MEMBRANE SWITCH PANEL PROCESS
Membrane switch panel is a small operating switch, but who would have thought it would play such an important role in many electronic industries. Although the product is small, the production process is not simple. A single graphic overlay has 3-4 processes, such as color separation film layout, printing, and high temperature (120 °C) before printing to shrink the material. Membrane switch panel contains many kinds of structures. The simplest structure has four layers: panel, spacer, flex circuit or hardened circuit, with or without metal dome. Membrane switch panel extends to more structure types, and the corresponding production process will be different. As a Membrane switch panel manufacturer, we want to let customers know more about Membrane switch panel knowledge, so we need to introduce the Membrane switch panel process.
1. Preparation of raw materials, slitting and heating of some raw materials
The mainstream materials included in the Membrane switch panel are PET or PC sheet as the panel. 3M, Nitto and DT tape are used as tape layers. Metal dome has gold plating, nickel plating and stainless steel. The choices of LEDs are Everlight, Nicomatic and Kingbright. The middle layer uses PET or PC as the backing board. The circuit selection is that the silver flex circuit is composed of polyester, silver oil, carbon oil and UV oil. The circuit printed by Polyester material needs to be heated at high temperature before printing, so that it will not shrink again due to baking after printing the ink. If it is Flex copper circuit or Printing circuit board as the circuit of Membrane switch panel, this step does not exist.
The preparation of raw materials can ensure that the materials are used within the usable date, and at the same time ensure that all kinds of materials arrive at each corresponding department on time, and speed up the progress and improve the delivery time on the way of reproduction. Slitting is to process the material according to the optimal size, and cutting well can also maximize the use of the material. Heating is the first step of processing the circuit material. Avoid dimensional deformation caused by heating the circuit silver paste later.
2. Production of silk screen and Silk printing
The first impression is important to any product, and so is the Membrane switch panel. The first impression of Membrane switch panel comes from Graphic overlay, so silk printing tooling is very important. The engineering department needs to proofread and review the color separation and layout of the film, printing patterns, fonts and logos whether they are different from the drawings. According to the product’s pattern, font and logo, the operator needs to know how many screens to choose, screen size, color screen order and so on.
Careful proofreading by engineering staff is very important, so as to ensure that all subsequent steps will not become meaningless. The larger the mesh number, the clearer the printed product, but the corresponding ink selection will be stricter, and the corresponding price will be higher. The color sorting is correct to prevent the Graphic overlay from appearing’ghost shadow’. The screen size Depending on the size of the product, choosing the most suitable size will allow customers to obtain the most cost-effective product.
3. Tooling production
During the production of film typesetting molds, Niceone-tech will also produce embossed tooling and die-cut tooling molds at the same time. Embossed tooling produces CNC embossed tooling or stainless mould through the use of engraving machines and CNC machines. Die-cut tooling most commonly uses tool moulds assembled from wood and steel knives, which have the effect of cutting the shape. Sometimes stainless materials are used to produce Die-cut tooling.
Good tactile feedback of the Membrane switch panel is indispensable to a good set of embossed tooling. When the Membrane switch panel does not have a metal dome, tactile feedback is better, so Stainless embossed tooling is your best choice. When the dimensional error requirements are strict and the delivery time of the goods is expected to be shorter, then the die-cut tooling of Stainless material will be a better solution.
