Fabric Cutting

Fabric Cutting:
Cutting is the major operation of the cutting room, when the spread fabric is cut into garment
components. Of all the operations in the cutting room this is the ultimate step, because once the fabric
has been cut, very little can be done to rectify serious mistakes. Cutting can be done manually using
powered knives or by computer-controlled system.

Requirements of the Cutting Process:

Precision of cut- It depends on:
1. Methods of cutting employed.
2. Marker planning- distance between two pattern pieces.
3. Marker marking- correct marking by pen/pencil.
4. Condition of cutting equipment- machine, blade etc.
5. Skill and motivation of the operator.
Clean edges- Free from fraying.
Infused edge- High temperature produced during cutting can fuse fabric edges by melting. Infused
edges can be ensured by taking the following measures:
1. Well sharpened blade.
2. Use of anti-fusion (heat absorbent) paper.
3. Spraying silicon lubricants on the blade.
4. Less cutting speed.
5. Reducing the height of the lay.
Support of the lay - Using a polyethylene sheet or nylon bristle under the bottom ply.
Consistent cutting- all plies should be of same dimension.

Factors involved in Cutting Fabrics

Factors affect the cutting process for fabrics are as follows:-

1. Nature of fabric (grain line shade, twill etc.)

2. Thickness of fabric.
3. Design characteristics of finished garment.
4. Machines and tables used.
Types of fabric cutting:
There are mainly three types of fabric cutting:
a. Completely by manual: Hand operated scissor.
b. Manually operated powered knife:
1. Straight knife
2. Band knife
3. Round knife
4. Die cutter
5. Drill

c. Computerized technique:

Features of Straight Knife Cutting Machine:

1. The main parts of this machine are straight knife, electric motor, handle, grinder, base plate,
stand/ knife holder, lubricating unit, wheel etc.
2. Could be used to cut higher depth of fabric.
3. Knife height is 10 cm to 33 cm.
4. Knife stroke is 2.5 cm to 4.5 cm.
5. Motor rpm. is 3000 to 4000.
6. Auto grinder is used.
7. Auto lubricating unit works for this machine.
8. Different types of knife edge are used for cutting different objects. Such as, straight edge, wave
edge, sew edge & serrated edge.
9. A Handle for the cutter to direct the Knife.
10. Knife guard is attached to the front of the knife.
11. Sharp & heavy corners can be cut.
12. Maximum 70% of knife height is used for fabric lay.
13. Wheels are under the base plate to move the machine smoothly.
14. Machine weight is around 12-15 kg.
15. Knife cut the fabric very fast due to high speed of motor. That increases the risk of fabric damage.

Advantages of Straight Knife Cutting Machine:

1. A large number of fabric lays can be cut by the machine due to high length of knife & r.p.m. of
the motor. So, productivity is high.
2. Automatic grinding.
3. Automatically lubrication.
4. Comparatively cheap.
5. Can be moved easily by wheel.
6. Suitable for straight line & curve line.
7. Can be cut high curve line than round knife.
8. Fabric can be cut from any angle.
Disadvantages of Straight Knife Cutting Machine:
1. High speed of the machine causes high risk of damage.
2. Faulty knife could damage fabric layer.
3. Motor weight creates knife deflection which may be creates faulty pieces.
4. Risk is high for physical damage of operator.
5. Knife required to replace.

Uses/Application of Straight Knife Cutting Machine:

It’s suitable for straight line cutting, curve line cutting & for large part cutting. It is used for large production.
Most commonly used in Garments Industry of Bangladesh (99%).

Round Knife Cutting Machine:

This machine is called round knife cutting machine because its cutter is round but slightly octagonal in
shape. This machine is small in size, flexible & used for small production. It is also a popular cutting
machine.

