Intec SC6000 / Morgana ColorCut Digital Die Cutter

[SoggyWinter]

Great write up, sir.

I'm in the market for the SC6500 very soon and I've heard that the crease is very weak for packaging and also was told it needs to be laminated or else it cracks. My main use of the machine is for more short run die cut or kiss cut stickers.

Another one of my intended uses would be die cut business cards, postcards and for hangers. Problem is I usually print on 16pt and I know the tolerance is up to about a 14pt. Anyone have experience with just die cutting 16pt with the possibility of gloss or soft touch lamination?

Based on my experience diecutting thick sticker media with a Summa S2T, you'll go through blades like candy and constantly need to make cut pressure adjustments cutting cardstock.

 

[jwheeler]

The thickest I've experimented with for packaging was 14pt C1S that was laminated and it did fine on the cutting. We just did a run of 1,250 door hangers and every sheet came out spot on. It did spit out about 20 sheets un-cut because it had trouble reading the marks. Not sure why because they looked fine to us. Out paper did have a bit of curl so maybe that cause the issue.

One new downside we've noticed is the creasing rapidly wears out the felt strip that the blade cuts into. These door hangers were unique in that they were double wide with a crease down the middle to fold in half before they hang it. I put on a fresh felt strip before starting the door hangers because it had worn out from doing some creasing jobs before this one. The only spot that wore out was where the crease line was.

 

[Robohopar]

Understood. I wonder how it would do with 16pt cardstock. Mainly cutting, no creasing.

 

[Robohopar]

Hi guys,

Bumping this up in the case if anyone knows about the tolerances for this machine. My Rep is going off the spec sheet but another rep is saying they’ve sold this to others and they’re running up to 24pt on the machine as well without issues. I know if the manufacturer spec is 14pt they wont cover parts under warranty if you’re using out of spec paper so just want to check to see if anyone has had any experiences with this matching since the last post.

Thank you

 

[jwheeler]

Reps will always tell you about customers running beyond spec, but then they won’t support you when the machine has issues. Their techs will blame it on you running it out of spec. I don’t trust reps like that.

I think 24pt would really be pushing it simply because the blades are so tiny. They’re not like the larger blades on a flatbed cutter. Plus, I’m sure that would wear out the blades quite rapidly. My suggestion is to just test a bunch of 24pt on their demo unit and see how it does.

Something else to consider: Morgana just announced the launch of a new model which does better creasing, supports thicker stock, and allows you to use without being connected to a PC.

 

[Robohopar]

Thanks for the info! I did not know a new one coming out. I’ll check it out, thanks again.

 

[squashsparky]

Great write up, sir.

I'm in the market for the SC6500 very soon and I've heard that the crease is very weak for packaging and also was told it needs to be laminated or else it cracks. My main use of the machine is for more short run die cut or kiss cut stickers.

Another one of my intended uses would be die cut business cards, postcards and for hangers. Problem is I usually print on 16pt and I know the tolerance is up to about a 14pt. Anyone have experience with just die cutting 16pt with the possibility of gloss or soft touch lamination?

Hi Robohopar,

The SC6500 uses a ball to crease, and is ideal for stock 14pt or below. If you use packaging boards, from Clampitt Papers or other such companies, it is fine, and no cracking. But, if you sue regular card for Business cards this may need laminating as its not ideal for packaging materials so make sure you buy the right stocks.
However, if you want a better crease they released a new model to the range for those that wanted a stronger crease.

The SC7000 is available from Intec, Morgana OR Plockmatic. Essentially the are the same machine, and use a creasing wheel for the crease with inexcess of 5lbs of pressure.

This additional pressure and the use of a wheel creates a deeper crease.

The SC6500 is not discontinued, it is best for labels and lighter card (<14pt).

The SC7000 expands the range, has larger feed rollers for more grip, better control of heavier sheets and a larger tool carriage that includes a FULL tangential creasing wheel (And additional motor that picks up the wheel and turns it automously). Speaking of thickness, the SC7000 will be suitable for up to 18pt. I think @jwheeler is right, you really need to move to a full Flatbed if you want 24pt. (Think FB9000 or FB9500 from Intec/Morgana)

The list price on the SC6500 from most dealers (without shipping or any installation depending on your needs) is circa $10,999 (but depends on the dealer and what they include)
The SC7000 is $13,999 (currently).

If you wanted one at those prices, you should reach out to the dealer in your area quickly as the Tariffs will force price increases in April (from what I understand) and you may see up to 20% increase in prices as today the main part of the mechanical elements are made in China. The Electronics, wiring and controllers are from the UK, and the ColorCut software is actually written by Intec's programming team based out of Tampa Florida (SO HOME GROWN USA !). The software as such is super easy to use and works well for the US market and is fully up to date with the latest versions of Illustrator (infact all versions since CS4 through EVERY version to Illustrator 2025).

