Cutting in practice

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2 | Cutting in practice

The POLAR brand has signified success for over a hundred years and has become
synonymous with cutting machines worldwide.
POLAR is the world’s largest manufacturer of
high-speed cutters with a production of over
130,000 machines.
Today more than ever POLAR enjoys
a solid reputation as an innovative and reliable
partner.
POLAR N high-speed cutters have now taken
the already legendary features to another level
of perfection with their 11th generation of
machines.
The new and dynamic growth market of digital
printing has also gained in
every respect from the company’s under­taking
only to produce the best possible machines. In
the small format sector, genuine, professional
POLAR cutting machines are available at condi-
tions which are very advantageous, both from a
technical and economic point of view.
As market and technology leader, it is POLAR’s
established company policy always to set new
standards of investment security and work
process automation.
From the smallest cutting machines right up to
the fully automatic PACE system, POLAR offers
the most cost-effective solution for all require-
ments.
When it comes to quality, POLAR makes no
compromises: Production depth is over 55%
and the software for machine control as well as
all the hydraulics are manufactured in house.
 POLAR | 3

This information was published by Times have changed 4

POLAR-MOHR, 65702 Hofheim/Taunus.
All values indicated were obtained on Knife angles from 1960 to 2005 4
POLAR high-speed cutters.
Cutting problems and their frequency 5
The statements in this brochure have
been checked with the utmost care, Main characteristics of the knife 6
but no liability can be accepted for the
correctness of the information provided. Choosing a correct knife angle 7

Revised edition 2015 Servicing and maintenance of the knife 7

Dressing the knife (standard / HSS qualities) 7

Manual dressing 8

Mechanical dressing 9

Hints for the knife grinder 10

Instructions for grinding carbide-tipped knives 13

Dressing carbide-tipped knives 14

Knife qualities 14

Guidelines for selecting the proper cutting angle 14

- Soft cutting materials 15

- Regular cutting materials 17

- Hard cutting materials 17

Cutting differences caused by thickness variations of the material to be cut 17

When is a knife blunt? 18

The cutting stick 19

Cutting data on various materials 20

- Paper 20

- Cardboards 21

- Plastic materials 21

- Rubber, textiles, wood, metal 22

- Other materials 22
4 | Cutting in practice

Times have changed ... The demands on state-of-theart high- The experience gained on POLAR
speed cutters vary as much as the high-speed cutters over many years
In the past there have been hardly materials to be cut. They should per- has been compiled in this brochure.
any questions about cutting problems. form cutting with hairline accur-acy, Even if some materials have not been
People usually processed paper, some- quickly cutting big and small jobs alike considered we trust that our tables will
times thin cardboard or glassine paper, and above all it should be capable of give you the necessary informa-tion
but there has never been the variety of cutting every kind of material. for performing well with your POLAR
materials that we have today. cutter.
Your customers pay more and more
Nowadays the question is rather: attention to the printing and cutting If you should have any problems,
What kind of material cannot be cut quality of even a small printed job. please let us have a cutting sample. In
on a POLAR? They notice whether the cut is straight urgent cases give us a call.
or uneven.
In fact, all kinds of material can be cut, We are quite sure that we or
whether thin stencil duplicator paper Your customers do not only demand our nearest agency can quickly help
or plastic sheet and plates, floor cover- good printing. you ...
ing materials, metal foils or plywood.
A high-speed cutter is expected to
Thick wooden veneers which previously perform a precise and clean cut and to
had to be cut by saws can now also be be constructed very sturdily in order to
cut on highspeed cutting machines, cut even the hardest materials accu-
with an amazing accuracy and without rately. POLAR comes up to fulfill these
waste. expectations.

Cutting problems which arise all the

same are usually caused by a poorly
adjusted clamping pressure, a wrong
knife angle, improper knife quality or
blunt knives.

Knife angle
The physical changes of the products to be cut cause the knife's angular
geometries to change.

1960: 1975: 1980: 1990 until today:

21° 22° 23° 24°
 POLAR | 5

Cutting problems Cutting results which are all the same

and their frequency of occurrence beyond the desired tolerances require
special knife angles and the matching
When the high-speed cutter is working knife qualities.
perfectly and operated correctly most
cutting problems arise in connection A correctly adjusted clamping pres-
with the knife. sure and the proper cutting stick also
have a highly positive influence on the
The most common knives (HSS, cutting quality.
carbide-tipped knives and finest grain),
and the relevant grinding angles allow
to deal with most of the available
cutting materials.

Share Subject Explanation

70% Knife Wrong knife angle, or knife quality does not fit the material to be cut

14% Paper and other Continuous advancement of papers (paper coating) for improved printability.
materials to be cut This requires experience with constantly changing applications (knife angle,
knife qualities, height compensation when clamping the paper). Special cutting
materials.