Fig: Round Knife Cutting Machine

Features of Round Knife Cutting Machine:

1. It contains a round but slightly octagonal type knife with sharp edge.
2. The other main parts of this machine are base plate, electric motor, handle & knife guard.
3. Knife diameter varies from 6-20 cm.
4. Manual grinder is used.
5. Motor r.p.m. is 800-1600.It depends on machine.
6. A handle for the cutter to direct the knife.
7. Easy to handle & movement due to low weight.
8. Knife is lubricating manually.
9. Three types of knife edge can be used for cutting different objects. Such as, waved edge, toothed
edge & circular edge.
10. A round knife rotating so that the leading edge cuts downwards into the fabric.
11. Flexible movement helps to cut non-linear shape.
12. Base plate gives support for fabric.
13. Maximum 40% of the knife diameter can be used for fabric lay.
Advantage of Round Knife Cutting Machine:

1. Suitable for cutting single ply as well as multilayer (say 20-30layers).

2. Easy to handle & operate.
3. Suitable for small scale cutting.
4. Suitable for gentle curve line cutting.
5. To cut the larger part of the garments.
6. With a same rpm its efficiency is 10 times greater than the straight knife.
Disadvantage of Round Knife Cutting Machine:
1. Very low rpm & knife height.
2. Manual grinder is used.
3. Low productivity since few number of lay can be cut.
4. Difficult to cut small components & high curve line.
5. Not suitable for large production.
6. Lubrication is manually done.

Uses/Application of Round Knife Cutting Machine:

It’s useful for gentle curve line cutting, big parts cutting, cutting out fabric block from lay & small
scale cutting. It’s normally use for small production.
c. Computerized technique:
1. Knife cutting
2. Cutting by water jet
3. Laser cutting
4. Plasma torch cutting

Computerized technique:

Introduction:
In this machine, cutting knife movement is controlled by a computer. Cutting table used for computer
controlled straight knife cutting machine is different from normal cutting table. The table top is
covered with a bed of nylon bristle. The nylon bristle bed is capable to support the fabric lay and also
allows the straight knife to pass through and move around the nylon bristle. Hence cutting of each and
every ply of fabric in the lay is confirmed. The nylon bristle bed also allows air suction through the
bed to make the lay compressed by vacuum pressure.

Computer Controlled Straight Knife Cutting Machine

On the cutting table there are two rails on two sides, running length direction of the cutting table. A
cross beam moves length direction of the cutting table, situated on the rails. The cutting head is
situated on the cross beam and moves on the cross beam but the movement is in width direction of the
cutting table. The cutting knife is situated inside the cutting head. Due to the combined movement of
the cross beam, cutting head, and cutting knife, fabric cutting is done at any line, angle, and point
very accurately. The combined movement is controlled by three servo motors.

When fabric cutting command is given through computer, the cutting knife starts lay cutting from a
reference point starting in the computer memory of the marker. Notch point is made by the same
cutting knife. Drill mark is also produced by a separate drill situated in the cutting head. Speed of
cutting depends on lay height. For example, for a compressed lay of 7.5 cm height, cutting speed will
be 7.5 meter per minute. As the cutting proceeds, the vacuum pressure may drop into the lay.
To avoid the reduced vacuum pressure problem, another polythene sheet roll may be used to cover the
cut portion of the lay. Computerized straight knife cutting machine does not require any use of marker.
In some cases, marker may be used to identify the cut components.

Advantages:

1. Very fast fabric cutting;

2. Very accurate cutting;
3. Cutting speed could be varied;
4. Cutting knife could be rotated and moved at any angle;
5. Suitable for large scale production;
6. Can be connected with computerized marker making;
7. Fabric is compressed by vacuum facilitates cutting;
8. Cutting defect is negligible;
9. No possibility of blade deflection;
10. Blade sharpening is attached;
11. Possibility of accident is lower;
12. No need of marker;
13. Lower labor cost;
14. 6 to 8 times faster cutting.
Disadvantages:

1. Initial investment cost is very high;

2. Maintenance cost is also very high;
3. Skilled operator is needed.

Waterjet Cutting Machine:

