Page 16 - Industrial Cutting of Textile Materials

Introduction to cutting room operations in textile good manufacture 3

In a semiautomated spreading process, the operator smoothes the surface of the
lay, recognizes faults in the spread fabric, and makes decisions to leave faults in the
spread or cut them out. Fully automated spreading is used for high-quality, easy spread
materials. The operator sets all the necessary parameters (the length of the lay, number
of fabric plies, spreading speed, fabric tension, etc.) and lets the machine complete
each spread.
The spreading speed is dependent on the properties of a fabric. It is much faster (ap-
prox 1.5–3 times) than manual spreading. Automated spreading is used in medium and
large production enterprises. The automated spreading process is described in Chapter 6.

1.5 The fabric cutting process

During cutting, separate components of textile goods are cut out from the fabric spread
in accordance with their shape and number determined by the marker. The cutting may
be performed manually or automated way.

1.5.1 The manual cutting process
During manual cutting, components are cut in several cutting steps. The spread is first
divided into smaller parts. If there are small and complex components, components
which later will have to be fused with interlinings or components with intricate fabric
patterns, these are firstly cut roughly around the edges. Later, after additional treat-
ment, fine cutting is undertaken to ensure an accurate final shape. Large and simple
shape components may be cut without initial rough cutting.
Different cutting machines are used to perform manual cutting. Movable straight-
and round-knife cutting machines are used to divide a spread in smaller parts and to
cut large and simple shape components. A static band-knife machine is used to cut
small and complicated components. The displacement of fabric plies in the spread
is the main problem in manual cutting. As a result, the precision of cut components
can be much lower than when using automated cutting. The manual cutting process is
described in Chapter 7 and also in Chapters 15, 17, and 18.

1.5.2 The automated cutting process
Automated cutting is performed using a special automated cutting system. The cutting
device moves and cuts a single-fabric ply or previously prepared fabric spread in ac-
cordance with a placement of pattern pieces in the marker. Different kinds of knives,
laser, water jet, or ultrasound can be used as a cutting tool for processing textiles.
A cutting operator sets up cutting parameters and monitors cutting process. Displacement
of fabric plies in a spread is eliminated as the spread is compressed and held in position
by a special vacuum system. A laser beam as a cutting tool is used not only for cutting
but also for engraving and marking of textiles. Specialized software and tools are used
to process fabrics with intricate patterns and digitally printed fabrics in semiautomated
or fully automated way. Most often, they are cut by automated single-ply cutters.