Die cut business cards
We see a number of business cards have a die cut slot or shape in them and then are mounted to a second sheet leaving a single layer die cut in a two layer card and in some cases a colored liner sheet has been fused in between the layers. We dont want to use laser die cutting, we want to use old school die cutting. How are these being done? How can they be glued without the glue filling the die cut cavity?
I’ve never done it myself, but I’m going to speculate the glue is put on the die cut layer, not the middle, color paper layer, before it’s duplexed (or triplexed).
there are any number of glues available for this, all the way to flood coated, dried, and heat activated. there is not any “bleed” when done properly. if you want to see the “liner layer” at the edge of the finished card, a full sheet can be used. if not, just a piece in the “see through window” area can be applied. this is a bit time consuming, but it can be done with a nice look at finish.
A “Pot devin” is best for this, most even layer of glue.
cut out just cannot be super small, or super intricate. if it is, a one piece steel “punch” style die can be made. kinda expensive..
Yes, I would think a heat activated glue applied to the die-cut layer would do the trick.
Order of operations being apply glue/tissue to die-cut layer, die cut, weed/strip die cut as ‘sheet’, register die cut layer to color layer, heat press together/laminate, and then trim out sheets based on die-cut sheet guides.
One could also potentially screen-print an ‘open’ adhesive and do the same thing, applying a die line based ‘mask’ to the screen and leaving closed cells for the die cut sheets. If you die cut the sheets before applying the adhesive/strip them, once again, you’d probably be able to register them to an accurate screenprinting setup with a vacuum base that had some strategically blocked holes, and ‘print’ your adhesive with a screen selectively (engaging a bit of ‘trapping’ to prevent the adhesive from bleeding under the die-cutting).
There are a a few creative ways that are complex but could be an avenue to go down for such a project, none of which involve lasers.