experience with making buttons

[cad321]

For the past number of years my team has handed out injection molded custom key tags made in our shop. Unfortunately they do not receive anywhere near the attention the buttons do and we are looking to make some ourselves. We pride ourselves in making as much as we can in house with as much of it as possible being done by the students. We are wondering if any other teams have had experience making buttons themselves and if so, what were the costs to do so such as initial cost for the equipment and how much does it cost to make a batch of say 100 buttons? Any suggestions or tips are greatly appreciated.

[IndySam]

We make all of our own buttons. Investing in a quality button maker will cost $200-$300 dollars. Button blanks will run around $0.10 at most a less in bulk.

Purchasing a blank cutter makes things a lot faster.

We use ours not only for competition giveaways but also driver buttons for the Vex competitions we host. We also lone it out to other groups in school and even homecoming campaigning. We also made the buttons for NEMO at this years championship.

[cmrnpizzo14]

100 buttons will also not be nearly enough. Our team will make upwards of 1,000 for an entire season if I remember right. Button making is a great task to put students on who otherwise would not be occupied so our buttons are entirely student made.

We make all of our own buttons. Investing in a quality button maker will cost $200-$300 dollars. Button blanks will run around $0.10 at most a less in bulk.

Purchasing a blank cutter makes things a lot faster.

We use ours not only for competition giveaways but also driver buttons for the Vex competitions we host. We also lone it out to other groups in school and even homecoming campaigning. We also made the buttons for NEMO at this years championship.

Agreed. Also, do not skimp on a button maker if you want one that will work and last. It will be much more frustrating and probably cost you more eventually if you get one that breaks or doesn't make the buttons correctly. Blank cutters are a lifesaver compared to scissors.

Good luck!

[cad321]

Thank you for the help. Hopefully I can convince our lead mentor to spring for it (he hates spending money).

Originally Posted by cmrnpizzo14

100 buttons will also not be nearly enough. Good luck!

I know 100 would be far to few. We go through probably about 400 - 500 of the unpopular key tags, I'm sure we could go through at least 1000 in a season (if not more).

[nicholsjj]

Something else you might ask him is if he knows of any school in your district or sponsor that you have who would allow you to use a button maker. We print out all of our supplies and get them press ready, then we borrow the presses for the day and watch the "button elfs"(underclassmen) spend all day making our buttons.

[rsisk]

This is the button maker we use and we love it


http://www.umakebuttons.com/details/...%20kits/73.php


I do not recommend badge-a-minit. Non standard button sizes, press is hard to use and does not always work well

[Jacob Bendicksen]

We go through roughly 2000 a season, with competitions and a ton of demos eating up that supply. Since all the freshmen would quit if we made them ourselves, we order them online. Not sure where from, though.

[Qbot2640]

Originally Posted by TheCascadeKid

We go through roughly 2000 a season, with competitions and a ton of demos eating up that supply. Since all the freshmen would quit if we made them ourselves, we order them online. Not sure where from, though.

Many people on our team - especially some Freshmen - and including most team leaders, LOVE making buttons. I wouldn't dream of buying them pre-made.

Plus - we make a basic design that we customize at the competitions...if we talk to someone who likes to fish, for example, we draw on a fisherman theme. Of course we have a bunch of plain ones that we punch out quickly, but the customized ones are the most popular.

[peirvine]

We use this: http://stores.americanbuttonmachines...tail.bok?no=46. It works wonderfully and the punch gets perfect circles with minimal effort. It is totally worth the price, when you call support you get a real person answering instead of an automated response. It is made out of solid materials and is very sturdy. 10/10 would recommend to another team. Our team went through about 1,500 buttons this year. We generally had rookies and people who didn't have a project going on make the buttons.

[Chris_Ely]

My team has the same button maker that rsisk linked to. We print sheets of 66 buttons on sticker paper on our plotter. Then we laser cut the buttons out on our laser cutter (if only it could do metal ). The buttons are then stuck to the blanks and pressed using the button maker. This process is probably overkill, but it is fast, and fun. We made a couple hundred per competition, and we ran out every time.

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by rsisk

This is the button maker we use and we love it


http://www.umakebuttons.com/details/...%20kits/73.php


I do not recommend badge-a-minit. Non standard button sizes, press is hard to use and does not always work well

What's non-standard about the 2.25" buttons badge-a-minit produces compared to other 2.25" buttons? We have used components from several different suppliers in our machine without issue.

To the OP, you will get tons of opinions about this topic. Everyone has their favorite. This is the same issue you'll run into if you ask what company makes the best car. If I were you, I would see if I could track down someone close t you that has one and see if they would let you take it for a test drive.

We like our badge a minit machine, it works well. We have a bad button every now and then, but I'm sure other brands do as well. Plus their prices on parts are decent and their shipping is usually free and is very quick.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by MrBasse

What's non-standard about the 2.25" buttons badge-a-minit produces compared to other 2.25" buttons? We have used components from several different suppliers in our machine without issue.

To the OP, you will get tons of opinions about this topic. Everyone has their favorite. This is the same issue you'll run into if you ask what company makes the best car. If I were you, I would see if I could track down someone close t you that has one and see if they would let you take it for a test drive.

We like our badge a minit machine, it works well. We have a bad button every now and then, but I'm sure other brands do as well. Plus their prices on parts are decent and their shipping is usually free and is very quick.

The blanks from badge-a-minit don't fit in other 2.25 button makers. That's why I called them non standard.

[M. Mellott]

Falco Tech also uses the American Button Machines. We have two presses: a 2.25" and a bigger 3". BTW, I completely concur to also purchase the paper blank cutters--we made the investment to get lever-action punch cutters for the speed, ease of use, and easier to center the design on the blank.

We use the 2.25" for giveaways at regionals and events. These are great because you can make multiple designs or event-specific buttons, and it allows the students to show their creative sides coming up with new designs each year. We buy the blank pins, shells, and mylars in bulk at 1000 at a time...2.25" runs $80-90 for 1000 blanks, while the 3" runs $120-140. So to make 100, you're looking at $8-12 in materials after you have the machine. I know of teams that used to buy pre-made buttons for giveaways and would pay upwards of $400 for 1000 buttons.

Another reason to purchase your own button maker is for fundraising. We just bought the 3" press in order to make custom buttons to sell at our school sporting events--everything from general school support to support of specific sport teams or even special rivalry games. We sell them for $1 each, and they sell like hotcakes. You can make as many or as few as you want depending on the demand. Sell 1000 and you're looking at $800+ profit to pay off the expense of the button maker and start adding money for the team budget. We're also looking into setting up a photo button table at dances or senior nights--all you need is a camera, laptop, and a quality color printer to make instant photo button memories that would easily sell for $5 each. You can also replace the pin backs with others like magnet backs or keychain backs for a whole product line of potential...all with the same machine.

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by rsisk

The blanks from badge-a-minit don't fit in other 2.25 button makers. That's why I called them non standard.

Okay, makes sense. We've only ever used the one machine. On the upside for us, other blanks seem to fit in our badge-a-minit machine just fine.

[Herbblood]

We actually take a sheet of wood and then in our laser have it carve out our giveaways which we then add a key chain or magnet to.