A cutting machine for cutting a flat surface having a graphical design with optical registration features is disclosed. The cutting machine includes a working surface for receiving at least one object, a first camera unit arranged so that the field of vision encompasses the whole working surface, a working group above the working surface, and at least one cutting device for cutting the at least one object. A computing unit with a circuit and program code for controlling the cutting machine includes a storage unit, a circuit and program code for evaluating images of the first camera unit to identify registration features of the at least one object in an image of the first camera unit, and being designed to define a cutting path for the cutting device according to at least one stored instruction and based on positions of the registration features in the image.

A method for producing a puzzle including a plurality of puzzle pieces which, in an assembled state, form the puzzle, wherein, in the method, an image is laminated or printed onto a carrier plate so that the image defines an image plane on the carrier plate, and the puzzle pieces are punched out of the printed or laminated carrier plate or wherein the carrier plate is punched and an image is printed onto the punched carrier plate so that the image defines an image plane on the carrier plate, wherein the puzzle pieces are detached and separated from the punched carrier plate in a predetermined way by a controlled movement of at least one puzzle piece transverse to the image plane. A corresponding device is also disclosed.

A method for producing a puzzle including a plurality of puzzle pieces which, in an assembled state, form the puzzle, wherein, in the method, an image is laminated or printed onto a carrier plate so that the image defines an image plane on the carrier plate, and the puzzle pieces are punched out of the printed or laminated carrier plate or wherein the carrier plate is punched and an image is printed onto the punched carrier plate so that the image defines an image plane on the carrier plate, wherein the puzzle pieces are detached and separated from the punched carrier plate in a predetermined way by a controlled movement of at least one puzzle piece transverse to the image plane. A corresponding device is also disclosed.

An index tab forming system sequentially forms index tabs to a plurality of sheets without replacing a blade die. The index tab forming system includes a rotary die cutter 5 on which a long blade die that can form an index tab at any position of the sheet in the conveyance direction is mounted. Furthermore, the index tab forming system includes a rotational speed calculation unit configured to calculate the rotational speed of a conveyance roller pair 37 based on the rotational position of a die cut roller 50, a sheet position detection signal provided by a sheet detection sensor 40, the number of times of sheet conveyance, and a shift distance between respective index tabs and a conveyance roller control unit configured to control the rotational speed of the conveyance roller pair 37 based on the calculated rotational speed.

Apparatus and method for separating product containing pouches from a travelling web of adhered films carried on a film support surface includes a rotary blade drum assembly having blade configurations with blade portions arranged to form the entire perimeter edge of the flange of the pouch which rotate in synchronous registration with grooves in the film support surface. In one form, at least one blade portion and associated groove portion are non-linear and other than longitudinal or transverse to the film support surface of the forming drum or travelling web of films. The blade portions may be heated and the rotary blade drum assembly may include insulating guides for the pouches.

A centring block (12) for centring a tooling board (14) in a flat bed die-cutting, stripping or blanking machine is provided, the tooling board (14) having a protruding alignment element (30), comprising a first clamp (24) and a second clamp (26) which are arranged adjacent to each other to define a reception space (28) between them and which are mounted linearly moveable separately from each other in a direction perpendicular to a main extension plane of the tooling board (14) and at least one biasing means (34) which is configured to bias the first and the second clamps (24, 26) towards an aligning position against the tooling board (14), wherein each of the clamps (24, 26) comprises a stop portion (31) for restricting a movement of the tooling board (14) in an insertion and an opposite direction and to fix the tooling board (14) is in a centre position. Furthermore, a centring assembly (10) comprising a centring block (12) is provided.

The invention relates to a recovery device (10) for recovering sample blanks (P) for a processing machine (1) for processing elements in sheet form, the processing machine (1) comprising: a plurality of work stations (300, 400, 500, 600) including at least one waste removal station (600), and a conveying device (70) comprising a plurality of gripper bars (75) configured to drive the elements in sheet form through the work stations (300, 400, 500, 600),
the recovery device (10) being characterized in that it comprises: a first removal belt (94), and a second removal belt (95) arranged after the first removal belt (94) in relation to the direction of travel (D) of the sheets, the second removal belt (94) being able to move between:
a continuous-conveying position in which first ends (94a, 95a) of the first and second removal belts (94, 95) are close together so that sheet form element waste (F) can be conveyed from the first removal belt (94) to the second removal belt (95), and
a raised position in which the first end (95a) of the second removal belt (95) has pivoted upward, creating a gap (11) between the first removal belt (94) and the second removal belt (95), so that at least one sample of blanks (P) conveyed by the first removal belt (94) tips into the gap (11). The present invention also relates to a waste removal station and a processing machine for processing elements in sheet form.

A packaging line station having a frame, a die assembly, a drive motor, and an anvil roller. The frame has a base with two vertical stanchions extending upwardly from sides thereof and a top cross-member affixed across the stanchions. The die assembly includes a yoke affixed to the cross-member, a die wheel rotatably affixed to side arms of the yoke, a drive shaft affixed to the die wheel and a cutting die affixed to the die wheel. The drive motor is connected to the drive shaft. The drive shaft and the anvil roller extend between the stanchions. The cutting die and the anvil roller and spaced apart by a nip for receiving a traveling web. As the web passes through the nip the web is cut by blades of the rotating die to form a slit. An adhesive resealable tape or label is then applied over the slit.

Method of manufacturing a substrate with a cut thermal film comprises obtaining an input digital image of a design to be transferred to the substrate; storing the input image in memory; rendering design elements of the design as a single output image; based upon a bleed size value, a maximum number of negative areas, a maximum number of positive areas, and attribute values: resizing the image to include a border for bleed; filling transparent areas of the image with the substrate attribute values; creating a cutting path; creating a mask image; inverting the mask image; modifying the mask image to adjust fill areas around details, to limit negative areas to be less than the maximum number of negative areas, and to limit positive areas to be less than the maximum number of positive areas; creating cutting path data in memory as a vector path outlining the mask image.

A movable die cutter device of the invention cutting patterns on a continuous sheet comprises a set of die cutter cutting the continuous sheet, a movable platform, a skid rail device, at least one sensing device and a control device. The set of movable units is fixed between the base and the upper plate to control a movement of the upper plate. The movable platform comprises a base, a set of movable units, and un upper plate. The skid rail device comprises a sliding block unit fixing the set of die cutter and the upper plate of the movable platform. The skid rail unit is disposed on the base of the movable platform and the sliding block unit sliding thereon. The control device controls the set of movable units of the of movable platform. When the sensing device senses an offsets between the patterns and the set of die cutter, the control device controls the set of movable units of the movable platform to move so that the shift offset can be compensated.