6% Climate Climate-related faults in finishing, such as stress within the material to be cut
which have uncontrollable consequences for the measurements
(humidity/temperature; as a rule of thumb, a 10 % change in humidity results
in a 0.1% deformation of the material to be cut)

4% Modified Shortest job cycle times. Poorly dried run.

production conditions This makes finishing much more difficult.

3% Lay guide from printing Development of machine features for production management
Lay guide of paper and support

2% Instruction and training Cutting training courses where operators learn to understand the practice
of machine staff oriented application of machine functions, such as the proper clamping
pressure adjustment, backgauge compensation, cut correction, difference of
positions etc. for improving both product and production

2% Professional service Proper installation of the machine (angled position, general machine geometry),
production supporting service with advice for application

Continuous rise in hard fillers

Cutting problems also arise frequently

in connection with the materials to be
cut some of the reasons being that
the paper contains a higher amount of
fillers that make cutting more difficult.
Fig:
Paper with a 42 % share of corundum (48.5 g/m2)
6 | Cutting in practice

Main characteristics of the knife

according to DIN 8869:

1 Knife body - body

1 α
2 Cutting coating – steeling –
hard-metal coating

3 Cutting surface = flank –

2 5
cutting side

4 First face – bevel – first facet

3
5 Cutting surface = pressure surface
– facet - face

b Faces – angle of the bevel –

F
first facet

a Wedge angle – angle of facet 4

F Width of bevel

Sequence of cutting operation

knife bar
1. Positioning

2. Clamping
clamp
3. Cutting
(swing cut)

backgauge stop

knife

cutting stick
 POLAR | 7

Choosing a correct Servicing and maintenance Dressing the knife

knife angle of the knife (Standard/HSS qualities)

In the operation of modern high-speed The knife should always be carefully After the knife has been ground it
cutters it is unavoidable that cutting kept in its special box must be carefully dressed, because this
differences are encountered occasion- is decisive for the quality of the cut
ally, in spite of accurate achine adjust- 1. for reasons of safety and and the service life of the knife.
ment and most careful alignment of 2. for protecting the knife, so that the
the material to be cut by the operator. cutting edge will not be damaged. Rectangular grindstones are used for
dressing, which must not be too small
The reason is to be found in the vary- When a knife is to be replaced it must in order to avoid canting.
ing characteristics of the material to never be put on the machine table
be cut. It would, therefore, be ideal if without underlaying a card-board or For removing the grinding burr we rec-
only one particular material were pro- wooden support. The sur-faces of both ommend a stone with a fine and soft
cessed on one particular machine. the knife and the knife bar must be graining, for finishing use an Arkansas
completely free from burrs and dirt. oil stone.
Different materials require different
knife angles and it is difficult to deter- The threaded fixing holes in the knife For dressing the knife should be placed
mine the correct knife angle if all sorts and the knife screws which ensure the on a flat surface to ensure that the
of material are to be cut successively firm and precise seating of the knife dressing stone can be moved along the
at short intervals of time. should be kept in perfect condition. cutting edge securely and precisely.

In such cases a mean knife angle of At first, all knife screws are only tight- Uneven and insecure placing can lead
24° is recommended. If the customer ened slightly to avoid damage during to imperfect dressing and cause serious
does not explicitly order another knife their final firm tightening. injury, because you can easily get hurt
angle the Polar HSS knives are deliv- As soon as the knife has been screwed by the sharp knife edge.
ered with an angle of 24°. This also down tightly and all tools have been
applies to the standard equip-ment of removed from the machine table the Prior to dressing it is of utmost impor-
new POLAR highspeed cutters. knife can be adjusted. tance to clean the knife thoroughly.
The same applies to the dressing stone.
The correct cutting angle and suitable At its lowest position the knife must By storing the stone immersed in a
knife quality determine to a large ex- be adjusted in such a way that it is in kerosene-oil mix the stone is always
tent the cutting quality and econo-mi- parallel with the machine table, slight- kept clean.
cal operation of the high-speed cutter. ly touching the cutting stick.
Care must be taken that there are no
The cutting stick must have been re- indentations or grooves in the stone
versed or replaced before this is done. which might damage the cutting edge
and cause imperfect dressing.
Please observe the information given
in the corresponding operating in- Defective stones can be used again
structions of the high-speed cutter. after they have been newly ground.
8 | Cutting in practice

Manual Dressing

On dressing, care must be taken that

the grindstone is laid flat against the
back of the knife. If the stone is not
placed flat against the back of the
knife, the cutting edge will break away
from the back causing the knife to
divert from the cutting line which is
extremely undesirable. A so-called
“sagging edge” will be formed –
with the consequence of a resulting
overcut.

