Die Cutting is applied after a square or rectangular sheet is printed on a press. At The Odee Company, we can do this after it is printed in either our digital or offset press departments. We then take it to one of multiple die cutters and the figure is die cut out of the sheet. To do this it requires a steel rule die that has two types of steel rules. One is a cutting rule that is sharp enough to cut through the paper and one is a scoring rule that is rounded at the top of the rule so it will crease the paper to enable easy, accurate folds.
After die cutting, you must scrap the die cut piece out of the remainder of the sheet. The die cut part is held in the sheet with nicks that are put in the die. This is needed so the piece does not fall out in the press.
It is pretty rare for a printer to have the capability of die cutting in house. Most printers will send out all die cutting.
The Odee Company is one of the few Dallas Printers that does die cutting in house. We do this to control costs and control quality and turn times.
The following video explains die cutting process as done in The Odee Company printer.
More info about die cutting process in this article from Wikipedia.
If you have a need for short run fast turn digital printing please contact us at sales@odeecompany.com.