |
| PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) | Versatile, durable, flame-retardant | Medical tubing, credit cards, wire insulation |
| Polycarbonate (PC) | High impact strength, heat resistant, transparent | Safety glasses, automotive parts, electronic components |
| ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) | Tough, rigid, good dimensional stability | Electronic housings, automotive trim, protective headgear |
| Polypropylene (PP) | Lightweight, good fatigue resistance, chemical resistant | Hinges, living hinges, food containers |
| Acrylic (PMMA) | Optical clarity, UV resistant, rigid | Display panels, lenses, light guides |
| Thermoset Plastic | Properties | Common Applications |
|---|---|---|
| Phenolic | Heat resistant, electrical insulator, dimensionally stable | Electrical components, automotive parts, circuit boards |
| Epoxy | Strong adhesion, chemical resistant, good electrical properties | Adhesives, coatings, electronic encapsulation |
| Polyurethane | Flexible, abrasion resistant, impact resistant | Gaskets, seals, cushioning components |
| Silicone | Heat resistant, flexible at low temperatures, electrically insulating | Gaskets, seals, medical implants |
| Melamine | Hard, heat resistant, good electrical properties | Kitchenware, decorative laminates, electrical switches |
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Best Practices for Custom Plastic Die Cutting
When working with a die cutting company, it’s important to ensure that someone, either you or your supplier, has the experience and expertise to follow each of the following steps to ensure that your custom plastic die cutting application comes out correctly, on budget and within schedule. They also happen to follow the steps that Colvin-Friedman takes with each of our clients to ensure that projects are successful within tight tolerances or timeframes:
Material Selection
As noted above, choosing the right plastic for the application is a key component in ensuring that the parts meet all required specifications for stress, resistance and other measures. An experienced custom plastic die cutting company can handle issues like PVC’s off-gassing or polyethylene’s low melting point. In order to make it simpler to review plastic types, we’ve included a selector enabling you to choose the traits most important for your application and receive some plastic options to consider.
Plastic Selector Widget
Design Optimization
DFM, or designing for manufacturing, is one of the first elements of quality control in a project. It’s where the design is simulated through either experience and rubrics or actual simulations to ensure that parts will be able to be completed per their design. To take just one example, the distance between holes or holes and edges should be at least 1.5 times material thickness for most plastics. Another would be to consider grain direction to reduce splitting and cracking risks.
Tooling
Since die cutting is such a flexible process, ensure that the tooling meets the job perfectly. Thinner and less rigid plastics can be cut using rotary dies and different metals. Thicker plastics may require a steel rule die to ensure the cuts are made to the exact depth required. In either case, ensuring that the speed of the process meets scheduling requirements without melting the plastic is a crucial element that inexperienced die cutters can forget.
Process Control
Maintaining consistent conditions and processes will be the key to any successful custom plastic die cutting project. Experienced technicians and engineers routinely monitor the temperatures of plastics as they go through the production line, also checking and assessing pressure and timing to minimize issues like burring or dimensional changes throughout the entire run.
Quality Assurance
While monitoring of the processes is critical, so, too are the outcomes. At Colvin-Friedman, quality control staff are constantly looking for signs of stress whitening or other unexpected outcomes. While the other steps in the process should mitigate this possibility, it can happen on rare occasions and is done prior to delivery to a client or integration with their inventory management system.
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Key Issues with Custom Plastic Die Cutting
Below are some of the best practices we’ve developed that help mitigate some of the common and less common issues with custom plastic die cutting.
| Static Buildup |
| Static can cause materials to misalign or stick together during the production process, so active elimination systems like ionizing bars along the production lines are the first line of defense. In some cases, special additives may be required for either the plastic in use or as a coating for the dies to ensure static is kept at bay throughout the process, along with maintaining consistent relative humidity. |
| Burring and Edge Inconsistency |
| While the most common reason for edge inconsistency is a lack of die maintenance, other factors come into play as well. Fibrous plastics that have a specific grain can be cut using shear action or a two-stage cutting process. Experts will also be able to modify the speeds and pressures involved to maximize efficiency without reducing quality. |
| Environmental Effects on Dimensions |
| Temperature control is critical in ensuring custom plastic die cutting success. Experienced die cutters will acclimate the materials to the operating conditions prior to a run and consistently monitor both temperature and relative humidity levels within the facility. |
| Minimizing Process Heat Impact |
| An experienced die cutter will carefully monitor production run speeds to maintain consistent temperature ranges as well as pause cycles. For certain low-melt plastics, different die coatings may be required. |
| Stress Whitening |
| During the design phase, check that there are minimal stress points and ensure that the die cutter’s die-making accounts for potential brittleness. In some cases, heating the material beforehand or annealing afterwards can minimize the effect. |
| Incomplete Cuts and Material Thickness Variability |
| Ensure the die cutter uses pressure control systems, including feedback loops along with floating plates, to adapt to minor variations. Verify that the die cutter has a schedule in place for regular die maintenance and replacement for larger orders. |
Get a Custom Plastic Die Cutting Quote
If you are looking for the expertise that comes with 70 years of custom die cutting experience, Colvin-Friedman is excited to provide you a complimentary quote on your project. We are able to advise on material selection, design considerations and remain in constant contact with you throughout the process before integrating with your inventory management system.
For more information, click the button below to request a quote
Or call Josh at (707) 769-4488