Drawing is a fun and rewarding activity for all ages. And one of the most any artistic materials of any child is pencils. But few of us know how pencils are made, what kind of wood is used for this purpose. It is noteworthy that the creation of these stationery is carried out in each factory in its own way. The editors of the site conducted their investigation and will tell the story of the appearance of the pencil and the technology of its manufacture.
History of the pencil began about 300 years ago, when a new mineral, graphite, was used instead of lead. But it is very soft, and therefore clay was added to the graphite mass. From this, the graphite rod became harder and stronger. The more clay, the harder the pencil. That's why there are pencils. different types: hard, medium and soft.
But graphite also gets very dirty, so he got "clothes". She became wooden. It turns out that not every tree is suitable for making a pencil body. You need a tree that is easy to plan and cut, but it should not shaggy. Siberian cedar turned out to be ideal for this purpose.
Fat and glue are also mixed into the graphite mass. This is to make the graphite slide over the paper more easily and leave a saturated mark. So, about two hundred years ago, the pencil became similar to what we are used to seeing.
How pencils were made
Pencils were then made by hand. A mixture of graphite, clay, fat, soot and glue diluted with water was poured into a hole in a wooden stick and evaporated in a special way. One pencil was made in about five days, and it was very expensive. In Russia, the production of a pencil was organized by Mikhail Lomonosov in the Arkhangelsk province.
The pencil has been constantly improved. A round pencil rolls off the table, so they came up with a hexagonal pencil. Then, for convenience, an eraser was placed at the top of the pencil. Colored pencils appeared, in which instead of graphite, chalk with a special glue (kaolin) and a dye is used in the leads.
People continued to look for material to replace wood. So there were pencils in a plastic frame. A mechanical pencil in a metal case was invented. Now wax pencils are also produced.
From the beginning of creation to the finished product, a pencil goes through 83 technological operations, 107 types of raw materials and materials are used in its manufacture, and the production cycle is 11 days.
What wood are pencils made from today?
In most cases, they are made from alder and linden, of which there are a huge number on the territory of Russia. Alder is not the most durable material, but it has a uniform structure, which simplifies the processing process and preserves the natural natural color. As for linden, it meets all operational requirements, and therefore is used in the production of both cheap and expensive pencils. Due to its good viscosity, the material holds the lead firmly. A unique material for creating pencils is cedar, which is widely used in factories in Russia. It is noteworthy that not healthy wood is used, but specimens that no longer give nuts.
Stem: what is the basis
The production of pencils is carried out using a special core. Graphite lead consists of three components - graphite, soot and silt, to which organic binders are often added. Moreover, graphite, including colored graphite, is a constant component, since it is the stylus that leaves a trace on paper. The rods are created from a carefully prepared mass, which has a certain temperature and humidity. The kneaded dough is shaped by a special press, then passed through equipment with holes, which makes the mass look like noodles. These noodles are formed into cylinders from which rods are extruded. It remains only to ignite them in special crucibles. Then the rods are fired, and after it fat is performed: the formed pores are filled with fat, stearin or wax under pressure and at a certain temperature.
How are colored pencils made?
Here, again, the core, which is made from pigments, fillers, fattening components and a binder, has a fundamental difference. The production process of the rod is as follows:
The manufactured rods are placed in special grooves on the plank and covered with a second plank;
Both boards are glued with PVA glue, while the rod should not stick;
The ends of the glued boards are aligned;
Preparation is performed, that is, the addition of fat to an already existing mixture.
It is noteworthy that the production of pencils is carried out taking into account the consumer properties of products. So, cheap pencils are made from wood of not the highest quality, exactly the same - not the highest quality - and the shell. But the pencils that are used in artistic purposes, made from high quality wood, which has a double sizing. Depending on what the pencil is made of, its sharpening will also be performed. It is believed that neat chips are obtained if the products are made of pine, linden or cedar wood. In addition, it is important that the lead is glued with high quality - such a pencil will not break even if it falls.
What should be the shell?
The simplicity and beauty of the pencil depends on the shell. Since pencils are made of wood, it must meet the following requirements: softness, strength and lightness.
During operation, the shell should
Do not break or crumble, like the whole body;
Do not exfoliate under the influence of natural factors;
Have a beautiful cut - smooth and shiny;
Be resistant to moisture.
What equipment is used?
The production of pencils is carried out using a variety of equipment. For example, the purification of clay, from which a graphite rod will subsequently be created, requires special mills and crushers. Processing of the mixed dough is carried out on a screw press, where the rod itself is formed from the dough by rollers with three different gaps. For the same purpose, a die with holes is used. Drying of wooden blanks is carried out in drying cabinets, where the products are subjected to rotation for 16 hours. With good drying, the wood acquires a moisture level of a maximum of 0.5%. As for colored pencils, they are not subjected to heat treatment due to the presence of fillers, dyes and fattening components in them. On a special machine, pencils are trimmed in length.
How pencils are made
Drying plays an important role in the production process. . It is carried out in special wells using machines, and the planks are stacked so that drying is as efficient as possible. In these wells, drying is carried out for about 72 hours, then the boards are sorted: all cracked or ugly products are rejected. The selected blanks are ennobled with paraffin, calibrated, that is, special grooves are cut on them, where the rods will be located.
