April 7th, 2008, 05:48 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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Junior Member
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Re: How to do embroidered patches
1) The fusing is a high temperature plastic applied to the back of the patch. Think of an iron on but you'll have to use a commercial heat press to generate adequate temperature and even pressure. This can be made out of polyester, vinyl, or PVC. Everybody has their favorite flavor. Large thread distributors and manufacturers usually carry this in the backing section of their catalog. I buy mine from Madeira since I buy my thread through them.
2) Laser or press - both are expensive. A cheap laser, which is typically a carbon dioxide laser cutter/engraver (CO2 Laser) starts at $10,000 (ours was almost $30,000 with accessories, air filtration, etc.). You use a laser to cut the patches from the material. it creates a nice edge as it fuses woven twill. The press is a die press. This uses a die cutter with shaped dies. The press is usually a heavy table with a pad on top. A die the shape of what you want to cut is laid over the embroidered twill and the press is swung over the die and pushes down to cut the perfect shape every time. Again, VERY expensive and you have to have a die for every shape. We do mostly custom work so we laser cut everything.
Quite frankly, you're probably better off buying blanks and embroidering on them. This can be a challenge as you have to clamp them or affix them in some way so that they are stable to be embroidered on but you'll spend a fortune otherwise and the learning curve is a big one.
Hope this helps.
David
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