Most everyone in the sign industry dealing with Coro, owns or has seen a flute knife or flute “cutter”.
These handy little additions make cutting in the flute direction of coro, such as Coroplast™ , idiot proof. They also give one the opportunity to score cut the coro to make bends or wrap around prints.
The way these cutters work is simple. They have two prongs connected to a blade which is connected to a handle. The prongs are slid into the flute of the coro and are used as a guide for the blade. The outside prong is used for scoring. The inside prong is used for cutting.
The most popular brand of these flute knives is called the Coro-Claw™ from Saw Trax Mfg. Inc.
In the US, the most popular sizes of coro are 4 mil and 10 mil. The 4 mil was pretty simple to cut because of the thin side walls. The 10 mil was close to impossible to cut with a hand held cutter because the thicker side walls would close on the blade creating tremendous resistance.
What was needed was a simple hand held cutter like the Coro-Claw™ but for 10 mil material.
Enter the Coro-Claw™ X. As you know, X is the Roman symbol for 10.
What is innovative about the Coro-Claw™ X is that it solved the problem of the thicker flute wall closing on the blade. It does this by beveling the cutting blade on either side of the guide prong. This way, the blade separates the side walls allowing them to move up or down away from the blade and not squeeze the blade. By doing opposite bevels on either side of the blade, the cut is made in the center of the flute.
A second innovations with the Coro-Claw™ X is that the blade is angled instead of being at a 90 degree to the material. This angle, like a guillotine blade, makes it easier to slice the material.
The third innovation with the blade is that the cutting edges are offset so the top side wall and bottom side wall are not being cut at the same time as you start your cut. This makes for easier blade entry.
The final innovation with this flute cutter is that it has replaceable cutting heads. This way you reuse the handle saving the user money.
This blade is a patented Saw Trax product.
Price on the Coro-Claw™ X is $31.95. A two pack of replacement heads are $39.95.
For a streaming video link view https://vimeo.com/98161897
