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Dongguan Niceone Electronics Technology Co., Ltd.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Tooling Production
Tooling Production
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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.


Die-cut tooling is used as the cutting and punching die for the membrane switch keypad.


Stainless tooling is more often used for embossing.

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Silk Printing and Drying

Silk Printing and Drying

Before printing the product, it is necessary to test the ink adhesion-100 grid test. When the film is ready. It needs to be printed, and the pattern, logo and font of the film are generated into a screen. At the same time, the ink is poured out and the printing colors are adjusted according to the engineering drawings. Each time a color is printed, the material must be dried at a high temperature until all the colors are completed. The same goes for the line. Before silk-screening products, our printing staff will check all colors to ensure that the colors are correct.


For color printing, CMYK is used for color adjustment, and what Niceone-tech can do is after color printing. The interior is printed in white.


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Punching

After the silk screen of the product is finished, Niceone-tech will carry out embossing and punching. Use the embossing machine to emboss the key position, the LEDs window and the position that needs to be embossed. The material needs to be heated before embossing, so that the embossing height will be more accurate and meet the requirements of body feel. If the required convex height is higher, then the ink adhesion and mold requirements will be higher.


The embossing height requirement is generally 0.3-0.5mm. If it is too high, the material is easily damaged.


The punching method is generally automatic punching, which is convenient for later material bonding.

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Assembly

Assembly

When the corresponding structural material of the product is punched, it is necessary to fit all the layers of the Membrane switch-Overlay+ Adhesive + Spacer + metal domel + circuit + back adhesive. Since it is impossible to use machinery for lamination, a lot of manpower will be consumed here. The metal dome can be assembled manually or metal dome array.


The mounting steps include fitting of positioning holes between materials, installation of metal dome, embedding of terminal end sleeves, fitting of stiffener to the end of the line, and fitting of mylar to the end of the line. If the product has a lamp, the operator must wear an electrostatic ring to prevent the lamp from being damaged due to excessive static electricity.

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Cut Out

After the product is placed, it needs to be sent to the stamping department for split stamping. Niceone-tech's production department will conduct a pre-production trial production of 5pcs, and let the engineering department confirm that the goods are consistent with the samples before proceeding to the final mass production. After the production is completed, the goods are sent to the QC department for assembly.

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Quality Control

Quality inspection is the last step before shipment. As a membrane switch manufacturer, we need to do the following steps. Click here for the metal dome switch and silicone keypads.


  • Inspection of the panel. Detection of colour number, whether the panel is scratched, light transmittance, etc.

  • Detection of size. Make sure the size is within the margin of error.

  • The force and life of metal dome test. Ensure that the load and life meet the drawing requirements

  • Electrical function test. Ensure that each button is turned on, and the resistance needs to be less than 150 ohms

  • Pack and ship in accordance with customer and drawings requirements. It also comes with the packing list, injection report, COC, etc.

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