Die Cutting vs Waterjet Cutting

Two common options for cutting large numbers of identical, flat parts are die cutting and waterjet cutting. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, and applications where one or the other makes the most sense in terms of speed, cost per part, and other factors. Let’s begin with a definition of each technology.

Die Cutting: Die cutting is a manufacturing process using specialized and custom tools (dies) along with some type of force to press the die through the stock material. Die cutting is used predominantly with soft materials like paper, plastic and foam, while there are some much less common uses for processing very thin sheet metal. While the term die cutting is used to refer to both flatbed as well as rotary applications, this article is generally considering flatbed application as it generally has more cross-over with waterjet cutting. In these applications, the material being cut is positioned on a flat work surface, and the dies create the shapes, much like a cookie cutter makes “parts” from flat sheets of dough. Die cutting is “tooled” in that it requires a unique and custom die to be created and installed for each different part.

Water Jet Cutting: Water jet cutting, is a manufacturing process utilizing an ultra-high-pressure jet of water to perform cutting of an extremely wide variety of materials. For the soft materials like paper, foam & rubber mentioned above, generally a water-only system is used. It is important to note that waterjet systems can also use an abrasive media, which then enables processing a nearly limitless array of hard and brittle materials, with metals, stone and glass as some very common examples.

The stock material is placed on a cutting table, and the ultra-high-pressure jet stream cuts or erodes the material along the programmed path to produce the desired profile. Water jet cutting systems use computer numeric control (CNC) software to manage the cutting process. Importantly, water jets are “tool-less” in that there are no unique and part-specific cutting heads or dies that need to be changed for each new part or part revision, but rather a CNC program file is created or revised in minutes to produce a new or revised part geometry.

Die Cutting vs Waterjet Cutting

Die Cutting – Pro’s:

Excellent for extremely high-volume manufacturing where there is no requirement for variation or revision of the part, e.g. millions of identical units.
Unit cost drops significantly as volume increases.
Tolerances & precision of parts dictated by tool – very repeatable from run-to-run (caveat to this in cons section below).

Die Cutting – Con’s:

High upfront tooling cost - dies can cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. This can only make sense when high volume of a specific design is guaranteed.
Longer lead time to start – because of the need to design, produce & verify the tooling, it may take many weeks or many months longer to begin producing parts.
Extremely limited design flexibility – changes or revisions to parts typically require production of a new tool. It is important to note tools are generally made for not only a specific X-Y part design, but also a specific thickness of material.
Material limitations – applicable primarily to thinner, softer materials (paper, films, foams, rubbers, very thin metals). Not effective for thick, very hard or brittle materials.
Tool wear and maintenance – dies dull over time and require re‑sharpening or replacement. This may often present as reduction in part tolerance or edge quality, which also represents the possibility of producing significant scrap if maintenance is delayed or missed.
Storage and inventory management – Physical dies must be stored, tracked, and maintained.
Limited to only 2-dimensional parts.

Waterjet Cutting – Pro’s:

Elimination of the capital cost & lead time needed for design, fabrication, testing & validation of tools for every part design or revision.
Elimination of the operational costs and manual labor related to storage, maintenance & inspection of each tool.
Incredible flexibility – whether creating a new part, revising a design geometry or changing a workpiece material or thickness, any such changes can be adopted in near real-time. This is incredibly powerful for prototyping and early phase production, but can also be useful for moderate to higher volumes where changes can still occasionally occur.
Extreme material versatility – between water-only and abrasive waterjet systems, a nearly unlimited range of materials can be processed on one machine.
Can cut much thicker materials than traditional die cutting.
Can produce both 2D and 3D parts (e.g. bevels and angular faces).

Waterjet Cutting – Con’s:

Lower throughput for extreme production volumes. It should be noted that custom machine configurations can equip systems with many cutting heads (e.g. 2, 4, 8 or more), which allows for direct multiplication of production capacity and significantly increases the production levels required (e.g. millions of units) for die cutting to be a clear winner.
While increasing the number of cutting heads can significantly increase productivity and thereby reduce effective cost per‑part, unit cost at extreme volumes will be higher for waterjet than die cutting.
Utilities and infrastructure needs – operating waterjet systems requires considerations such as water handling.

Conclusion

Water jet and die cutting serve different but complementary roles in manufacturing parts. Die cutting may be a better choice for extreme high-volume production levels, but has significant limitations, costs and challenges related to the tooling that it requires.

Water jet cutting offers unmatched flexibility and versatility. As a tool-less, CAD/CNC-driven cutting system, part changeovers are fast and setup costs are minimal. With custom configured systems with many cutting heads available, the production volumes achievable for waterjet systems are significantly higher than those who’ve only worked with single headed systems would expect, but the primary drawback of waterjet systems is in the extreme high volume production cases.

Contact Jet Edge to Learn How Waterjets Can Elevate Your Capabilities

Choosing between water jet and die cutting ultimately comes down to your priorities: whether you value versatility and precision across a broad range of materials, or the speed and economy of long-run production. If you’re curious to understand how water jet cutting might perform for your application, Jet Edge can help you take the next step. Call us at 1-800-538-3343 (1-763-497-8700 internationally) or complete our online form today. Our skilled and experienced application engineers are here to help.

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