Micro-cutting systems for forming cuts in products

A micro-cutting system for forming cuts along a length of a catheter or guidewire stock material to form a catheter or guidewire product, comprising:

• a cutting apparatus configured to form a plurality of pairs of grooves substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the stock material, the cutting apparatus including:
• a first cutting member,
• a second cutting member, and
• one or more motors operably coupled to said first cutting member and said second cutting member,
• wherein said one or more motors are configured to control, prior to cutting the stock material, a relative gap distance along a lateral axis between said first cutting member and said second cutting member, and
• wherein said one or more motors are further configured to move said first cutting member and said second cutting member substantially parallel to a vertical axis during cutting of the stock material to form each pair of grooves in the stock material, each pair of grooves extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the stock material and each pair of grooves being separated along the lateral axis by the gap distance so as to leave a resultant beam between the grooves in the stock material;
• and
• a stock material controller configured to hold the stock material and feed the stock material along the longitudinal axis through said cutting apparatus to enable the formation of successive pairs of grooves along a longitudinal length of the stock material, said stock material controller being further configured to selectively rotate the stock material by one or more predetermined angles around the longitudinal axis between cuts to form one or more offsets between cuts.