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Almost every home has something produced by a clicker printer. A clicker press is a machine that cuts shapes from rolls of soft material, such as rubber, cardboard, or leather, using a sharp piece of metal called a die. The click press is often used to make parts for shoes, handbags, and virtually any other type of cut product made from sheets of flexible material.
The process of using a clicker press to cut these materials is called die cutting. Think of it in terms of making cookies. By rolling out cookie dough and pressing the cookie cutter into it, you are making cookies through a cut and fold process. The cookie dough is the soft raw material, and the cookie cutter works as the mold.
The manufacturing process with a clicker press has been around since the 19th century, when shoemakers created manual dies to cut the leather parts of shoes. Machines were invented to automate the process so that multiple cuts could be made simultaneously.
The first die-cutting machines were simply a manual process where the material was placed on a block of wood. A die with a handle would then be placed on top. The operator would hit the top of the die with a hammer to force the steel die into the material and make the cut. Today, the clicker printer is an integral part of the manufacturing process and is used in many different applications, from circuit board manufacturing to playing cards.
Cutting and creasing is a manufacturing science and a craft. Die makers often have their own individual industry tricks that they use to create the best dies for each specific application. The thickness and firmness of the material will determine which type of press clicker to use, as well as which type of die to make. Soft or soft or elastic materials require a different technique when cutting. Depending on the material, the clicker press will include either a hardened steel plate or a softer cutting surface, such as polypropylene, on which the material is placed and the die is applied to cut the desired shapes.
The printer itself is easy to operate. The clicker die is usually placed on the material by hand. Different types of cutting dies are better suited to different types of materials, and to some degree, die and die machining is an art that requires some degree of trial and error to master.