In circular motions and with somewhat

light pressure the burr
is upended.

On the face of the knife the stone is

slightly tilted and the burrs are re-
moved with circular motions (against
the cutting edge). Too much tilting
would blunt the knife.

As soon as the burr has been com-

pletely removed and the knife edge
perfectly smoothed both sides of the
knife are subsequently treated with the
Arkansas oilstone as described above.
 POLAR | 9

Mechanical dressing
(Not for carbide tipped knives HM)

When knives are handled inexpertly

mistakes are often made in manu-
al dressing and this leads to cutting
problems. We therefore recommend to
use a mechanical knife dresser.

When using this device a continuously

compressed cutting edge is achieved
over the complete length of the knife
after the first dressing (removal of
burr).

For mechanical dressing use standard

machine oil to obtain an improved
dressing result.

Please make absolutely sure that the

Arkansas stones at the mechanical
knife dresser are without any notch-
es and run absolutely parallel to the
back of the knife, because otherwise a
sagging edge may be formed.
10 | Cutting in practice

Hints for the knife grinder Upon grinding special attention must 8| Grinding wheels
be paid that plenty of cooling water The enormous variety of wheels with
1| Grinding machine is supplied. The best way is a supply different grain, hardness
The first requirement is a grinding through the motor shaft or carefully and bonding seems confusing at first
machine heavy and solid enough to directed from outside onto the grind- sight. The following information will
absorb unavoidable vibrations. The ing spot. assist in choosing suitable wheels:
clamping beam for the knife must be
absolutely plane, parallel to the grind- 4| The grinding spindle should be a) Grains are graduated from 8 to 800
ing level and free of flexing. equipped with bearings which are according to DIN standard 69100, i.e.
either self-adjusting or automati- from coarse to very fine.
The quality of a grinding machine can cally secured against axial thrust, For machine knives only medium sizes
be quickly checked by the following because axial play reduces the quality from approx. 36 to 60 apply, with “60”
method: when grinding cups or rings are used. almost resulting in polishing.
Accumulated shavings when com- The grinding cups or rings must be
pressed by hand, should spring back perfectly concentric and should be b) Hardness graduations according to
(like steelwool) to indicate that the well balanced in order to prevent DIN standard 69100 are distin-guished
machine is of good quality. Shav- wobble or avoidable shaking. by letters from A to Z. Only the soft
ings which stay compressed point to grades for guillotines, i.e. H to K are
vibration within the machine or to the 5| The feed should be performed by used for this purpose.
use of unsuitable grinding media. Both the grinding head, not by the
these factors support burning on the machine table, unless its adjustment c) In accordance with international
grinding surface. is done with parallel faces by one standards the grain is marked by a
single element. The feed must be number. The smaller this number the
2| The feed of the grinding sledge automatically limitable and variable. less distance is there between one
must be performed easily without 6| Operating controls should be grain and the other. Consequently,
canting and jerking when switched arranged together at a central position small numbers are unsuitable. “Open”
over (constant speed). within convenient reach of the structures are preferred, because they
operator and at a point from which do not have a tendency to sticking.
3| A large clear scale at the clamp- the operator has a close con-trol over
ing beam should allow direct reading the actual working area. d) Bondings according to DIN 69100
of the bevel. The knife clamping device are marked by abbreviations. The most
must securely hold the knife parallel to 7| The cooling pump must at all common bondings are:
the grinding level. The knife must be times supply a strong, full coolant
clamped with its bevel facing upward. flow directly onto the grind-ing spot. Artificial resin Ke
A sufficiently large coolant tank Rubber Gu
With standard/HSS knives the direction equipped with a filtering device which
of rotation of the grinding wheel is allows removal of the grinding sludge Magnesite Mg
selected in such a way that grinding is is essential. Natural resin Nh
performed away from the knife. An integrated wheel dressing tool
The artificial resin bonding (Ba)
should be part of the machine, be-
Grinding against the knife edge might cause it is indispensable for sharpen-
cause nicks resulting from the abrasive ing the wheels in case of glazing and is best suited for guillotine knives.
grains breaking out. Such fine nicks are for dressing the working area of the
only noticed during dressing. wheel.
Well selected grinding wheels ensure
For carbide tipped knives the opposite that the wheels do not load during the
direction of rotation is selected (i.e. grinding process and therefore do not
against the edge). require dressing.
 POLAR | 11