A water jet cutter is an industrial tool capable of cutting a wide variety of materials using a very high
pressure jet of water or a mixture of water. The cutter is commonly connected to a high-pressure water
pump where the water is then ejected from the nozzle, cutting through the material by spraying it with
the jet of high-speed water. The features of water jet cutting machine is given below:
 Waterjet cutter

Features of Water-jet Cutting Machine:

1. In water jet cutter, water or mixture of water is used to cut fabric which is controlled by computer.
2. Special software is used to cut fabric.
3. A very high velocity (60,000 lb/ square inch) & small diameter steam of water is created by a
water jet intensifier pump.
4. The high pressure jet acts as a solid tool & sharp knife which can easily cut the fabrics, lathers &
plastic materials.
5. As the jet penetrates successive plies in a spread, the momentum decreases & cutting ability is
reduced. So, the lower lays of fabric cutting will be wide & less effective.
6. The jet of water & loose fibers normally caught & drains away by a catcher when cut the fabric. It
is in the bottom of the fabric lays & moves with the same speed & the same direction of water jet.
7. To improve the cutting speed, it is needed to adjust the pressure & radius of the jet.

Water Jet Cutting Machine

Advantage of Water-jet Cutting Machine:

1. Most effective to cut hard materials such as leather & plastic.
2. Sound of cutting is less.
3. Excess heat is not produce.
4. Higher cutting speed.
5. The table is not cut as catcher is used.
6. Since there is no solid knife so, no sharpening is required.
Disadvantage of Water-jet Cutting Machine:
1. There is a danger of wet edges.
2. Water spot may occur on fabric.
3. High costly.
4. Hard water causes rusting (মরিচা). So water must be filtered & de-ionized before use.
5. As in the lower lay, water jet spreads out & then cut is wider & rough at the bottom of the spread.
6. Not suitable for high lay of fabric.
7. The sound of jet need to control.
Uses/Application of Water-jet Cutting Machine:
Water jet machine is widely used to cut metal, composite, marble, granite, ceramic tile, glass, cloth,
food, leather, rubber, nylon, wood, dynamite and so on. Water jet cutter is not suitable for cutting
fabric but this cutter is under research to cut fabric.
Process flow chart of fabric cutting:
Pattern received from pattern department

↓
Cutting ratio received from merchandiser
↓
Marker making

↓
Fabric received from the store

Fabric Checking

↓
Fabric Spreading

↓
Marker placing on to the lay

↓
Cutting the fabric

↓
Numbering

↓
Checking

↓
Sorting and Bundling

↓
Send to the sewing department
Difference between straight knife and round knife: (Self Study)

S/L Substances Straight Knife Round Knife

In this machine, machine is
In this machine, machine is stationary and fabric is
01 Movability movable but fabric is fixed. movable.
Knife Knife is narrower than band
02 Thickness Knife is thicker. knife.
Accident rate of this machine is Accident rate of this machine
03 Accident Rate high. is low.
Workload is higher than
04 Work Load Workload is less than round knife. straight knife.
In this machine, there has possible
05 Cut Possibility to cut fabric. Not possible to cut directly.
Round knife is almost like
06 Similar Straight knife is not like saw cutter. saw cutter.
Possible to cut the fabric layer
07 Cut Angle Fabric can cut at any angle. in 90°.

Fused Edge in Fabric:

During fabric cutting, when the parts of fabric are cut from the fabric lay, there is generated friction
between the fabric and cutting knife. As a result heat is generated in the cutting knife. Sometimes it’s
seen that, due to excessive heat generation by friction may cause burn of the edge of cutting fabric. It
affects deeply in case of thermo-plastic fiber.

Removal Ways of Fused Edge Produced in Fabric Cutting:

There are some key points, which helps to remove fused edge during fabric cutting are mentioned in
the following:
1. Reducing ply height,
2. Sharpening the knife properly,
3. Using silicon lubricating agents during cutting,
4. Using anti fusing paper,
5. Reducing the speed of cutting.

Thanking You All