According to the shapes of the platen and die-cutting mechanism, different carton die-cutting machines can be divided into flat die-cutting, round die-cutting and round die-cutting machines. The platen and die-cutting mechanism of flat die-cutting machine are both flat. When the platen and platen are in vertical position, it is a vertical flat die-cutting machine. When the die-cutting machine works, the platen presses the printing plate and presses the printing plate table through transmission. There are two kinds of different trajectories of the press plate: one is that the press plate swings around the fixed hinge, so there is a certain inclination between the working surface of the press plate and the template surface at the moment of starting die-cutting, which makes the die-cutting plate cut into the lower part of the cardboard earlier, which is easy to cause the phenomenon that the lower part of the die-cutting plate is heavily stressed and the upper part is not completely cut through. In addition, the component of die-cutting pressure will also cause the lateral displacement of paperboard. When the die-cutting machine with another paper pressing drum motion mechanism works, the paper pressing drum is driven by the connecting rod, and swings on the plane guide rail of the machine base with the cylindrical roller as the fulcrum at first, and then when the working surface of the paper pressing drum changes from inclined to parallel to the die-cutting board, the paper pressing drum is pressed to the die-cutting board in a translational manner.

Vertical flat die-cutting machine has the advantages of simple structure, convenient maintenance, easy operation and replacement of die-cutting indentation plate, but it has high labor intensity and low production efficiency, and the working times per minute are mostly 20 -30, which is mostly used for small batch production.

Both the platen and platen surface of the horizontal die-cutting machine are in a horizontal position, and the lower platen is driven by the mechanism to press upward against the platen for die-cutting indentation.

Because of the short stroke of the platen of the horizontal die-cutting machine, it is difficult to manually put in or take out cardboard, so it usually has an automatic paper feeding system, and its overall structure is similar to that of a sheet-fed offset press. The whole machine is composed of automatic input system of cardboard, die cutting part, cardboard output part, electrical control, mechanical transmission and other parts, and some of them also have automatic cleaning devices.

Horizontal flat die-cutting machine is safe and reliable, with high automation and production efficiency. It is an advanced model in flat die cutting machine. The paper pressing drum of rotary die-cutting machine and the working parts of press-cutting mechanism are all cylindrical. When working, the paper feeding roller sends the cardboard between the die-cutting roller and the paper pressing roller, and they clamp the cardboard to die-cut the roller, and the die-cutting roller rotates once, which is a working cycle.

Because the cylinder of rotary die-cutting machine rotates continuously, its production efficiency is the highest among all kinds of die-cutting machines. However, it is troublesome, costly and technically difficult to bend the die-cutting plate into a curved surface. Therefore, rotary die-cutting machine is often used for mass production.