e) Frequently used abrasives according 9| Coolant. ground, i.e. if there is no infeed and
to DIN 69100: It is not recommendable to use clear the wheel is repeatedly led along the
water as a coolant, since the ground knife edge without bite.
Normal corundum NK object as well as the machine would
Semi-refinded corundum HK corrode very quickly. The main purpose Burning defects of the knives are not
of the coolant is not only to cool the always, nor immediately, recognizable.
Refinded corundum EK point of working contact, but also to It may take one or two more resharp-
Silicon carbide, dark SiCg wash the grinding wheel and prevent enings before the damage becomes
the formation of rust. These funda- evident by breaking (chipping) of the
mental functions are further facilitat- cutting edge.
The only suitable abrasives for guillo- ed if a special cooling media is added
tine knives are corundums to the water. Knife and machine are When starting the sharpening opera-
(NK, HK, EK). protected against corrosion without tion the grinding wheel must carefully
being greasy or sticky. High quality be brought into contact with the knife
Improperly selected grinding wheels cooling oils mix into a milky or water- and the reverse movement of the
may damage the knives. The grain clear emulsion and their specific prop- machine table must take place outside
bonding must release grains before erties bind dirt and prevent loading of the grinding zone.
these become completely blunt. the stone. The full coolant flow should
be directed onto the grinding wheel, Care must be taken that the stone does
Otherwise they have a polishing effect just in front of the grinding contact. not stop anywhere on the grinding
creating excessive heat. The distance Drip cooling is ineffective. zone, i.e. grinding must be done speed-
between grains is of importance. High ily. Sharpening is completed when
local temperatures as encountered on 10| Cleanliness. all notches have been removed from
grinding have harmful consequences, The best combination of grinding the knife edge, the grinding surface
increasing in severity with the alloy machine, grinding wheel and coolant shows a silvery shine and a fine burr
quality of knives. becomes ineffective if dirt is allowed is formed on the back of the cutting
to accumulate. Dirt and steel shavings edge. Any additional grinding is un-
The porosity of the grinding wheel delivered with the coolant will ad- necessary and shortens the life span of
controls “glazing” (loading). Fine versely affect the grinding result, de- the knife. For these reasons, the entire
steel particles – or even worse – iron spite the fact that a first-class grinding grinding operation must be watched
par-ticles clog the pores when these wheel is employed. very closely in order to avoid the faults
are too small. This has the same effect described.
as wheels with too hard a bonding, i.e. 11| Straightening the knives
generation of excessive heat! Before grinding, check if the knife The infeed of the grinding wheel
is straight. Knives which are bent by (for standard/HSS knives) should never
Consequently, the first requirement is more than 1 mm have to be straight- be performed outside the grinding
to use wheels which keep “open” and ened first. Roller flattening machines zone, because the grindstone will be
clean. The higher wheel consumption are perfectly suitable for this. Dressing damaged and the first segment of the
possibly resulting is offset by the by hammer should only be made with grinding zone become coarse. For HM
avoidance of major consequential knives made of solid chromium steel. knives, infeed is generally done outside
difficulties. the grinding zone.
12| Attention must be paid at all
times during machine operation, even
after well performed setting. If an
interruption of the coolant supply or
blunting of the grinding wheel is not
detected at once, the knife will be
burned and rendered useless. A similar
danger exists if a knife is excessively
12 | Cutting in practice

13| Sparking out means a feed d) More dangerous, because very hard The colour of these spots indicates a
movement without infeed. to trace, are the “notorious” brownish temperature of 200° to 300° C
If sparking out is done correctly it yellow grinding spots on the knife (or above). Strange is their round or
results in a smooth surface of the knife bevel. They indicate that excessive heat oval shape the size of a small pea
bevel. For a larger area or harder stone was generated when the knife was or bean. Although one single grinding
use a shorter sparking out period. If ground. This is mostly caused by: stroke with an “open” stone is suf-
striations show after the procedure ficient to erase the colour the fault
sparking out has been done improperly – too hard grinding wheels, remains in the knife.
or an inadequate stone has been used. – blunt grinding wheels,
– loaded grinding wheels, To avoid subsequent chipping of such
Typical symptoms resulting from – contaminated coolant a knife during cutting operations, the
grinding errors or, knife must be drastically remachined
– improper sparking out. with an open, soft stone, until all
a) Uneven grinding sound and varying tension flaws have completely disap-
spark density indicate that the knife is peared.
out of parallel with the grinding level.

b) If the ends of the knife edge are

protruding when fixing it into the
grinding machine this indicates a flex-
ing of the clamp beam in the centre
part or worn machine table guidings. Summary of Grinding Data
As a consequence, the middle of the
cutting edge will be concave ground Grinding cups or wheels
which means that the knife cannot be
positioned evenly over the complete Normal steel/knives
length of the cutting stick and hence Swedish steel knives
its centre part will not cut through. HSS-knives Steel knives

c) Brown or blue colouring of the Abrasive NK, EK NK, EK

knife near the cutting edge results
from overheating caused by Grain 40 - 60 40 - 46

