Need help mass producing these...

[JasonR]

I don't know where else to put this thread..mods feel free to move it if need be.

These will be custom images, encapsulated in laminate with a ring placed through them. The laminate is fairly thick. These need to be durable and waterproof. I need to find a way to make them on a mass scale at a low cost. Ideas?

I've also tried a few local print shops but haven't had much success...

 

[heehee]

Try searching for promotional products/companies. Badge/picture holder.

 

[Toppa G's]

I don't know where else to put this thread..mods feel free to move it if need be.

These will be custom images, encapsulated in laminate with a ring placed through them. The laminate is fairly thick. These need to be durable and waterproof. I need to find a way to make them on a mass scale at a low cost. Ideas?

How do you define mass scale? A few hundred? More than a thousand? Hundreds of thousands?
How do you receive orders?
How do you match the photo with ordering information? This will be key as otherwise after lamination you'll end up with a pile of tags with no way to determine where they go.
Is the ring completely necessary? Removing the ring and drilling or diecutting a hole through the laminate will be reasonably durable, and save time and money.
I've had experience with custom photo applications involving multiple finishing steps (including lamination and diecutting) and the order management part is usually the toughest.

 

[JasonR]

A few hundred in the beginning and a few thousand later on. This is one of five products, the other 4 are relatively simple and straight forward.

I have custom software developed for order management. The software also has the custom print image (300 DPI) located on the web server. The ring is necessary.

 

[Toppa G's]

A few hundred in the beginning and a few thousand later on. This is one of five products, the other 4 are relatively simple and straight forward.

I have custom software developed for order management. The software also has the custom print image (300 DPI) located on the web server. The ring is necessary.

I think the people you'd want to talk to would be trade laminators. They may be able to give you the option to bring in one-up images, laminate with a sealed edge and extra space at the top, then round corner or do a simple diecut, and finally eyelet.

Another way to do a piece like this would be a gang run on a digital color print device (iGen or similar), then lamination, diecutting, eyeleting. To do that, you'd want to be able to leave the items several up on a press sheet for the lamination and diecutting, which would result in the loss of the clear edges around each piece. Rather, you'd diecut and eyelet through a sheet of paper with a ply of laminate on each side.

 

[JasonR]

I think the people you'd want to talk to would be trade laminators. They may be able to give you the option to bring in one-up images, laminate with a sealed edge and extra space at the top, then round corner or do a simple diecut, and finally eyelet.

Another way to do a piece like this would be a gang run on a digital color print device (iGen or similar), then lamination, diecutting, eyeleting. To do that, you'd want to be able to leave the items several up on a press sheet for the lamination and diecutting, which would result in the loss of the clear edges around each piece. Rather, you'd diecut and eyelet through a sheet of paper with a ply of laminate on each side.

I'll check some out. I also need keychains done along with a couple of other simple print-based projects. I'm trying to get this done at the same place...

 

[JasonR]

If I were to do these in house, what sort of equipment would I need?

 

[Consultant]

If you gotten the idea from a get rick quick scheme, you might want to consider that for 1000 letters you send out you might not even get a few responses.

 

[Toppa G's]

If I were to do these in house, what sort of equipment would I need?

You'd need at least the following:
- Laminator (GBC sells a variety in all sorts of different sizes)
- Cutter that can cut through the thickness of laminate you have (some sort of rotary cutter would likely give the cleanest edges)
- Some sort of shape cutting apparatus - it would be easiest to do rounded corners instead of the tag shape you're looking at - there are a variety of inexpensive corner rounding tools for scrapbooking (1 at a time) or something like this that allows for multiple pieces to be rounded simultaneously
- Eyeleting tools (punch to cut the hole, setting tool to shape the eyelet)

 

[JasonR]

If you gotten the idea from a get rick quick scheme, you might want to consider that for 1000 letters you send out you might not even get a few responses.

What??

 

[JasonR]

You'd need at least the following:
- Laminator (GBC sells a variety in all sorts of different sizes)
- Cutter that can cut through the thickness of laminate you have (some sort of rotary cutter would likely give the cleanest edges)
- Some sort of shape cutting apparatus - it would be easiest to do rounded corners instead of the tag shape you're looking at - there are a variety of inexpensive corner rounding tools for scrapbooking (1 at a time) or something like this that allows for multiple pieces to be rounded simultaneously
- Eyeleting tools (punch to cut the hole, setting tool to shape the eyelet)

That doesn't sound very efficient...

 

[Toppa G's]

That doesn't sound very efficient...

For low quantities, there is no such thing as efficiency, especially with all of the finishing components included. A volume producer of an item like this may custom-build an assembly line, but there's not really a great way to make these off-the-shelf.