# Types of cuts...what's the difference?



## hi-nrg-joe (Jul 19, 2008)

Hi All,

While at ISS I heard a lot of terms that I'm not familiar with. Can someone explain what the following cuts mean or their differences....Die Cut, Contour Cut, Kiss Cut, CAD Cut.

By the way, does someone know where to find a good definition list for common terms in the sign/banner/awards/engraving/dye-sub/heat transfer world?

Thanks in advance....


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> sign/banner/awards/engraving/dye-sub/heat transfer world?


The SGIA website has a nice glossary:

SGIA Glossary of Terms


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## joeshaul (Mar 1, 2008)

hi-nrg-joe said:


> Hi All,
> 
> While at ISS I heard a lot of terms that I'm not familiar with. Can someone explain what the following cuts mean or their differences....Die Cut, Contour Cut, Kiss Cut, CAD Cut.
> 
> ...


Die cut means that there is a shaped piece of metal (die) that punctures through your object. It's useful for getting exact cuts as well as giving a clean cut through any kind of backing material, so you end up with say a circle shaped sticker that has the exact same circle shaped backing paper on it. Die's are good for mass production of a single size and shape. 

A kiss cut is the same as a die cut, except the backing material is not punctured. Think of it like those address labels that you feed through your printer, you need it cut, but you don't want the backing paper severed. 

A contour cut and a CAD (computer aided design) cut to my knowledge are pretty much the same thing. A contour cut is generally done by a router or plotter. A contour is a collection of nodes that the machine uses to cut out very awkward shapes. A flame sticker decal for a vehicle for example. 

That SGIA link Rodney posted looked pretty handy. A quick google will oftentimes lead you to a pretty solid answer as well, but if there's any confusion, nothing beats asking other users!


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## hi-nrg-joe (Jul 19, 2008)

Thanks guys...

Another question regarding die cuts. Is this method used with multiple layers? For example, I'm punching out the letter "J" 10 times. Is this like using a Foot brake in a machine shop. I would have a template of the letter J and then a stack of my material(10). Then the template cuts through all 10 layers creating me 10 "J"s?....Is this kind of correct? Like a cookie cutter?


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## joeshaul (Mar 1, 2008)

hi-nrg-joe said:


> Thanks guys...
> 
> Another question regarding die cuts. Is this method used with multiple layers? For example, I'm punching out the letter "J" 10 times. Is this like using a Foot brake in a machine shop. I would have a template of the letter J and then a stack of my material(10). Then the template cuts through all 10 layers creating me 10 "J"s?....Is this kind of correct? Like a cookie cutter?


Yes, I've referred to it as similar to a cookie cutter when explaining it in the past as well.


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