By the way, not sure which automated flatbed option you were looking at...

.. The FB9000 is available at circa $22,000 with some promotions available as they (Intec/Morgana) look to bring in their new model (the FB9500) which has a very sexy...unique (Patented in the USA) system which will scan the rear of the sheet while loading and enable a wider range of heavier stocks to crease and cut super accurately. The FB9500 are likely to land at circa $27,000.
I suspect if you were happy with the FB9000, you could get a deal around $20,000 plus delivery as they clear the models through.

 

[KM-1e user]

I know @criccidisk did a write up on the SC5000 a while back. We acquired the SC6000 about a while ago and have used it quite a bit already for boxes, labels, and die-cut postcards, folders, etc, so I wanted to post my feedback for others who are considering one. There are 3 units in the lineup: SC5000, SC6000, and now the SC6500 and you can see an overview of the slight differences between each unit on Intec's website at this link. Plockmatic also sells these units under the Morgana name of ColorCut here.

TLDR: We like it and would recommend it. We would prefer a flatbed conveyor model if we had the room and the budget. (Price ~$13,000US vs. ~$40,000US for flatbed)

PROS:

• Great price for what it can do
• Very small foot print. The catch tray even completely folds into the unit when not in use
• Uses a standard power outlet
• Large, auto feeding tray that is quick and easy to setup and has been quite reliable
• Accurate and consistent cutting
• Similar to a slitter/cutter/creaser: once you set it, you can pretty much walk away and come back to a finished stack.
• Easy to setup jobs in both the software and at the machine.
  • You need to do a quick depth/pressure check when trying new stocks whether for creasing, kiss cutting, or die cutting. The touch screen makes this process very fast and you can save the settings under the stock name for future use.
  • The software doesn't require specially named spot colors for the die lines. You just make them 100% C, M, Y, or K...or R, G or B, then assign to a task in the software.
  • There's a plugin for Illustrator that automatically adds the necessary registration marks and barcode to your AI file, then automatically opens this file in the cutting software.
  • We opted for the automatic box making software. This is fantastic! They have over a dozen pre-made box patterns that you can adjust to any length, width, or height and it automatically opens in Illustrator for you to add the artwork, then automatically opens in the cutting software to begin the finishing.

CONS:

• It must be plugged in directly to a PC via a printer cable...can't be put on the network.
• Long sheets do not work well. The feeder extends out just fine to handle sheets up to 13"x28" long. However, the catch tray doesn't extend. Therefore, the longer sheets end up just tumbling onto the floor if you're not standing there to catch every one of them. We were trying to make these single sheet presentation folders in house. It did a great job cutting them consistently, but it was frustrating that they just fell on the floor.
• Due to the feed-through design, rather than cutting on a flatbed, you run into issues with the die cut pieces getting caught up in the rollers. The machine sort of has a mind of it's own and does what it thinks will be the best pattern. To overcome this, the software does allow you some control over which end or corner of the sheet to start with, and you can also make more little tabs to hold the die-cut pieces in a little better. It just takes some trial and error, but that can be a bit tedious.
• I agree with @criccidisk that the creasing isn't too great - and this is probably the weakest point of this machine:
  • It's really more of a score than a crease because it's just a small ball bearing rolling over the sheet into a felt pad on the back.
  • It doesn't do too great on really thick sheets since the indenting only comes from one side; there isn't a male/female side like in a true crease.
  • We have a client that needs manilla folders with printing on the inside and outside. This job has always been a nightmare to run through our Konica's since we have to purchase and run them pre-cut. However, now we can run them on flat sheets and just die-cut them afterwards. The cutting is excellent, but the creasing for the center fold is weak.
  • You MUST laminate if you want to make boxes, or they will crack.
• You must leave little tabs on die-cut pieces so they don't fall out as it runs the sheet through the rollers. This creates more manual work when punching out the finished pieces, and sometimes you get little torn edges. A flatbed die cutter doesn't need the little tabs and the pieces just fall right out, clean every time

We are a printing company that used to rely on an old press for creasing, cutting, perforating, and similar tasks. Eventually, however, we encountered jobs where this method was no longer viable in terms of time or cost. About a month ago, we installed the SC7800RS XL Pro machine, and the experience has been terrible—ranging from software issues to design flaws. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone! The problems are too frequent to overlook: double-sheet feeding, software crashes (a major issue!!!), and material getting caught in the belt that drives the lower part of the creasing tool... This machine (SC7800RS XL) is suitable for one-off tests and very small runs, but certainly not for batches exceeding 30 sheets. I hope we’ll be able to return it.