– excessive infeed, Hardness J–L G

– excessive feed,
– insufficient cooling, Structure 8 – 14 14
– unsuitable abrasives,
– loaded or blunt grinding wheels. Bonding Ba Ba

To recover burned knives, the blushed Circumferential

areas must be completely removed speed m/sec 18 – 26 18 – 26
with a coarse, open stone and the
knife subsequently finished in the Transfer or table
normal manner. speed m/min. 15 – 25 15 – 25

Infeed in mm 0.0 – 0.03 0.01– 0.03

 POLAR | 13

Instructions for grinding carbide 1st Pass

tipped knives (HM)
Reliefgrinding of the steel carrier body.
The grinding of carbide tipped (hard
metal) knives requires up to 3 passes Grindstone diametre: 100 mm
(using different grindstones). (grain 60, hardness M, Ba)

(lf 0.5–1.0 mm is ground at a time, this

is sufficient for regrinding the hard
metal insert 3 to 4 times)

Transfer or table speed: 14 m/min.

Infeed: 0.01 mm
(Proceed similar to normal steel,
Swedish steel and HSS knives).

2nd Pass

Grinding the carbide tipped insert

(rough grinding/finish grinding)

Grindstone diametre 200 mm

(D 91, C75, Ba).

Transfer or table speed: 14 m/min.(for

sparking out: 1 m/min.)

Infeed: 0.01 mm
(outside grinding zone!)

3rd Pass

Grinding the bevel

(HM, 0.5 to max. 1 mm)

Grindstone diametre: 200 mm

(D 15, C50, Ba)

Transfer or table speed:

250 mm/min.
(for deep grinding;
otherwise: 5m/min.)

Infeed: The grinding of the bevel is

done in one pass (deep grinding, one
double stroke approx. 0.1 mm).
14 | Cutting in practice

Dressing carbide tipped Relation of steel quality and service Due to their high proportion of alloy
(hard metal) knives (HM) life of the knife elements HSS-18 knives provide the
advantage of a considerably longer
The decision to dress carbide-tipped Knives are available in various quali- service life and a higher stability of the
knives at all depends upon the materi- ties: cutting edge.
al to be cut. Carbide-tipped knives even exceed the
Dressing stone: 1. Low-alloy steels (Swedish steel) service lifetimes of HSS-W 18 knives,
round, approx. 30 mm in diametre but their edges are more sensitive.
(special manual lap D 7). 2. High-alloy steels (HSS) Ultra-finest grain hard metal of the
most recent generations even provide
3. Carbide tipped knives longer service lifetimes than hard
(standard grain) metal. Their high elasticity make them
suitable for almost any material to be
4. Finest-grain hard metal cut.

5. Ultra-finest grain hard metal Guidelines for selecting the proper

= UFK hard metal cutting angle

The above listed qualities are com- The knife angle depends upon the
posite materials. Alloys of varying characteristics of the material to be
qualities are applied onto non-hard- cut. Basic rule:
ened bodies. Available are low-al-
loy tool steels for standard knives, • soft material = narrow angle
super-speed steels with a tungsten • hard material = wide angle
content of 18 % (HSS 18 knives) and
sintered hard metals (carbide tipped The cutting angles are usually selected
knives). between 17° and 30°.

Standard and HSS 18 knives are ba-

sically suitable for any material to be
cut. Both qualities allow variations of
the cutting angles and the use
of narrow angles if suitable for the
corresponding material.

Knife qualities

Quality Service lifetime Hardness Composite

Standard 1 59-61 rolled

(Swedish steel)

18 % HSS Stahl >3 62-64 HRC rolled/

(superspeed steel) soldered

Hard metal (standard) > 10 1100 HV 10 soldered

Finest-grain hard metal > 15 1330 HV 10 soldered

Ultra finest-grain > 20 1500 HV 10 soldered/

hard metal bonded
 POLAR | 15

Soft cutting materials

Soft materials, such as e.g. flimsy,

stencil duplicator paper, tissue and
blotting paper show characteristics
which can be very troublesome when
cutting the material:

1. Bad sliding properties

2. High air volume in pile

3. The material softness itself.

Concerning 1:

Owing to its bad sliding properties

the material is jammed in front of the
knife, blocking it and creating exces-
sive cutting pressure.

It should be observed that such ma-

terials should always be placed on the
left-hand side of the machine-table
when the knife moves from left to
right.

