FAQ

Silver ( Nickel、gold plated pin、Gold、copper finished lapel pin、Copper、brass、bronze

Normally the electroplating color could last at least 1-2 years, but the actual situation would depend on how you keep and use the product. (i.e. exposure to sun and humidity are both the possible factors of color-fade.)

The silkscreen process offers the best solution for your pin when your designs require precise, color-on-color detailing. Generally speaking, silkscreen printing is also named as solid color printing and each block or area with only one color involved. Silkscreen printing can be made as many colors as your wish and the colors can be matched with nominated Pantone numbers. Same as offset printing, we’ll print your motif on the metal and then die cut each piece.

Offset printing is also named 4 color process printing (Cyan / Magenta/ Yellow & K-Black), no matter how many colors involved in the art, we charge the printing set up fee for 4 colors if there is no metal border left on the edge or 5 colors if metal border is necessary on the edge, the extra one is for white background color. Generally speaking, if the pins must be made by offset printing, there should be no PMS numbers instruction because we will use CMYK to present the colors. Offset printed lapel pins are perfect for designs that contain gradient colors. We’ll print your motif on the metal and then die cut each piece.

There are stamped iron with soft enamel/ stamped brass with soft enamel/ photo etched brass with soft enamel/ die cast zinc alloy or spin cast pewter with soft enamel, a lot of procedures or materials can be filled with soft enamel colors. Prices of soft enamel pins are usually cheaper than hard enamel or imitation hard enamel pins. Colors are liquid stage and can be mixed to the pantone numbers as instructions. Colors are stored in syringes and applied by injection.

Imitation hard enamel is invented in early 1990 and also named Soft cloisonne or synthetic cloisonne. It would be filled into the stamped metal first, and have polishing and electroplating afterwards. It is hard to tell the difference between real hard enamel and imitation hard enamel colors, but if you stab the color parts with knife point, imitation hard enamel colors will get visible marks, however real hard enamel colors won't because hard enamel colors are as hard as tiles.

We’ll prepare film which has your design already and then transfer your design from film onto a sheet of brass. Your design would be etched by acid chemical, and then we’ll have the brass with electroplating and color-filling.

Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. Once the mold cavity is filled, the pressure is maintained until the casting solidifies after cooling down. Then the half-finished products would be polished, electroplated and color-filled.

Yes, but there are several strong technical aspects that make the process of combining Iron and Synthetic Enamel very costly and fairly incompatible.
First, Iron is the cheapest material and is commonly used to get a product of a lower quality at a inexpensive price. On the other hand, Synthetic Enamel is the colouring material of the highest quality. Obviously, the combination of the two is contradictory.
Secondly, let's focus on the technical aspects:
On one hand, Iron is a very dense material. As moulds used to process stamping are made in high tensile steal, it is very easy to damage the mould during process. As a consequence, iron cannot be stamped very deeply at risk of damaging the mould.
On the other hand, Synthetic Enamel requires deeper recess. The deeper, the better. Why? Because the polishing process is different from Soft Enamel. Items processed with Synthetic Enamel are polished with stone. Polishing with stone gives the shiny aspect and levels the colors with the "cloisons" (Cloisonne) to make them even by removing the excess paint. For this reason, the use of Synthetic Enamel requires heavy stamping.
Finally, polishing items coloured with Synthetic Enamel requires rinsing with water to remove particles and protect the item from heating. As a result, the iron tends to rust and give unsatisfactory results.

The CMYK printing is based on 4 colors of reference: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. But the high definition of this process relies on the fact that these 4 colors are printed on a “white” background. In the case where the printing fits exactly to the outside cutting, the white colour covers the whole surface. But if a metal boarder must appear, we will need an additional frame to define the surface to print in white, which will be smaller than the outside cutting.

As general rule, it is that only Brass, Copper, Iron, Zinc alloy can be plated in our facilities.

Similarly to iron, Stainless Steel is a very dense material. When stamped, Stainless Steel might damage the mould. Furthermore, stamping Stainless Steel often results in a high default rate. Deformations and irregularities are frequent.
It is possible but since the result is not always satisfying and is expensive, we would not recommend to our customers for this kind of combination.

It depends of the artwork. The artwork will define which process will best fit your inquiry between “Printing” and “Stamping”. According to the artwork, and your budget we will then be able to make our best recommendation.

The major differences between these three colouring materials will be in terms of aspect and quality:
Synthetic Enamel: will probably be the best material to render bright and flashy colors. Furthermore, the process used enables to give a shiny aspect. Finally, the colors will be leveled even with the metal boarders. The front-side surface of the item will be totally flat.
Hard Enamel: distinguishes itself from Soft and Synthetic Enamel. In its primary aspect, Hard Enamel is in powder. It liquefies whenever it is baked. Although the colors will not render as well as Soft and Synthetic Enamel, Hard Enamel will last hundred of year without changing or being scratched.
Soft Enamel: is generally used for products of lower quality. It can be recognized easily, as the colors will be in recess compared to the boarders. The boarders will distinctly appear on a first plan.

Yes, “double plating” can be done. But, if you plan to make an order with such process, please confirm with our account executive in advanced.  info@Erichgift.com.