The need for clean room die cutting is growing rapidly. That’s because the number of products on the market that require large production runs in a clean room environment is exploding.

1. THE CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF CLEAN ROOM DIE CUTTING
The need for clean room die cutting is growing rapidly. That’s because the number of products
on the market that require large production runs in a clean room environment is exploding. In the
medical market alone, new products are being introduced daily, including items like self-
diagnostic test kits, heart monitor patches, and new types of burn dressings. Clean room die
cutting is ideal for thousands of products like surgical tools, implants, and packaging for medical
supplies, filters for medical machines, implants, colostomy bags, and transdermal patches of all
kinds.
Clean room die cutting isn’t just reserved for medical supplies like bandages and wound
coverings. Die cutting machines can be set up in a clean room to perform cutting procedures on
tissue that formerly had to be cut by hand, saving a lot of time and money over previous
methods. Clean room die cutting now takes care of things like skin grafts, collagen, and heart
valves. It’s a very versatile way to handle large amounts of repetitive cutting without a lot of
handwork. This also avoids most of the handling of the tissue material that can lead to a
degradation of its quality. Because dies can be laid out to cut repetitively in a closely bunched
pattern, there is also less waste than cutting by hand methods.
Clean room die cutting isn’t restricted to the medical sector. Clean room manufacturing experts
like BarilCorp.com offer flatbed and rotary die cutting services and expertise for customers
working for the military, pharmaceutical, electronic, homeland security, and other industries that
need absolutely clean environments that retain high-production capabilities.
The Challenges of Clean Room Die Cutting
Die cutting in a clean room poses two big challenges to the manufacturer. The machine must not
contaminate the room that it is placed in, and it must also not contaminate the material that it
cuts. This makes clean room equipment for die cutting unlike any other die cutting equipment for
any other industry. For most industries, even food service, die cutters only have to worry about
the ease of cleaning and decontaminating the die cutters and conveyor that the material touches.
In a clean room environment that deals with sensitive medical manufacturing, the need for
cleaning and disinfecting becomes acute. But beyond that, there needs to be almost no exposed
moving parts on the machine that could possibly introduce contamination into the air or onto
surrounding surfaces.
Manufacturers and designers solve this problem in various ways. The most common feature of
all clean room die cutting machines is an exterior fashioned from either stainless steel or nickel-
coated carbon steel. These materials have a long track record in hospitals, laboratories, and
operating theaters and the cleaning supplies for use on their surfaces are well tested in many
settings. Not only are the exterior surfaces clad in impervious metals, they’re also fabricated in
the smoothest possible shapes in order to avoid any area that might invite any type of
contaminant to build up, or to be difficult to reach during daily or spot cleaning.

2. Keeping the Moving Parts Hidden
For flatbed die cutters, there are almost no moving parts visible anywhere on the machine. The
material is placed on a platen, and then the operator slides it in place under the cutting dies.
Controls that require knobs or other penetrations in the outside shell of the machine are kept to a
minimum. Touchpads are preferred for operating the machine wherever possible. It’s customary
for the machines to have a limited amount of accessory holders within easy reach of the operator,
and they are manufactured entirely from a type of ABS plastic that is common in medical
settings.
Any clean room die cutting machines operate using pneumatic pumps to apply the pressure to the
platen and the material to be cut. This will require a substantial air supply, as a typical machine
might bring up to 40 tons of pressure to bear on the work surface. If possible, designers specify
that the air supply for the machines be generated outside the room, with pneumatic lines in and
out. Hydraulic machines are also available if pneumatic installations are not practical, but they’re
harder to detail for clean room standards. Air must also be introduced and then exhausted from
the work area to keep the work from spreading any contamination into the air while it is in
operation.
Sightlines Can Be Tricky
Because it’s necessary to keep the operator safe, and the moving parts of the machinery are
inside a substantial housing, sightlines on the work can be compromised in some cases. Some
manufacturers have responded to this by including a video feed with a camera or cameras
mounted inside the housing. This gives the operator a detailed view from a vantage point that’s
not available anywhere outside the machine. Results are improved, and the video camera can
also be set up to allow zooming in and out to improve the sightlines further. This video feed also
improves operator safety, as it makes it less likely that a poor sightline could tempt the operator
into placing their face or hands too close to the moving parts.
To speed up operation, the die cutter can be provided with roller feeds to make the production of
hundreds or thousands of parts per hour. Because of the close tolerances required for many types
of clean room die cutting operations, precise depth control is very important, and it’s important
for the operator to be able to continuously monitor the output and make fine adjustments to the
settings on the fly. Depth control is usually calibrated down to one-thousandth of an inch.
Finely tuned settings aren’t enough to produce precise work on their own. The machinery itself
has to be manufactured to produce very flat surfaces, and parallelism tolerances have to be very
tight, especially on machines with larger platens that use die cutters in multiple arrays. It’s also
vital that the platen or the die doesn’t deflect under pressure, so the bearings and trunnions on the
machines are extremely robust.
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