Otherwise, i.e. when placing the ma-

terial on the right-hand side, the jam
will be increased, because the right-
hand side gauge would impair the
material flow even more.
16 | Cutting in practice

Concerning 2 and 3: As shown in the sketches a blunt knife However, it is not only the knife that
exerts a much higher pulling force influences cutting quality.
Owing to the high air volume and the than a sharp one. The clamp as well as the clamping
material softness the knife tends to pressure also play an important part.
pull the material from beneath the
clamp during the cutting cycle. Basic rule:

This occurrence leads to an “over-cut”. soft material =

In other words the upper layers of the high clamping pressure
ream are cut shorter than the lower
ones. To prevent this a narrow cutting hard material =
angle and/or increased pressure time is low clamping pressure
required.
The clamping pressure is infinitely
Further improvement can be achieved variable between 150 and 7000daN. If
by giving the knife bevel a particularly high pressure is exerted on soft mate-
smooth surface finish. rial the clamp rake will cause deforma-
tion of the material tobe cut.

This disadvantage can be overcome

to a great extent by applying a false
clamp plate. In particularly difficult
cases a cardboard strip, 4 to 5 mm
thick, can be glued under the false
clamp plate. This strip should be
smoothly tapered towards the rear.
 POLAR | 17

Regular cutting materials Hard cutting materials Cutting differences caused

by thickness variations of the
“Regular materials” comprise such When processing hard materials, such material to be cut
stock which can be properly processed as art papers, gummed papers, card-
with a knife angle of 24° and a mean board or plastic foils the knife may Convex or concave cuts result from
clamping pressure. Such materials deflect during the actual cut. In most the fact that the material is always cut
are e. g. writing paper and common cases this is caused by an excessively shorter in areas where the clamping
printing paper. narrow cutting angle. The knife needs pressure is weak. A convex (bowed) cut
regrinding. To avoid a considerable loss appears on materials building up high-
Why use a “mean clamping pressure”? of knife “material” a bevel with a wider er in the centre, because both ends are
You could assume that the highest angle is applied. pulled out by the knife during the cut.
pressure could be selected for such
common materials. However, this is This offers the advantage that a good Stitched materials become shorter on
wrong, because excessive pressure may material flow in front of the knife is their open side, since the clamping
cause an “overcut”. retained despite a wider cutting angle. pressure is insufficient there.

As a general rule, the clamping pres- One difficulty often encountered when Height differences of reams, amount-
sure selected should not be higher cutting hard materials is an overcut, ing to less than 4 mm can be levelled
than absolutely necessary in order to resulting from the fact that at the with the flexible false clamp which
avoid dislocation or dragging of sheets. dressing stage the cutting edge had obtains a steady pressure.
been broken from the rear.
Differences exceeding 4 mm require
Overcuts are also caused by burrs or additional compensation, POLAR pro-
dirt on the surface of the knife or vides special solutions and additional
knife beam due to which the knife is options.
out of its true vertical position.
Concave (hollow) cuts appear when
Geometry of angles The same thing happens with knives the material is wavy on all sides. The
which are wider at the top than at the clamp pushes these waves backwards
bottom (fault of the knife manufactur- and after completion of the cut they
er or grinding shop). This is indicated go back to their original position.
by smooth, shiny pressure spots on the
cutting surface of the material cut. To diminish a concave cut the clamp-
ing pressure should be kept to the
minimum value possible. Another
means is to cut the ream up from
thecentre, i.e. the dividing cuts are
started from the centre whereas the
finishing or trim cuts of the outer
edges are made last.

hard soft
cutting material cutting material
= obtuse = slender
knife angle knife angle
18 | Cutting in practice

When is a knife blunt? When cutting hard materials the low-

est sheet is cut with a sharp bang.
Never use a blunt knife for cutting. The
cutting machine will be strained and These indications call for changing the
the cuts are inaccurate and untidy. knife, because

Paper edges which are sticking to- 1. re-sharpening costs are lower if the
gether, becoming darker in colour or knife has not been worn too much
resulting coarse are indications of a
blunt knife. 2. cutting quality is improved

3. knife consumption is reduced if only

little material is removed by
grinding

4. less strain to the cutting machine.

extremely sharp sharp blunt

(after grinding) (best condition of the knife)
 POLAR | 19

The cutting stick Replacement or reversal of the cut- At the factory, POLAR installs cutting
ting stick becomes necessary when sticks that can be fully recycled and
The cutting stick is the counter cut- the knife has dug into it up to a depth used with every type of knife.
ting tool of the machine knife and that the lowest sheets of a ream are Especially for ultra fine grain hard
should be made of a material which is actually torn instead of being cut. metal knives we also use cutting sticks
tough, but not too hard. If the material made of nylon. Due to the special
is too soft, the knife will cut too deep. Every time the knife is changed the properties of this material, only a very
The lower sheets will not be correctly stick should be reversed or replaced. minor notch effect is caused during
cut through. With an excessively hard The consumption of cutting sticks cutting.
material the knife will soon get dull or depends completely on the materials
notches. processed.
The POLAR cutting stick meets these
requirements perfectly. “The harder the materials cut the more
sticks will be consumed”.

