Do you need heat to die cut plastic?
Many people think they need heat to cut Styrene, Expanded PVC such as Sintra, Vinyl and many other plastics, but that may not be true.
While we do recommend heat for thermal cutting vinyl and expanded PVC, many other plastics including styrene may not require heat. Heat helps the die (steel rule or brass/mag) melt/cut through vinyl, and heat certainly relaxes expanded PVC so that you can achieve a nice clean cut. In fact, expanded PVC requires the use of heat more than other plastic because it helps prevent it from fracturing. What may surprise you is that the temperature does not need to be as high as you think to achieve the desired cut quality with Sintra.
Other plastics, such as styrene, do benefit from the use of heat for a similar reason; heat helps the knife penetrate further before the plastic fractures, which gives you a better edge quality. However, changing the type of steel rule can give you similar benefits. For example, if you use a serrated knife with a soft pad, you can reduce the tonnage needed to cut styrene while improving edge quality without heat.
