Rotary Die Cutting

Rotary die cutting is a versatile fabrication process employed in a wide array of manufacturing sectors to precisely and efficiently cut, form, and shape a wide variety of materials ranging from paper, plastic, and metal to edible food products. The rotary dies we manufacture at Bernal have a proven track record of over 50 years of trusted performance across multiple industries, each fabricated to the demanding and exacting standards of their particular application. Our dies cut shapes, make perforations and creases, all while maximizing efficiency, minimizing wasted material and downtime.

Rotary die cutting continuously processes a material through rotating circular cutting dies, eliminating the wasted time that is a part of traditional start/stop presses and stamping dies during their cycle times. This efficiency results in unrivaled production output compared to other die cutting options.

Our rotary dies and rotary systems are easily adaptable to a wide variety of highly sophisticated applications. Below is just a sample of the industries where you’re likely to find our equipment:

• Medical Products
• Beverage Packaging and Labeling
• Folding Cartons
• Batteries and Energy Storage
• Consumer Products and Packaging

The rotary die machines we design and build are fully customized to enable the most efficient process to manufacture a product. Our tailored approach ensures the best material yield, reduced waste, and the highest product output. We also can configure our machines to make sure that waste material is captured and removed in a clean, efficient and controlled manner without interruption in production.

All dies made here at Bernal are exceedingly precise with the highest standards of quality. Bernal uses a mix of the latest equipment and techniques developed to provide solutions for even the most challenging applications. Our capabilities include a variety of proprietary equipment and patented processes developed by Bernal in our relentless pursuit of leading the way in rotary die manufacturing technology.

The major categories of rotary dies are crush cut, and RP®. Crush cut dies are the most flexible, and widely adapted rotary tooling. Fully customizable, and adaptable to a wide variety of applications, crush cut tooling can cut, crease, emboss, or form materials. RP® tooling features upper and lower matched dies. When converting suitable materials with this process it can offer the longest die life and the best cut quality. With an extremely strong, squared off blade profile the upper and lower dies cut with a “shearing” type of force without the blades making direct contact. On both crush cut and RP® style dies, high wear areas can be segmented to allowing for selective replacement of these specific areas keeping dies in production with less maintenance downtime, and with lower long-term cost. Our Fusion™ process option also offers the benefits of exotic, ultra-premium metals but at a cost more comparable to standard grade materials.

Whether your application is narrow or wide web, Bernal sets the industry standard for high-speed rotary dies with unmatched quality and size capability of up to 110” (2800mm) in width and 35” (890mm) in diameter.

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Flexible vs. Solid Rotary Dies. What’s the Difference?

There are two types of rotary dies: flexible and solid. Rotary die cutting involves either a flexible or solid rotary die. These dies are both cylindrical dies. A flexible die is made of a thin sheet of steel, and wraps around a magnetic cylinder. A solid die is a solid steel cylinder, and is traditionally used in more long run applications for extended die life. Bernal develops solid rotary dies for converting and product manufacturing applications throughout many industry sectors.