Thank you very much for your love of our metal reference cards. They are awesome, right? We are really proud of them, as we spend a lot of time and effort on creating them.
Data Collection
The very first step is to collect the correct data. We always ensure our reference cards show the most accurate information. Before designing the graphics, we first look for the most updated and trustworthy documents.
Design and Drawing
The second step is the creation of graphics.
We would like our metal reference card to clearly show as much information as it can. The positions of all figures, equations and words are carefully adjusted to ensure the card looks perfect.
Choosing the Right Material
For cards with a lot of data, we usually choose black electroplated metal cards because once they are laser-engraved, the metallic engravings can contrast with the black coating, becoming very sharp and clear.
For reference cards with larger figures and a less complicated design, a metal card without a coating may be used.
Laser Engraving
This is challenging and slow, especially when the design is complicated. Before mass production, we need to carry out numerous trials to determine our optimal laser engraving parameters.
Quality Control
After we receive the metal reference cards from the manufacturer, we check every single card to see whether there are cracks, scratches or faults in the engravements. As the texts and figures on our metal reference cards are usually very complicated, the engraving processes have to be extremely slow and sometimes a slight movement or vibration of the card or machine would cause the engravements to deviate.
For example, the above image is a photo of one of our faulty Chemistry Cards (1.0 original version). If you look carefully, you may find that the second line, Faraday constant, is not clear. This is due to some movements or vibrations of the card during the engraving process. Of course, we can't sell this card and have to discard it (or put it into the recycling bin).
More to Come
We will continue to make new metal cards. If you have any new ideas or suggestions, please feel free to let us know!