Cutting stick
Immersion depths for different knife qualities

HSS-knife carbide tipped knife

0,1/ 0,15 mm 0,05 / 0,1mm

cutting stick cutting stick

multiple application of
cutting stick by turning the stick
20 | Cutting in practice

Cutting data on various materials Higher or wider piles of paper require a Materialwhich is unequal in height or
higher clamping pressure. wavy (cardboard, stitched brochures)
In the tables below we compiled the Lower or narrower piles need less should be cut with flexible false clamp
most common cutting materials in pressure. plate (special device).
alphabetic order. The lists are divided
into various groups to facilitate their For delicate materials (thin, soft) use a You can as well use a standard false
use. The values indicated are based standard false clamp. clamp fitted with a felt strip instead
on our practical experience gained of a flexible false clamp. In this case
with POLAR high-speed cutters. The the indicated clamping pressure in the
clamping pressure data refer to piles table should be increased by 600 to
of paper of medium height and more 1000 daN!
than two thirds of the cutting width.

Material to be cut:
HSS HM-carbide HM-carbide Pressure Remarks
α β h(mm) tipped tipped Premium daN
Bible paper 24° * ** 1500-2000 false clamp plate
Double waxed papers 24° * ** 3200 ***
Printing papers, regular 24° * ** 2500 false clamp plate
Duplex papers 24° 26° 2,0 ** 3000-3500 ***
Flimsy 19° * ** 3000-4000 false clamp plate
Label papers 24° * ** 3500-4000 ***
Felt-cardboard 24° * ** 2000-2500 false clamp plate
Photographic papers 24° * ** 2500-3000 ***
Gummed papers 24° * ** 2500-3500 ***
Carbonizing papers 19° * ** 400 false clamp plate
Carbon paper 22° * ** 800-1000 ***
Art papers 23° 25° 3,5 * ** 3000-4000 ***
Plastic fiber paper 26° ** 2500-3000
Blotting paper 19° * ** 2000-2500 ***
Metallic papers 24° * ** 3000-3500 ***
Parchment paper 24° 2500-3000 ***
Glassine paper 24° 26° 3,0 4000-4500
Stencil dublicator paper 19° * ** 3000 false clamp plate
Writing papers 24° * ** 2500-3000
Tissue paper 19° * ** 2000 false clamp plate
Autocopying paper
NCR-Reacto-or similar) 24° * ** 800-1000 ***
Transparent papers 24° ** 3000-3800 ***
Velours papers 19° * ** 2500 ***
Securities (bank notes,
Shares blank formes etc.) 19° 22° (*) ** 2500-3700 ***
*HM / carbide tipped / Standard Polar (23°/25°)
** Compensation of differences in height
** HM Premium / carbide tipped premium / Standard Polar (22°/25°)
*** Compensation of differences in height is necessary is necessary
 POLAR | 21

Cardboards:
Material to be cut HSS HM-carbide HM-carbide Pressure Remarks
α β h(mm) tipped tipped Premium daN
Bristol board 24° ** 2000-2500 ***
Chromolux 24° 26° 2,0 * ** 3000-3500 ***
Duplex board, two-layer board 24° ** 2500
Finnboard, sheet-lined 19° 22° 3,5 ** 2000-3000 ***
Felt cardboard 24° * ** 2000-2500 false clamp plate
Gray board 24° ** 3000-3500 ***
Handmade cardboard 24° ** 3000 ***
Hard board 24° 26° 2,0 ** 3000-3800 ***
Wood pulp board, soft 21° 24° 2,0 ** 3000 false clamp plate
Index cardboard 22° 24° 2,0 * ** 3000-3500 ***
Box board 22° 24° 2,0 ** 3000-3500 ***
Container board 22° 24° 2,0 ** 3000-3500 ***
Leather cardboard 22° 24° 2,0 * ** 3000-3500 ***
Manilla carboard 22° 24° 2,0 ** 3000-3500
Multiplex board 22° 24° 2,0 ** 2500
Postcard board 22° 24° 2,0 2500-3500 ***
Triplex cardboard 22° 24° 2,0 ** 3000

