Patent Application
20210122078
This disclosure relates to apparatus and method of die press and cutting, in particular to relating to a die press and cutting machines, and the padding system associated with operating the machines.
Die press machines such as clamshell presses and large-format flatbed presses are often used to press and cut on substrate work pieces, such as cardboards, plastic sheets, corrugated boards etc., into products of different shapes. These products can be used for different commercial purposes. A die press machine may include a frame (or base) for supporting a pair of platens made of steel. The pair of platens may include a fixed platen that is secured to the frame, and a moving platen that moves along a track between a fully open (an inoperative) position and a substantially close (an operative) position relative to the fixed platen. The moving platen (or the fixed platen) may provide a substantially flat working surface on which the work pieces to be cut are placed. An inner surface of the fixed platen (or correspondingly the moving platen) may include mounting points at which tooling can be mounted. The tooling can be the cutting blades that may cut the work pieces placed on the working surface of the fixed platen at the operative position. At the inoperative position, one end of the moving platen is pushed away from the fixed platen to allow an operator to place a work piece on the moving platen (or the fixed platen). At the operative position, the moving platen is pushed down towards the fixed platen with force to enable the tooling to cut through the work piece, thus forming the products.
The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
The current die presses use steel blades having certain tooth profiles to cut through work pieces. During cutting, the steel blades are pressed with force (measured in tonnages) against a work piece. The pressing force can cause steal blades cutting through the work piece until the blades strike against (i.e., contact with force) the working surface of the fixed platen. To make a clean cut, it is desirable for the steel blades to apply an even pressure on the work piece until the work piece is cut evenly and cleanly. By pressing the moving platen against the fixed platen, the steel blades compress the work piece until an explosion (clean cut) occurs. To create an even and level load so as to achieve the cut through, an operator needs to prepare a flat working surface on the moving platen (or fixed platen) because the working surface can become uneven (due to knife wears) and the uneven working surface may cause unclean cuts at those uneven areas. The preparation process may take anywhere from 30 to 180 minutes or more of the operator's time.
Additionally, the current steel-to-steel cut can generate high-pitch and high-decibel noise at the explosion. This noise associated with die cutting is a type of working hazard for the die press operator. Also, current die cutting requires the application of a high-tonnage force to compress the work piece against the working surface of the moving platen (or fixed platen). The generation of the high-tonnage force consumes a large amount of energy. Therefore, there is a need to improve the current die cutting.
Instead of the hard steel-to-steel die cutting as currently used in die press machines, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a soft die cutting system that includes a set of soft padding blocks. These padding blocks may be configured into a pad mounted on the top of the working surface of the moving platen (or fixed platen). Each padding block may include a steel backing and a padding layer bonded to the steel backing. The steel backing, when mounted, may be affixed to the working surface of the fixed platen using binding agents (e.g., a magnetic layer) while the padding layer faces the direction of the fixed platen (or moving platen) or the blades. One or more pieces of padding blocks may be placed on the working surface of the moving platen (or fixed platen) to form a pad on top of the moving platen (or fixed platen). The padding blocks may be arranged in a variety of combinations to form the pads of different shapes, thus covering different areas on the working surface. Work pieces to be cut may be placed on the pad formed by the padding blocks to enable a soft cut of the work pieces.
Since padding blocks may be easily rearranged into pads having different area coverages, the time required to provide the cutting surface on the moving platen (or fixed platen) is significantly reduced, compared to the time traditionally spent on preparing the working surface of the moving platen (or fixed platen). Further, because the blades of the die cutter may cut through the work pieces into the soft padding layers of the padding blocks, the press load (or pressing force tonnage) needed for cutting various substrates may be significantly reduced. The deeper cuts into the soft padding layers can result in cleaner cuts (i.e., fewer angel hairs attached to the products). Further, because of the soft padding layer, the steel blades do not directly scratch the working surface of the moving platen (or fixed platen), the noise associated with the die cutting can be reduced significantly, thus improving the working environment for the die press operators.
Moving platen 14 may be transitioned by an operator between the open position and the close position via a track path using gears and arms. In one embodiment, tooling 22 may be installed on the inner surface (e.g., the surface of fixed platen 16 that faces the working surface of moving platen 14) for die cutting. Tooling 22 may include steel blades 24 and rubber ejections 26 that surround the steel blades 24. Steel blades 24 may be installed on the inner surface of fixed platen 16 to create different cutting patterns. During die cutting, steel blades 24 may cut work pieces into products of different shapes, while the rubber ejections 26 may help release the finished products from the steel blades 24.
In one embodiment, instead of mounting work pieces directly onto the working surface of moving platen 14, a soft pad 28 may be mounted on the working surface of moving platen 14 to provide a soft cutting surface to blades 24. Pad 28 may be formed by mounting one or more padding blocks 28 on the working surface of moving platen 14. In one embodiment, padding blocks 28 used to form pad 28 may have substantially the same geometric contour shape. In another embodiment, padding blocks 28 used to form pad 28 may have different contour shapes. Different combinations of padding blocks 28 (of the same shape or different shapes) may produce pad 28 covering different areas on the working surface of moving platen 14.
