GM Nameplate does not guarantee a maximum life for this type of tooling. Some dies last less than 500 impressions when used on very abrasive materials, while others last into the hundreds of thousands. Factors which affect the life of a steel rule die include: 1) the number of times a die is set up to run; 2) the thickness and type of materials to be cut; 3) total impressions; and 4) kiss cutting or completely blanking the parts out. Generally a die used for thin Mylar and Vinyl (.001-.003”) will have the longest life. The same die used for heat laminated vinyl or Lexan thicker than .010”, will have a shorter life. We do not recommend steel rule tooling for any material thicker than .020” except for short runs.

Wear on steel rule dies eventually causes parts to drift out of tolerance and develop ragged edges. This must be considered when weighing initial tooling costs relative to the quality and quantity of the part being produced. A steel rule tool cannot be sharpened, it must be reruled at a cost of approximately 85% of a new die. The customer is responsible for reruling costs. GM Nameplate will always try to inform its customers of the need to rerule at the time an order is placed however, the need to rerule may not be known at the time. In some cases, it will be necessary to stop a job in production to have a tool reruled to maintain cut quality and tolerances. If this should occur our customers will be contacted for authorization of the cost before the reruling occurs.