Does anyone here know how to make custom enamel pins? I’ve only worked with online vendors before to buy multiples and am interested in learning how to make one-offs.
Very interested in this as well.
+1 interest in learning
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And me!
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So I looked up all that is involved.
- Machine a die to stamp your design
- Machine another die to cut your design from the blank
- Press and cut blanks
- Buff the pins (buffing wheel)
- Clean the pins for electroplating
- Electroplate
- glue the pinback’s
- Paint
- Epoxy the face.
You can reduce a handful of these steps by simply machining some brass stock. I’m pretty sure that this can be done on the laguna’s if policy allows. If you were going to do 10’s, this makes the most sense. You’d basically skip the die production as a result, and potentially you could drop the electroplating process.
But if you wanted hundreds, I’d definitely get into the die game.
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I’m curious if the pricing on this article is correct. $1.75 - $2.00/pc feels like the absolute right price for a short run. I have to assume a large run would be something like $.50/pc.
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This is pretty much how I do these nameplates. These were chemical etched and filled with enamel paint, then sealed with a clear coat, but comes out with a fairly similar result. Machining on the CNC would save even more steps.
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How deep can you get the chemical etch?
I would assume it would only be surface level, but that badge you have looks a lot more substantial.
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I was brushing on ferric chloride for about 20 minutes to get to a depth of about half a millimeter or so, which is fairly substantial. The longer you leave it in the solution, the deeper you can get, so you can keep going — the limiting factor for me was the fine lettering that started to dissolve away. I believe Amonium Persulfate is even more aggressive on copper and brass.
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