TWI600040B - Method for manufacturing key and key made by same - Google Patents

Description

Button making method and button made by the method

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a button and a button made by the method.

Buttons are important components on portable electronic devices such as cell phones. A conventional portable electronic device button production process is a frame-shaped substrate in which a plurality of key substrates are joined together by plastic injection, and a primer layer is printed or sprayed on the surface of the substrate to form a primer layer, and then printed or sprayed on the primer. The ink forms an appearance ink layer, and then laser engraves the top of each button substrate to partially hollow out the appearance ink layer to form a character portion, and then prints or sprays the ink on the appearance ink layer to form a protective ink layer for protecting the appearance ink layer and the exposed primer. Floor. The button substrate that joins the plurality of button substrates together by stamping is stamped into a single button substrate. Finally, the single key base is assembled with the other components into a completed keyboard.

However, portable electronic devices are a widely used terminal product in the world. Manufacturers need to face the end consumer market in different regions and countries. Therefore, the characters on the keys of portable electronic devices are generally available in many different language versions. In the traditional button production process, in order to meet the needs of different end consumer markets, in general production, a large number of buttons for different language versions are required for stocking. However, due to the inability to respond well to market demand, the sales of portable electronic devices in some language versions are often unsatisfactory, resulting in a large amount of inventory, which causes great waste; and some language versions are unable to meet market demand due to less stocking. Missing the sales season of the portable electronic device, causing economic losses to the manufacturer.

In addition, according to the above button production process, the manufacturer can only prepare a certain amount of unfinished character making steps and materials for applying the protective layer step in advance, and then, after obtaining the production requirements of the relevant language, the material is transferred to the laser engraving workshop laser. The character part required by the market, and then set on the character part By protecting the ink layer, the punching and assembly processes can be further carried out, which prolongs the stocking cycle and causes a large inventory pressure.

In view of this, it is necessary to provide a method for making a button to solve the problem that the characters in different languages are not conducive to the manufacturer's early stocking, and the preparation period can be shortened and the inventory pressure can be reduced.

It is also necessary to provide a button made by the above method.

A method for manufacturing a button includes the following steps: injection molding a button substrate, the button substrate comprising a plurality of transparent button substrates, the button substrate comprising a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to the top surface; and a bottom surface of the button substrate Forming a transparent primer layer; forming a light-shielding metal layer on the primer layer; forming a semi-transmissive color layer on the metal layer, the color layer having a desired color; forming a transparent protective layer on the color layer Cutting the button base from the button substrate to obtain a plurality of buttons; assembling the button and other components into a keyboard; engraving the metal layer by laser through the button base and the primer layer of the plurality of buttons; A hollow character portion is formed on the metal layer.

A button comprises a transparent button base, the button base comprising a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to the top surface, the button further comprising a transparent primer layer, a light-shielding metal layer, a semi-transmissive color layer and a transparent protective layer The primer layer, the metal layer, the color layer, and the protective layer are sequentially formed on the bottom surface, and the metal layer is formed with a hollow character portion having a desired character shape.

The above-mentioned button is formed by first forming a primer layer, a metal layer, a color layer and a protective layer on the key substrate, and forming a keyboard formed by the button substrate and the other button elements formed by the above-mentioned coating, and then adopting a laser through a transparent The key base and the transparent primer layer engrave the metal layer to form a light-transmissive character portion on the metal layer. The above-mentioned button is manufactured by laser engraving the metal through a transparent button substrate and a transparent primer layer, and all the surface coating steps can be completed before the characters are produced. After completing and assembling, after the production requirements of the relevant language are obtained, the characters can be directly supplied to the customer, and the steps of spraying or printing the protective layer after the character parts are made in the traditional button making method are avoided. Therefore, according to the above-mentioned button making method, the button maker can stock a large amount of goods in advance, so that the stocking is versatile, thereby shortening the stocking cycle and reducing the inventory pressure. The metal layer and the color layer in which the character portion is formed with the character portion are formed on the bottom surface of the key substrate, and are not easily worn.

10‧‧‧Key substrate

20‧‧‧ button

21‧‧‧Key base

211‧‧‧ top surface

213‧‧‧ bottom surface

22‧‧‧ Primer layer

23‧‧‧metal layer

232‧‧‧ character department

24‧‧‧ color layer

25‧‧‧Protective layer

1 is a schematic view of a key substrate formed in a method of manufacturing a button according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic view showing the assembly of a button and other components into a keyboard in a method of manufacturing a button according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III of Figure 2.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a method for manufacturing a button according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

A button substrate 10 is injection molded. The button substrate 10 includes a plurality of button substrates 20 and a mesh connecting portion 30 that connects the plurality of button substrates 20 together. The material to be injected is a transparent plastic such as polycarbonate. The key base 21 includes a top surface 211 and a bottom surface 213 opposite the top surface 211. The top surface 211 refers to a surface that is pressed and operated after the button is assembled to the portable electronic device.

A transparent primer is sprayed or printed on the bottom surface 213 of the key substrate 21 to form a transparent primer layer 22. For ease of operation, the primer can be sprayed or printed along with the meshed surface during actual operation.

A light-shielding metal layer 23 is formed on the surface of the primer layer by a physical vapor deposition method. The metal layer 23 may be aluminum or one of tin, indium tin alloy, and stainless steel. The physical vapor deposition method may be, but not limited to, one of vacuum evaporation, magnetron sputtering, and ion plating. In this embodiment, the metal layer 23 is an aluminum layer formed by magnetron sputtering. The aluminum layer has a thickness of 400 to 800 nm.

