Patent ID: 8011221

Claim:
An apparatus for cutting a trim line that is variable based on an assembly specification of a panel, the apparatus comprising: a lower die steel which serves to cut the panel along the trim line; an upper die steel which is lowered to be fit into the lower die steel to trim the panel; an upper die unit attached to the upper die steel and including (i) a select retainer to selectively punch the trim line of the panel depending on whether or not a variable notch portion in the panel is required for a assembly specification, and (ii) an upper punch to be moved forward and backward by the select retainer; a lower die unit a attached to the lower die steel so that in operation the lower die unit is movably operated in a direction opposite the upper die unit, the lower die unit including a lower punch that acts as a corresponding counterpart to the upper punch on the opposite side of the panel upon initiating a punching operation of the upper punch to cut the notch portion when the upper punch is moved forward at the same time; and a gas tank disposed behind the lower punch and configured to both (i) support the lower punch to prevent the lower punch from being pushed backward by a trimming force which occurs while a non-variable portion of the panel is being trimmed when the variable notch is not required in the trim line of the panel and (ii) be elastically movable so as to provide an ejecting force to the lower punch to eject a scrap piece caught in the lower die steel when the variable notch is required in the trim line of the panel.