Plastic Materials:
(please observe that the materials specified are processed at room temperature)
Due to the versatility of many plastic materials and type of composition ist recommendable to have cutting tests
performed at POLAR.
Material to be cut HSS HM-carbide HM-carbide Pressure Remarks
α β h(mm) tipped tipped Premium daN
Astralon transparent sheet 23° 26° 2,0 3000 ***
Acetate films 25° 3000-3500 ***
Cellophane 23° 25° 2,0 3000-4000 ***
Cellulose foils 24° 3000-4000 ***
Cellulose acetate foils 23° 25° 2,0 3000-4000 ***
Cellulose hydrate films 24° 3000-4000 ***
Polyethlene foils 23° 26° 2,0 * ** 3000-4000 ***
PVC, hard 23° 28° 2,0 3000-4000 ***
PVC, soft 23° * ** 3000-4000 ***
PVC floor covering 19° 22° 3,5 * ** 3000-4000 ***
Cellophane 26° 3000-3500 ***
Celluloid 23° 2500-3000 ***
22 | Cutting in practice

Rubber, textiles, wood, metal

Material to be cut HSS HM-carbide HM-carbide Pressure Remarks
α β h(mm) tipped tipped Premium daN
Rubber tubes 17° from 150 additional option
Hart rubber 24° from 1500 ***
Raw rubber 17° from 150 false clamp plate
Soft rubber 17° from 150 false clamp plate
Emry cloth 24° 2500-3000 false clamp plate
Textiles 19° ** from 150 false clamp plate
Veneers 19° 22° 3,5 1000-2000 ***
Pressboard 24° 2500-3000 ***
Transformer pressboard 24° 2500-3000 ***
Aluminiums foils 24° * ** 3000-3500 ***
Aluminium foils, laminated 24° * ** 3000-3500 ***
Lead foils 24° * ** 500-1500 false clamp plate
*Offset plates * ** 4500 false clamp plate
Tin foils 19° from 200
Zinc foils 19° from 200 false clamp plate

*Offset plates, HM + HM Premium α β h(mm)

26° 30° 1

Other materials:
Material to be cut HSS HM-carbide HM-carbide Pressure Remarks
α β h(mm) tipped tipped Premium daN
Packing materials 24° ** 2500-3000 false clamp plate
Felt 19° * ** 1000 false clamp plate
Glass papers 24° 2000 ***
Cork 19° * ** 1000-2000 ***
Leather 24° * ** 2000-3000 ***
Linoleum 24° ** 1800-2500 ***
Cellulose wadding 19° * ** 1500 false clamp plate
*HM / carbide tipped / Standard Polar (23°/25°)
** Compensation of differences in height
** HM Premium / carbide tipped premium / Standard Polar (22°/25°)
*** Compensation of differences in height is necessary is necessary
 POLAR | 23

Values gathered by your own practical experience:

Material to be cut HSS HM-carbide HM-carbide Pressure Remarks
α β h(mm) tipped tipped Premium daN
POL POLAR-Mohr Maschinenvertriebsgesellschaft GmbH & Co. KG
Hattersheimer Str. 25 · 65719 Hofheim/Ts. · Germany
Phone: ++49 6192 2040 · Fax: ++49 61 92 221 93
E-Mail: [email protected]

POL

99800131 . 52025 . 102015 · Printed in Germany · Specifications and standard equipment subject to change without notice
An independent family-owned business, POLAR has developed into the world leader
It marks an important milestone in the As the world’s technological leader, As an independent family-owned
life of a family company to be able to POLAR expertly implements process ­business, POLAR has developed into
look back over more than one hundred automation with its systems: the world leader
years of history.
• Cutting Systems streamline the fin- Today, with more than 200 agencies
Adolf Mohr was an entrepreneur, ishing process in 170 countries, POLAR is in close
bring­­­ing vision and strength to bear in proximity to its customers and, by
• Jogging Systems increase the effi-
­creat­­ing the roots of something that maintaining a constant dialog and
ciency before the cutting process
people in this company are developing exchange of experiences with its inter-
successfully, to this very day. Techno- • LabelSystems national service centers, has gained a
logical developments have always met for square-cut and die-cut labels substantial lead in the development of
the customers’ needs to ensure that give the product that distinctive technical solutions.
the “POLAR” brand is now globally design
POLAR’s performance profile marks
acknowledged as synonymous with • P-Net is an Ethernet-compatible it out as a strategic partner when it
state-of-the-art cutting machines and network connection for production comes to intelligent finishing solutions
ergonomic systems. This reputation is data communication of con­tinuous value.
an eloquent reflection of the confi-
dence that our company has enjoyed For further information on products
on the markets for decades. and company see:
www.polar-mohr.com

POLAR Product Brochures • POLAR Systems •P

 OLAR at a Glance

• POLAR Cutting Machines •P

 OLAR Components • Cutting in practice