Padding block 100 may include two or more layers composed of different materials. In one embodiment, as shown in
Different combinations of padding blocks 100 may form pad 28 covering areas of different contour shapes.
The steel backing layer 102 of padding blocks may be used to secure padding blocks 100 onto the moving platen 14. For example, magnetic force may be used to secure padding blocks 100 to the moving platen 14. As shown in
Padding layer 104 of padding blocks 100 may be composed of different types of materials that have a variety of hardness measurements. Thus, padding blocks having padding layers of different hardness measurements may be employed to form pad 28. In one embodiment, the type (i.e., hardness of the padding layer) of padding blocks may be selected based on the tooth profiles of the blades 24 and/or the material of the work pieces being cut. The type of padding blocks 100 is selected to enable a match of the hardness of padding layer with the tooth profiles of blades 24 so that the match may produce the optimal cutting results.
For example, in steel rule die cut, blades may be specified according to a tooth profile including certain geometrical properties of the blade.
The geometrical properties of tooth profile 400 may be used to determine and select the pad with a padding material that best matches to the tooth profile. To prepare for die cuts, the tooth profile may be selected to provide the desired edge quality on the work pieces using the least cutting force. Then, the hardness of the padding layer may be selected to match the tooth profile of the blades being used.
In one embodiment, pad 28 may be formed on the working surface of moving platen 14 using a combination of different types of padding blocks 100. This combination of different types of padding blocks may be particularly useful when blades having different profiles are installed on the inner surface of moving platen 16 to cut work pieces. Thus, the types of padding blocks may be selected to match the blades used to cut particular regions of the work piece.
Because different types of padding layers may be employed to provide cutting surfaces of different hardness measurements with respect to different types of blades, the soft cut system of the present disclosure may broaden the range of work piece materials that can be cut and improve the quality of cuts compared to the current steel-to-steel die cut systems. The soft cut system allows a new range of work piece materials to be cut, including, for example, foam boards and structural paper panels. These materials were traditionally cut by the slow process of plotter tables rather than clamshell die presses. The soft cut system as described in this disclosure may improve the productivity (up to 60 times) over the traditional process using plotter tables.
The interchangeable padding blocks 100 of the soft cut system can also reduce wears on the blades and allow blades of a wider range of tooth profiles to be used because the blades can now cut into the soft surface of the padding layers of the padding blocks. Because the blade cuts into a softer padding layer and does not scratch a cutting surface that is at least as hard as the blade, the wears to the blade is significantly reduced. As such, the useful lives of blades used in the context of the soft cut system can be prolonged, thus reducing the cost for die cut. Further, by cutting against the soft padding layer rather than scratching the hard cutting surface of the fixed platen, the blades do not generate the hazardous noise level while cutting work pieces. The soft cut system further allows for a shear cut motion. The shear cut requires less tonnage for cutting through. The soft cut system can control the depth of the tooth profile cutting into the padding layer to enable precision cuts.
The soft cut system also allows die cutting of multiple layers of work pieces. To cut multiple layers of work pieces, die press may need to increase the tonnage of pressing force applied by the moving platen. The higher tonnage of pressing force may cause damage to the blades when they strike the hard surface of the fixed platen. Thus, the steel-to-steel die cut typically allows die cutting of only a single layer of work piece. In contrast, blades of the die press including the soft cut system as described in the present disclosure cut into the soft material of the padding layer, thus permitting the higher force used in multiple-layer die cutting. For example, the soft cut system can be used to cut up to ten layers of a graphic decal in one press cycle as opposed to only one layer per cycle. Thus, the soft cut system may significantly increase the productivity of clamshell die presses.
In one embodiment, a creasing matrix may be mounted on top of the pad 28. The creasing matrix is a hardware module including channels which a die tooling may press against to create creases on (rather than cutting through) the work pieces.
At 604, in response to determining properties of the work piece, die cut blades of certain tooth profile may be selected based on these properties of the work piece. The tooth profile may be selected based on the material of the work piece and depth that needs to be cut.
At 606, in response to determining properties of the work piece and selecting the die cut blades, the padding blocks may be selected to match the properties of the work piece and the tooth profile of the die cut blades. The padding blocks may be selected to enable an optimal match between the hardness of the padding layer and the tooth profile of the cutting blades.
At 608, in response to selecting the padding blocks, the selected padding blocks may be secured to the moving platen (or fixed platen). In one embodiment, the selected padding blocks may be secured to the moving platen (or fixed platen) using a magnetic layer (e.g., a double-sided magnetic mat) to enable the bonding of padding blocks to the fixed platen. In one embodiment, rather than covering the whole surface of the moving platen (or fixed platen), the pad including the selected padding blocks covers only portions of the whole surface. For example, the pad may cover certain areas that receive the cutting blades during the die cut. After installation of the pad on the moving platen (or fixed platen) and installation of the tooling including the cut blades, an operator may start operating the die press to cut work pieces.
