A pencil in a person’s life is a truly irreplaceable thing. Acquaintance with him occurs at a very early age.
Accompanying a person’s pencil in school and university years. He is always at the office and at home. In addition, this writing accessory is necessary when solving crossword puzzles.
Some plywood wastes are pencils. These are the remains of churak, which are obtained after peeling. Despite the same name, such pencils have no relation to stationery.
Start-up capital
To organize an average production capacity, you will need to purchase a set of necessary equipment. The cost of this starts with 2 million rubles. And this is the price of a used line. In addition, you will need to pay for the rental of the premises where the cars will be placed.
A small workshop should be located on an area of at least fifty square meters. It will take money to purchase the necessary raw materials, pay employees wages, and also reimburse utility bills. It is difficult to name a specific payback period for such a project.
This period is directly dependent on the number of products produced, as well as on initial investments. In addition, in the initial period, profits are necessarily invested in increasing sales. However, many experts call the minimum payback period of small enterprises, equal to two to three years.
Technology
For pencil production the wood blank should be carefully sanded. After this, the prefabricated housing is primed four times. This stage of the process allows to ensure the strength of the tree before subsequent painting.
Saving at any stage of the process is not recommended. Although this will affect the reduction in the cost of production, it will lead to a deterioration in its quality. An important factor for a successful business is the environmental friendliness of the manufactured pencils, which depends on the composition of the varnish applied to the body of the product.
After all, children, and sometimes adults, love to gnaw writing accessories. That is why the applied varnish should be water-based and not include chemical solvents harmful to health.
Necessary materials
In order to make simple pencils, you need clay and graphite lead, as well as wood. For buyers who do not pay attention to quality, cheap alder goods are produced. Such wood, in addition to its nondescript appearance, does not hold the lead tightly enough.
More expensive products are made from pine, as well as cedar and jelutong - a tropical tree. Their production characteristics high enough. However, the best wood for pencils is California cedar. Stationery made of this material is considered prestigious and has a high cost.
Production Equipment
Equipment for the production of pencils is diverse. For the process during which the clay is cleaned, special mills will be required. Crushers will also be needed. Clay diluted in water is poured with liquid glass.
At the same time, it is freed from unnecessary impurities, which include sand. After that, according to the technology, a starch binder and graphite are added to the clay.The resulting rod mass must have a certain humidity and temperature. If this condition is not met, the raw material is spoiled.
Equipment for the production of pencils includes a screw press. A carefully mixed “dough” of clay and graphite is sent to it. In a screw press, the incoming mass is molded. This occurs with rollers having three different gaps.
After passing this stage, the mass is crushed and becomes homogeneous, without air bubbles with excess moisture. The thickness of the resulting formation gradually decreases from 1 to 0.25 mm. This occurs after reprocessing the mass.
Equipment for the production of pencils includes a die with holes. A mass of graphite and clay is passed through it, taking the form of “noodles”. The resulting workpieces pass through special cylinders, from which the core is pressed with the required diameter and length.
Equipment for the production of pencils must include drying cabinets with a continuous rotation process for 15-16 hours. In these devices, the rods should dry thoroughly, reaching a moisture content of 0.5%. The next step is the calcination of the material. It is carried out in special crucibles.
The technology for the production of cores for colored pencils has some differences. In addition to clay, fillers, colorants, fatliquors and binders are included in their formulation. Such rods are not heat treated. This is important for preserving color pigments.
In parallel with the rods, product bodies are made. In this case, a pencil making machine is used. With its help, future products are cut along the required length, taking into account further mechanical processing and drying. On a multisaw machine, wood blanks are sawn into planks. After that, they are soaked in special autoclaves with paraffin.
This allows you to improve the mechanical characteristics of the finished pencil. Using a special machine, the prepared boards, the thickness of which is equal to half the thickness of the future product, are folded into “wells”, where the drying process takes place. Slab grooves are made on the blanks. After this, the boards are covered with a layer of PVA glue.
The next step in the process is the assembly of the product. The stylus is inserted into the groove of one workpiece and covered with another. The tablets are compressed in a special device called a clamp. After that, the blocks obtained pass through the milling-throughput line, where with the help of knives the process of their separation into pencils takes place. At the next stage of the technological process, the workpieces are aligned, polished, primed and coated with varnish and paint.
Souvenir products
Currently, pencils with a logo are very popular. The production of such products is carried out for offices and for promotions.
A pencil with branding is a great souvenir or corporate gift. The image on the original product in this case can be applied by one of two methods - hot stamping or pad printing.
