Summary:
The Colex Sharpcut is a high-precision CNC that can handle materials like foam board, corrugated, acrylic, textiles, and wood under 2.5″ thick. It has a built-in camera-guided alignment system with vacuum-based hold-down to keep materials still and a tool head that can hold up to three cutting tools at once. Common applications include packaging prototypes, POP displays, contour-cut signs, custom shapes, and large-scale lawn signs. Print shops like Little Rock use it to maintain print quality on tight timelines.
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Great design comes from having the freedom to break the mold, so print shops need to be ready to accommodate a lot more than just cookie-cutter print runs. Here at Little Rock, we’ve invested in some of the most advanced equipment on the market, and it gives us a serious edge over the competition. The Colex Sharpcut, our most powerful flatbed cutting machine, helps us bring ideas like life-size cut-outs to life faster and lets us work with a wider range of materials, custom shapes, and sizes. It’s packed with tools and features that speed up production so we can deliver consistent, high-quality results on every run.
That means we get to say yes to complex jobs that other shops might turn down. See what sets this printer apart from other systems and how it can deliver superior results for your print projects below.
The Magic Behind Colex’s Most Capable Cutter
The Sharpcut uses a high-tech camera-guided system that scans registration marks and automatically aligns every contour of the cut to your print. This boosts speed and helps stabilize accuracy so that the variation between runs is as minimal as possible.
It can also:
- Work with materials like foam board, corrugated, acrylic, textiles, and wood.
- Cut intricate shapes with many sides or contours without drifting out of alignment.
- Handle materials up to 2.5″ thick, which isn’t standard for most print shops
Unique Feature: Vacuum-Based Hold-Down
One of the biggest issues with high-intensity projects like these is the tendency for the material to move around during the job. The Sharpcut fixes that by using a powerful vacuum to gently press it flat against the surface. It’s referred to as “hold-down” in literature. This vastly improves printing accuracy for direct-to-substrate projects.
Related: Direct to Substrate Printing: What It Is & How It Gets You a Better Result
Tool Options Chart
The Sharpcut’s tool head can hold up to three different tools at once, which means we spend less time switching them out and more time being productive. Our team will choose the best one for your print job, but having a general sense of what they do can inspire you to get more creative with your designs.
Check out the chart below for an overview.
| Tool | What It’s For |
| Fixed Double-Edge Knife | Thick vinyl foil, cardstock, chipboard, laminate, expanded PVC, magnetic foil, and other similar substrates. |
| Creasing Wheel | Scores and folds materials like cardstock, carton, and corrugated media. |
| Kiss-Cutting Knife | A spring-loaded blade for pressure-sensitive vinyl, decals, and label materials. |
| Coroplast / Corrugated Knife | Designed for Coroplast (¼ʺ or lighter), vinyl, light corrugated board, banners, and more. |
| Universal Single-Edge Knife | For general cuts on materials up to ¼ʺ thick. |
| V-Cut Knife | Cuts triple-wall corrugated, Falcon Board, honeycomb board up to ½ʺ at 90° angles. |
| Drawing Tool | Plots lines, text, marks at any angle or direction. |
| Perforating Wheel | Creates precise perforations in paper, vinyl, and other substrates. |
| Oscillating Knife | Cuts dense or challenging materials like thick foam board, honeycomb, Styrofoam, etc. |
| 3 HP Router | Cuts rigid or hard substrates like aluminum, acrylic, hard plastic, wood, composite board. |
| Rotary Knife | Uses a rotating 10-sided wheel for clean cuts in textiles, fabric, and other fibrous materials. |
| Heavy Duty Rotary Knife | For more rugged textile or fabric cutting needs (e.g., thick leather or canvas). |
Use Cases for the Colex Sharpcut
What kinds of projects benefit the most from the Colex Sharpcut? We’re glad you asked.
These are some of the orders we see coming through our Calgary print shop repeatedly throughout the year.
1. Packaging Prototypes
Create mockups for product packaging that include your own logos, messages, ingredient lists, and other information. There are no minimums, so short runs can be as large or small as you want. Use the code FREEPROOF to get the first one cost-free!
2. POP Displays
Have something to sell or say at the register? Print point-of-purchase displays with intricate folds and cuts in professional finishes that draw attention to it. They’re ideal for increasing brand awareness, giving out product samples, and reminding customers about those little impulse buys (like chocolate).
3. Contour-Cut Signs
Create eye-catching signs that draw attention to your brand and offerings in complex shapes like sans-serif or serif fonts, fancy scripts, arrows, plus signs, hearts, or abstract curves. The Sharpcut will handle every contour and cut beautifully either way.
4. Custom Shapes and Designs
Create large or small-scale prints in custom shapes that represent your brand mascot, product, or company leaders. They’re so popular, they’re already showing up at big-time local events like the Calgary Stampede and helping local breweries get the word out about their products.
5. Big Head Cutouts
Draw attention to your subject’s face by printing it out on custom-cut Coroplast as a novelty gift or for special events, like sports games. They make great photo props for weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays, too. See what you need to know about Big Head Cut-Outs before you order.
How the Sharpcut Integrates Into Our Calgary Print Shop
Our production process on projects like these depends on seamless integration between the Sharpcut and our flatbed printers. Being able to slide from printing to cutting in a single effortless step allows us to produce more copies in a shorter length of time while maintaining accuracy and quality control.
The journey starts the moment you place your order and send us a print-ready PDF:
- First, we run a few checks to make sure your file is print-ready and properly set up. (Don’t worry. We’ll contact you if there’s an issue.)
- Next, we load it into one of our advanced flatbed printers and set the task up for success.
- Once it’s finished, it moves on to the Sharpcut to be accurately trimmed down to size.
- When the entire run is complete, we pack it up carefully so it’s ready on the day you chose.
The fact that everything happens right here in-house means we don’t have to outsource complex jobs and charge you a third-party markup for them. The Sharpcut’s accuracy also helps us reduce waste, which means we can keep costs down for you and protect the planet at the same time.
Choose Little Rock’s Sharpcut CNCs for Your Next Print Project
The Sharpcut lets us say “yes we can” to your most ambitious ideas without forcing you to simplify them down into the same old squares or rectangles you’re used to seeing everywhere. Instead, you can create something that truly breaks through the noise and engages your audience.
Send us your high-res, print-ready PDF now to start preparing your next run. To have your questions answered or confirm that we can accommodate your next big idea, just send us a message.