A semi-transmissive color layer 24 is sprayed or printed on the surface of the metal layer 22. This color layer 24 has the color that the characters of the button are required to present. The color layer 24 is formed of a semi-transmissive ink or paint. In this embodiment, the color layer 24 is formed of a semi-transmissive white ink. In other embodiments, the color layer 24 may also be a color other than white, but in order to ensure the semi-transparency of the color layer, a light color is preferred.

A protective layer 25 is sprayed or printed on the surface of the color layer 24. The protective layer 25 is a transparent ink layer for protecting the color layer and the metal layer.

The key substrate 21 on which the primer layer 22, the metal layer 23, the color layer 24, and the protective layer 25 are formed is punched out from the key substrate 10 by punching to obtain a plurality of individual buttons 20.

The button 20 and other components such as the rubber pad 40 are assembled into a keyboard.

The metal layer 23 is laser-engraved to form a hollowed character portion 232 on the metal layer 23. The metal layer 23 is laser-engraved, and the metal layer 23 is engraved by the button base 21 and the primer 22 which are sequentially laser-transmitted through the button 20. Since the button base 21 and the primer layer 22 are both transparent, the button base 21 and the primer layer 22 do not absorb the laser energy, and penetrate the button base 21 and the primer layer when the laser penetrates the button base 21 and the primer layer 22. 22 does not produce an etching effect. By selecting the appropriate laser engraving power and action time, the laser acts only on the metal layer 23 without causing damage to the semi-transmissive color layer 24. In this embodiment, the laser power is selected to be 8 kW according to the thickness of the above aluminum layer, and the engraving time is 3-6 seconds. After being laser-engraved, the light passes through the protective layer 25 and the color layer 24 in order to pass through the character portion 232, and the light transmitted from the character portion 232 passes through the transparent primer layer 22 and the transparent button substrate 21 in order, thereby The desired character is displayed on the button. The transmittance of light passing through the protective layer, the color layer and the character portion in turn is about 20%-30%. If the laser engraving power is too large, the engraving time is too long, or the thickness of the metal layer is too small, the color layer may be laser-etched, so that the light intensity transmitted through the character portion is not uniform.

The above-mentioned button is formed by first forming a primer layer, a metal layer, a color layer and a protective layer on the key substrate, and forming a keyboard formed by the button substrate and the other button elements formed by the above-mentioned coating, and then adopting a laser through a transparent The key base and the transparent primer layer engrave the metal layer to form a light-transmissive character portion on the metal layer. The above-mentioned button manufacturing method uses the transparent key substrate and the transparent primer layer to laser engrave the metal, and all the surface coating steps can be completed and assembled before the characters are produced, and the related language production requirements are required. The direct production of characters can be supplied to the customer, avoiding the steps of spraying or printing the protective layer after the character portion is made in the conventional button making method. Therefore, according to the above-mentioned button making method, the button maker can stock a large amount of goods in advance, so that the stocking is versatile, thereby shortening the stocking cycle and reducing the inventory pressure.

Referring to FIG. 3, the button 20 produced by the above-mentioned button manufacturing method includes the button base 21, the primer layer 22, the metal layer 23, the color layer 24, and the protective layer 25. The button base 21 includes the top surface 211 and the bottom surface 213. The primer layer 22, the metal layer 23, the color layer 24, and the protective layer 25 are sequentially formed on the bottom surface 213. The hollowed character portion 232 is formed on the metal layer 23. The character portion 232 has the shape of a desired character. The metal layer 23 and the color layer 24 of the button 20 on which the character portion 232 is formed are formed on the bottom surface 213 of the key base 21, and are not easily worn.

20‧‧‧ button

21‧‧‧Key base

211‧‧‧ top surface

213‧‧‧ bottom surface

22‧‧‧ Primer layer

23‧‧‧metal layer

232‧‧‧ character department

24‧‧‧ color layer

25‧‧‧Protective layer

40‧‧‧ rubber mat

Claims (11)

A method for manufacturing a button includes the following steps: injection molding a button substrate, the button substrate comprising a plurality of transparent button substrates, the button substrate comprising a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to the top surface; and a bottom surface of the button substrate Forming a transparent primer layer; forming a light-shielding metal layer on the primer layer, the metal layer being an aluminum layer having a thickness of 400 to 800 nm; forming a semi-transmissive color layer on the metal layer, the color layer having a desired color; forming a transparent protective layer on the color layer; punching the button substrate from the button substrate to obtain a plurality of buttons; assembling the button and other components into a keyboard; The button base and the primer layer of the button engrave the metal layer to form a hollow character portion on the metal layer, wherein the laser power is 8 kW and the engraving time is 3-6 seconds. The method of manufacturing a button according to claim 1, wherein the metal layer is formed by a physical vapor deposition method. The method for fabricating a button according to claim 2, wherein the physical vapor deposition method is one of vacuum evaporation, magnetron sputtering, and ion plating. The method of manufacturing a button according to claim 2, wherein the metal layer is aluminum. The method for manufacturing a button according to the second aspect of the invention, wherein the metal layer is one of tin, indium tin alloy and stainless steel. The method of manufacturing a button according to claim 1, wherein the color layer is formed of ink or paint. The method of manufacturing a button according to claim 1, wherein the protective layer is formed of a transparent ink. A button obtained by the manufacturing method according to any one of the above claims 1-7, comprising a transparent button base, the button base comprising a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to the top surface, wherein the button is improved by: The method further includes a transparent primer layer, a light-shielding metal layer, a semi-transmissive color layer, and a transparent protective layer. The primer layer, the metal layer, the color layer and the protective layer are sequentially formed on the bottom surface. A hollow character portion is formed on the metal layer, and the character portion has a shape of a desired character. The button of claim 8, wherein the button base is formed of a transparent plastic. The button of claim 8, wherein the metal layer is aluminum. The button of claim 8, wherein the metal layer is one of tin, indium tin alloy and stainless steel.