Each of us has a plastic card in his wallet, or even not one: credit cards, savings cards, salary and discount cards , for getting discounts in stores. Each of them is different from the other. They can be decorated with a variety of emblems, iridescent embossed signs, inscriptions made up of convex shiny symbols.
Such cards look beautiful and solid, and all thanks to the application of the embossing procedure. Those who have not heard the meaning of this term, will now be able to find out what embossing is and when it is used.
Embossing is ...
In the broad sense of the word, embossing is understood to mean giving volume to drawings and inscriptions. Such a procedure can be carried out using special devices - embossers, which can have a different structure and operating principle, depending on the conditions and object for work.
Where can we see examples and results of such actions? For example, in scrapbooking, embossing is a technique by which a voluminous text is created on business cards, invitations, and other paper products. In needlework, embossing is most often done by embossing and extrusion.
This technique is also present in car design. In 2011, the technology of applying volumetric patterns and patterns to the glossy surface of machines began to be used. This type of styling is not yet widespread in the world of cars.
But most often, the term "embossing" means the extrusion of three-dimensional digital or lettering on the front side of plastic bank cards. You can easily find examples in your wallet, since now almost all bank cards are exposed to this kind of effect before they fall into the hands of a client.
Embossing plastic cards
As a banking procedure, embossing is one of the methods of personalizing a card. He appeared in America back in 1920. It is easy to guess that at that time a special embossing machine had not yet been invented, and the procedure was carried out manually, each figure was knocked out separately using a cliche.
Now, technological advances have been able to significantly facilitate and speed up the process, but still, when we order a personalized card at the bank, it needs to wait one to two weeks. This is due to the fact that acquiring the necessary equipment is a rather expensive undertaking, and it is easier for a bank organization to order embossing of their cards from specialized organizations. In addition, for each new circulation of plastic, a separate adjustment of electronic-mechanical devices for embossing is performed.
Modern technology does not yet allow “squeezing out” voluminous company emblems and other symbols on bank cards and other cards. The embossing form contains only letters and numbers of a certain size and a standard angular font.
Why emboss cards?
What do you think, why is it necessary to subject the card to such changes?
First, after that they look more solid, which for some customers of banks plays an important role. Secondly, an embossed card cannot be tampered with. In any case, even if someone takes up this matter, the procedure for creating a fake will be very expensive. The option of fraud in case of loss of plastic having embossing is practically excluded. In addition, enterprises that issue such cards have an additional opportunity to take them into account.
Special embossing machine
Embosser is a modern electronic-mechanical device with which it becomes possible to apply volumetric symbols to a plastic card. A few years ago, such equipment was characterized by extremely low productivity and could process 10-20 plastic cards per hour. A modern embosser is a universal machine that, in addition to volume printing, can cover symbols extruded on a card with foil, encode a chip and magnetic strip, and produce monochrome or color thermal printing on plastic.
Now there are both manual and automatic embossers. The former are less expensive, but require manual bookmarking of cards and constant monitoring of the device. Automatic embossers are much easier to work with: all that is required is to enter the necessary data into the computer, and after a certain time the entire circulation of cards will be ready without additional participation.
In addition, the productivity of such machines is up to a thousand pieces per hour.
Embossing in needlework
In needlework, and specifically in scrapbooking, embossing is an interesting technique for creating voluminous inscriptions and patterns on a paper basis. It is even possible to independently carry out such a procedure using improvised means. Although it is much more convenient when a special machine for embossing and cutting is used for this. Greeting cards, business cards and notebooks decorated with volume letters look very attractive and original.