Lenticular craft enamel pins
How to custom make lenticular enamel pins
1,Design and mold making
The design of the cat’s eye pins needs to take special consideration of the presentation of optical effects. Designers need to use vector software (such as CorelDRAW PS adobe Illustrator) to draw patterns and clarify the color division, reflective area and the direction of dynamic lines. If grating effects are involved, multi-layer gradients or dynamic patterns need to be designed to adapt to the refraction of the grating sheet.
Mold engraving and heat treatment
According to the design drawings, a high-precision mold is engraved using a precision engraving machine. The mold material is usually steel or copper, which needs to be heat treated to enhance hardness and durability. The fineness of the mold directly affects the subsequent presentation of the cat’s eye effect.
2,Material selection and substrate processing
1. Select the substrate
enamel Maoyan pins are usually zinc alloy or copper as the base material. Zinc alloy with low melting point is suitable for complex die casting; The copper material is soft and easy to punch out clear lines. If the dynamic grating effect is required, the grating film must be compounded on the surface.
2. Stamping or die casting
Stamping process: Pressure the metal sheet through the mold to form a concave and convex texture, suitable for making cat eye pins with simple lines.
– Die casting process: Molten zinc alloy is injected into the mold, which can produce relief hollow effect, suitable for complex design.
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3,The core process of cat eye effect realization
1. Magnetic cat eye technology
Magnetic coating application: The pins groove is filled with magnetic particles of paint or enamel paint.
– Magnetic field shaping * : Use a cat’s eye magnet near the badge when the paint is not dry, guiding the magnetic particles to arrange into a fine light band, forming a refractive effect similar to cat’s eye. This process is commonly seen in metallic badges, which need to be combined with electroplating to enhance the reflection.
2. Dynamic grating process
– Raster lamination: A raster Film (Lenticular Film) is affixed to the pin badge surface to achieve dynamic changes in the pattern through multi-layer printing or laser engraving.
– Angle calibration: The relationship between raster spacing and pattern stacking needs to be accurately calculated to ensure a consistent dynamic effect when the Angle of view changes.
4, Surface treatment and protection
1. Plating and polishing
cat’s eye polish pins are plated with gold, silver or nickel to enhance metallic luster and are polished to remove burrs. If the grating process is used, it is necessary to cover the coating after the coating to avoid scratches.
2. Encapsulate the protective layer
Drop glue (Polly) package: Cover the surface with a transparent resin to protect the cat’s eye coating or grating layer, but reduce the metallic texture.
UV coating: For the raster badge, anti-UV coating is used to prevent aging and yellowing.
5. Quality inspection and packaging
The finished product is subject to rigorous testing, including optical effect testing (such as whether the light band is uniform after magnetic absorption), dimensional accuracy and coating adhesion testing. Shock-proof packaging is adopted after passing to avoid transportation damage.
Application and innovation trend of cat eye polish lapel pin
With its unique visual effect, cat eye lapel pin is widely used in high-end brand logos, limited souvenirs and movie and television peripheral. In the future, with the development of nanomaterials and holographic technology, the cat eye process may be further combined with AR (augmented reality) technology to achieve interactive dynamic display.
Through the above process, the cat’s eye badge combines traditional craftsmanship with modern technology to become an exquisite work of art and functionality. For customization, it is recommended to choose a manufacturer with experience in grating printing or magnetic coatings, and identify the design needs of optical effects.