badge
The origin of the badge can be traced back to the Stone Age. Studies have shown that the ancients used animal skins or sharp animal or fish bones or even thorns to fix them. Brooches or badges have of course been continuously developed since then, and can now reflect any shape or image, which is an important fashion trend today.
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Many people want badges more than before. I believe many people would like to know how custom enamel badges are made! Now let us show you how to make an enamel badge.
Step 1: Design drawing
Perfect design is the soul of custom badges, we will design drawings according to customer requirements.
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Step 2: Complete the model
The customer confirms the design drawing and forwards it to the programmer of the factory mold department. After the model is complete, you can start making badges. A piece of black steel used as a mold material is fixed on the engraving machine , and the computer program will be compiled according to the 3D model in the black steel to remove the excess metal parts. The pattern is gradually formed, which is a slow process. Due to the different sizes, the complexity of the design is different, and the time it takes to engrave is also different. The short one takes only a few hours, while the long one takes several days to complete the mold production.
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mold process
After the mold is completed, our staff needs to carefully compare the mold pattern with the design drawing to ensure that the mold pattern is correct .The mold cannot be used immediately, because we need to put the mold into a high-temperature oven for baking to reduce the hardness of the mold. This is a simple heat treatment process, but it is an important process for making enamel pins. Finally, we immediately put it in oil to cool it to further increase the hardness and toughness of the mold.
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Step 3: Pressing
We will also set a steel ring on the outside of the cooling mold. The reason for this is to protect the mold from damage during the stamping process. We use hydraulic press to fix the mold, and then we can start the process. This process is what we call stamping.
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cooling process
The materials used for this purpose include iron, copper, zinc alloy, aluminum and so on. When the first blank pin comes out, we need to double check whether the blank custom pin is the same as the design. If there is a little defect, we need to modify the mold or even re-engrave a new mold. After the inspection is completed, if there is no problem, we will start mass production orders. After mass production, we need to use the knife installed on the machine to remove the excess part.
Step 4: Grinding and vibration
In order to make the enamel needle come out smoothly, we put all the blanks in the grinder for vibration. This will cause the blank to start to collide and rub, so that the pins are simply polished.
Step 5: Add accessories
badges, cufflinks, hat clips, etc. There are many specific names,Different accessories lead to different uses of the badge, so the name is also different. We are equipped with a very wide range of accessories for our production, such as "pricking needles, butterfly clutches, safety pins, magnets, etc.". There are currently two assembly methods to fix the puncture needle, one is to glue the puncture needle on the back of the product (this method is easy to fall off because of the long-term aging of the glue), and the other is silver welding (the puncture horseshoe needle is very strong , It won’t fall off after using it for so long).
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Step 6: Polishing
Polishing is a very important part of the production process. I believe no one wants to buy products with rough badges and scratches on the surface. We are responsible for every customer, so we are very strict with polishing.
There are many types of polishing wheels, including hard wheels and soft cloth wheels. If you do not have high requirements for finish, you can directly use grinding wheel to polish the production. If customers want a smooth surface or mirror gloss, they need to use cloth wheel to polish the product.
Each customized enamel needle will be individually polished. Workers carefully control the contact with the cloth wheel to ensure that the polished surface can be polished. After polishing, the side polishing is still done by hand, one by one individually.
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Step 7: Electroplating
The polished products will be sent to electroplating, which is based on customer needs. There are bright gold, bright silver, bright copper, antique gold, antique silver, antique copper and so on.
Use custom-made stitches and string up copper wires one by one to penetrate the potion. The first step is to use ultrasonic oil to remove the pins stained with various oils in the previous production process. Over-frequency vibration is generated by sound waves to separate the oil from the surface of the enamel needle.After oiling, the pins need to be cleaned to remove the syrup.
Then, we started to install the plate. Infiltrate with alkaline copper solution, and the pins are coated with metallic color. Usually different plating colors, the number of colors will be different. red copper can be plated with two or three times silver and four times gold. When the enamel pins are put into the oven for baking, the coating is over.
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Step 8: Coloring
The colors are divided into soft enamel and hard enamel. The soft enamel badge is one of our most popular styles. The metal area is raised and the color is recessed.
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coloring process
The color of the hard enamel badge is smooth and delicate, giving a very high-end feeling. For contract color cards and design drafts, colorists need to mix colors, and many areas that need to be colored can be small. The color worker uses a needle to pick up the color and color it by hand. Until the color is completed, the quality inspector carefully checks the color of the pin. If there is no problem, put the badge in a high-temperature oven to make the paint firm and fix it on the pin.
The above is about the color of the soft enamel badge. The color sequence of hard enamel badges is different. We need to electroplating first, then coloring, and the latter is electroplating first, coloring second, and electroplating third. In other words, hard enamel needles need to be polished twice. In addition, the problem of uneven color should be dealt with after coloring, because the nature of the liquid before baking will cause uneven color surface after curing. The product needs to be polished again, and the pins need to be cleaned to prevent high temperature damage.
Step 9: Packaging
The last quality inspection is carried out before packaging. Only qualified works can be shipped anywhere in the world by land or air.We can provide different packaging according to the different requirements of customers. Zipper bags are the most common. In addition, there are paper cards, velvet bags, velvet boxes, and plastic boxes.
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