Hi printfreq
The amount of possible cuts per grinding cycle depending on different factors.
Type of cutting material
This is one of the biggest problems. Most cutter users cannot minimize the variation of the cutting material. One day say cut soft paper, next day hart material or recycled grey board (which kills the knife easily). The first question is always about the cutting material.
Knife material (type of knife)
HSS should be today the minimum. If you cut 1.000 times with HSS, I would call it normal. The alternative is carbide. The average is 5.000 to 10.000 cuts for a standard carbide knife. But carbide is not good for every cutting material! And you need a knife grinder who is able to grind carbide knifes.
Quality of homing after grinding the knife (regarding HSS and lower quality)
The knife grinder does the job in two steps. Grinding is the easier part. Afterwards he is honing the knife. This requires talent or at least experience. Trying another knife grinder is not unfriendly. There are a lot of problems just because of wrong honing.
Knife change
The adjustment of the knife during the knife change procedure is changing the life time. If the first contact of knife and cutting stick is rude and unprofessional, the knife gets its first damage. After years in service I came to a label house and learned the differences. I was surprised. Today label printers may cut up to 30.000 to 40.000 cuts between knife changes. But this is extreme and not possible for normal printers.
Lubricant
Lubrication helps to increase the number of cuts. But there are some general side effects. Every cut wipes the lubricant away. The only way to lubricate effetely is with a build in spraying device. For example three knife trimmers have a lubrication function. Every some cycles the knife gets lubricated. If you use a normal spray can it will be over a while expensive. This is probably the reason why lubrication never got popular.
The lubrication material should be neutral in colour. I know of silicon spray used in industrial book production. The Swiss cutter producer “Schneider engineering” advertised over last 10 to 15 years a lubrication function in there machine. But the amount of machine they build is not representative for general cutting.
Do not breathe in to much silicon spray. This is not too good for your lung.
Overall
I do not believe that a cutter operator will lubricate the knife (let’s say every 20 cuts) in a cost efficient way. The time and the lubrication material cost a lot of money. All customers try if possible to use a higher knife quality. This would reduce the time for knife change as well.
Buntpapier
