Enfocus Community

Hi, I'm building a Switch flow for our digital cutter: https://www.iechocutter.com/pk-1/pk-aut ... ystem.html

The flow will impose the job and generating a print file and a cutting file (pdf). So far so good.

But now I wonder if there is a automatic way to create nicks in the die line (vector and spot color). The nick is small gaps in the die line to make the cutted out product not to fall out of the sheets in the stacker. Maybe there's another word for it?

The optimal way would be to be able to "setup number of nicks per die line" and they spread out evenly along the die line with 0,5 mm gaps for example.

Any suggestions how to create this?

What I can think of is to use the dash pattern functionality of PitStop where you would use a large "on" and a small "off". It may not suit your needs completely: this method does not allow you to specify the number of nicks, that is something you could only achieve if you establish the length of the contour first and change the on/off values accordingly. It will also not be easy to decide where the first dash will start. That is something you can influence with the "Phase" value but again it is not straightforward. For it to work correctly you will have to have a closed stroked contour.

Thanks Freddy, I tried this now and it might be a useful option. Is there a way to "flatten" the dash (dividing the dash into separate objects)?

That is not possible. There is a "Convert strokes to outlines" action but you probably do not want the cutting table to start cutting very thin outlines. Or does the cutting table software have a function to convert thin outlines to a single cutting line along the center?

Thanks! I will do some testing with the cutting table, it might work as is.