Sample-makers in the packaging industry

In mid of the 80´s so called CAD/CAM systems became to be popular, first driven by HP (under Unix) and later by PC´s 252 the packaging software “laserline!, Diecad3 and others create the data to drive the sample makers, able to cut (with a tangential knife first) and crease. The oscillating knife for cutting box-samples of corrugated board followed the low-power lasers, which had not the success at that time, as they have it today. Probably around 25000 sample makers were sold in the folding carton and corrugated industry during the past 30+ years.

Flat-bed plotters for die-making

Those machines where used also for the diemakers willing to improve, but with not sufficient capital to afford a laser-cutting machine. The die-makers used the plotter to draw on plywood the contour which they later jigged by a manual jig-saw. Packaging companies used also the plotter to draw the “astralon” on a polyester film in order to prove and check the dimension of the lay-out and the tolerances of the cutting die. Flatbed-plotters were much more accurate than drum-plotters in those days.

Digital cutting tables
Beginning of the new century the plotters transform the name to digital cutting tables and increased considerable the speed and acceleration. Companies like Kongsberg, Lasercomb and Zund add a feeder on their machines to assure a more-or-less automatic process to produce mock-ups and orders of up to 500-2000 boxes.
Today, digital cutting tables are represented in all industries.