Tips On Using A Plate Cutter

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While simple, there really is a bit of an art to getting consistent square cuts on metal, without burrs. Here are some tips from years of "whacking metal."

Most sublimators are cutting one large plate for a single transfer or to gang multiple transfers on the plate and the plate will be cut into smaller pieces after sublimating. With a standard 12"x 24" metal sheet, and that idea in mind-

  1. With the cutter closed, push the full sheet up tightly to the blade and rule guide to make sure that it is square. If it is not, cut about .25 inches off, to square it. The reason for that much is that it is very difficult to trim less than that off and not get a turned under burr on the edge of the main sheet.

  2. Use a fast, forceful stroke in cutting. Slow strokes will also "curl" the metal under, producing a very sharp burr. The technique I use is a fast "snapping" motion. With a little practice you can snap a 12" cut, down and back up, with actually bottoming out on the cut.

  3. Because you might not notice a burr it is always a good idea to cut your metal, colored side up. This way a burr you may have overlooked will be down, next to the plaque or whatever, so customers won't cut themselves.

  4. To get sizes as even as possible, use a very fine tip pen and make a ^ mark on the metal, pointing at the middle of a ruler mark. That ruler mark may not look thick, but it is. If you line up your mark on the metal on the left side of the ruler mark on one cut and to the right on the next cut, you can be off 1/16".

  5. If you do get a burr on your metal (especially on badges) always file it off. It will cut like a razor blade.

Here is the method we used to try and get accurate cuts out of a "ganged" larger plate (for example, a 3x10 that needs to be cut into 10, 1x3 badges)

We put a square up next to the ruler and lined it up with the center of the 12" mark. Then we used a very sharp nail and scored the cutting table with a thin line. We repeated the process every half-inch. This gives a very fast and accurate reference.

There is always a legitimate concern about yield and scrap, but expect to have some. There is no way to avoid it, if you are going to have accurately cut plates. You will more than make up for it, however, by cutting your own plates.

I'll close with Jack's Rule #1 safety tip, if your cutter does not have a safety guard in front of the blade (or you remove it)-

Before your right hand moves- look at the fingers of your left hand.

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