As described in conjunction with
Another issue with the current design is the lateral movement of the padding blocks during use. The cutting force required to effectively cut through a substrate of the work piece can be so large that the knife deflection can occur when the knives penetrate into the urethane padding layer. This deflection causes a horizontal load to be applied to the padding block, and in some circumstances, causes the padding blocks to shift on the working surface. The lateral pad movement can create detachment and thus large gaps between two adjoining padding blocks, and cause male/female creasing matrix that is often bonded to the cutting surface to be misaligned. It is desirable that once the padding blocks are mounted on a working surface and the die press machine begins to produce die cut parts, the padding blocks remain in place until the job is complete. Additionally, if a gap between two adjoining padding blocks is directly underneath a knife while cutting, the cut quality can be negatively impacted. Therefore, there is a need to further improve the construction of padding blocks to reduce the warping of the backing layer and eliminate the detachment between adjoining padding blocks caused by the horizontal loads.
To overcome the above-identified and other deficiencies associated with a thin steel backing layer in padding blocks, embodiments of the disclosure may provide padding blocks comprising a padding layer and a backing layer that is made of flexible magnetic material such as, for example, a magnetic rubber magnet. The magnetic rubber can be a kind of rubber that have magnetism through which the magnetic rubber may be bound to a ferrous material. Because the magnetic rubber material has a lower tensile strength and is more elastic than steel, the backing layer made of the rubber magnet material can expand with the padding layer made of polyurethane material, thereby more likely maintaining a flat surface compared with the steel backing layer. To bind the backing layer made of the magnetic rubber material, embodiments of the disclosure may further provide a steel plate that is not bonded to the padding blocks. Instead, the steel plate is secured to the working surface of the moving platen (or the fixed platen) using a fasten member. Thus, the magnetic backing layer may be bound to the steel plate secured to the working surface while the steel plate is safe from warping because it is not bonded to the polyurethane padding layer of the padding blocks. Embodiments of the disclosure may further provide more than multiple padding blocks that may be interlocked using interconnectors. To this end, each padding blocks may include one or more grooves along its edge. The interconnectors may couple two adjoining padding blocks through their grooves along their adjoining edges. In this way, embodiments may effectively prevent detachments between two adjoining padding blocks caused by the impacts on the knives on the padding blocks.
If the working surface of the moving platen on the die machine is a ferrous steel surface, padding blocks 702A, 702B may be directly secured to the working surface by the magnetic force. If the working surface of the moving platen on the die machine is not a ferrous material, or the magnetic rubber backing layer 706 cannot secured to the working surface by the magnetic force, a padding system 700 may include a steel plate 708 that may be installed on the working surface of the die machine. In one implementation, steel plate 708 may include multiple through holes 706. Bolts or screws may be used to secure steel plate 708 to the working plate (e.g., by fastening bolts or screws into anchor holes in the working plates). Padding blocks 702A, 702B may then be bound to steel plate 708 by magnetic force after steel plate 708 is secured to the working surface.
In one embodiment, padding blocks 702A, 702B may include one or more grooves 710 along their edges. Each groove 710 may be a carved out along the edges and may have a shape with a narrow outlet on the edge and wider open space inside the groove. When two padding blocks 702A, 702B are placed side by side, the groove on the edge of 702A may match to the groove on the edge of 702B. Padding system 700 may also include interconnectors 712 (e.g., Bowtie connectors) that may be tightly fit into the matched grooves 710 along the edges of padding blocks 702A, 702B. In this way, padding blocks 702A, 702B may be interlocked with each other through the coupling among interconnectors 712 and grooves 710.
To further prevent padding blocks 702A, 702B from lateral shifts, padding system 700 may further include cam retention members 714 which can be quad cams with a curved contour or a combination of partially curved and partially linear contours. Cam retention member 714 may include an eccentric through hole in the sense that the linear distance from a center of the eccentric through hole to different points on the outer contour vary relative to angular positions of these points. For example, the distances may continuously increase or decrease as a function of the angular positions. An angular position refers to the angle of a point with respect to a reference position on the contour. The eccentric through hole of the cam retention member 714 may be aligned with through hole 716 on the steel plate 708 so that cam retention member 714 may be fastened by the bolt or screw used to secure steel plate 708. In one embodiment as shown in
The words “example” or “exemplary” are used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “example” or “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the words “example” or “exemplary” is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X includes A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X includes A; X includes B; or X includes both A and B, then “X includes A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. Moreover, use of the term “an embodiment” or “an embodiment” or “an implementation” or “one implementation” throughout is not intended to mean the same embodiment or implementation unless described as such.
Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least an embodiment. Thus, the appearance of the phrases “in an embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. In addition, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.”
It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. Many other implementations will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading and understanding the above description. The scope of the disclosure should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/060,198 filed on Jun. 7, 2018, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/265,217 filed on Dec. 9, 2015 and the PCT Application No. PCT/2016/065753 filed on Dec. 9, 2016, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62265217 | Dec 2015 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16060198 | Jun 2018 | US |
| Child | 17119156 | US |