Now a milling line is used, on which the blocks are divided into pencils. Depending on the shape of the knives used at this stage, the pencils are either round, or faceted, or oval. An important role is played by the fastening of the stylus in a wooden case: this must be done firmly and reliably, which reduces the risk of the elements of the stylus falling out. The elastic adhesive used for bonding makes the lead stronger.
Modern pencils and colored pencils come in a huge variety of designs and colors. Since pencils are made in the factory, they pay close attention to each stage of production.
Coloring is one of the important stages, since it must meet a number of requirements. Extrusion is used to finish the surface, and the end face is finished by dipping. In the first case, the pencil passes through the primer, where at the end of the conveyor it is turned over to apply the next layer. Thus, a uniform coating is obtained.
There are two large pencil factories in Russia. Pencil factory them. Krasina in Moscow― the first state enterprise in Russia for the production of pencils in a wood shell. The factory was founded in 1926. For more than 72 years, it has been the largest manufacturer of stationery.
Siberian pencil factory in Tomsk. In 1912, the tsarist government organized a factory in Tomsk, which sawed cedar board for the production of all pencils produced in Russia. In 2003, the factory significantly increased its range of products and introduced new brands of pencils known for their quality to the market. "Siberian cedar" and "Russian pencil» with good consumer characteristics. Pencils of new brands have taken a worthy place among inexpensive domestic-made pencils made from Russian environmentally friendly materials.
In 2004 the pencil factory was sold to a Czech company KOH-I-NOOR. Investments came to the factory, and new opportunities appeared for distributing products not only in the domestic, but also in the global stationery market.
Back in 1912, by decree of the tsarist government, a factory was established in Tomsk, where they sawed cedar board for pencils produced throughout the country.
Today, the Siberian Pencil Factory is the only manufacturer of pencils and pencil boards from Siberian cedar in the territory of the former Soviet Union, the wood of which is used for the production of pencils of the highest price category.
How are pencils, familiar to us from childhood, produced?
The production of pencils begins with the timber exchange, where the harvested cedar is stored. Now there are more than three thousand cubes of wood here. The regional authorities have been very helpful in providing the factory with material, and this year they plan to produce about 85 million pencils here.
The wood that we buy does not come to us as a result of barbaric felling, - says Anatoly Lunin, director of the factory. - In the vast majority, this is a sanitary felling of over-aged cedar, which no longer gives a nut. The cedar grows up to 500 years, but the cones appear on it somewhere before the age of 250, after which it begins to die, it is affected by various insects. If you cut it down during this period, a new cedar will grow faster.
Until the moment of sawing, the logs undergo mandatory preparation: each log must be washed so that the adhering pieces of earth or clay with stones do not accidentally damage the saws. To do this, a tree from the forest exchange is placed and kept in a special pool with warm water. In summer, they keep it here for a short time, up to twenty minutes, but in winter, the log is in the pool until it thaws - this can take up to three hours. And after 369 hours or 16.5 days and 26 different technological operations, finished pencils will be obtained from the log.
At a sawmill, a log is made from a log like this:
The production of a wooden pencil is extremely demanding on the quality of the material, only pure straight wood is used. And if for joinery the presence of such defects as, for example, knots, is not catastrophic, then a pencil can no longer be made from such a tree. Therefore, it is very difficult to say in advance how many pencils will be obtained from one bar.
To reduce the amount of waste, the company is looking for different ways increasing the depth of wood processing. One of these ways is to expand the range of products. So, from a board that is not suitable for the production of a pencil, they plan to launch the production of wooden coloring puzzles for children and moth remedies. Something goes to the production of short pencils, as for IKEA stores, and part, to the production of these wooden skewers:
The beam obtained from the log is sawn into short segments, each of which is then dissolved into ten planks. In order for all the boards to be the same, they need to be calibrated. To do this, they are driven through a special machine. At the exit from it, the boards have the same size and strictly perpendicular edges.
The calibrated boards are then placed in an autoclave. In its appearance, it resembles a barrel, to which many pipes of different diameters are connected. With the help of these pipes in the chamber, you can create a vacuum, build up pressure and supply all kinds of solutions inside.
As a result of these processes, the resins contained in the plank are removed, and the wood is impregnated (impregnated) with paraffin. Today it is not the easiest, but one of the most effective ways improve important properties material and protect the tree from the harmful effects of the environment.
“Refined” after autoclaving, the pencil boards are left to dry properly, and then sent directly to the pencil production. On this, the manufacturing process of the board can be considered complete. This is how the boards look after autoclaving
The basic principle and production technology has not changed since pencils were made in Tomsk, - says Anatoly Lunin. – All processes in our factory are well-established. Modernization of equipment is expressed in the replacement of some components, or the transition to more economical motors, the use of new cutters. Some new materials come, we change something in acceptance and evaluation, but the technology itself remains unchanged.
The finished board enters the white pencil workshop, where, for starters, grooves are cut on the machine, where the rods will then be laid (the word “white” in this case means that the pencil has not yet been painted at this stage). The boards are fed from one side of the machine, along the way their surface is polished for gluing, recesses are cut into it with a special cutter. At the near edge of the machine, the boards are automatically stacked. The thickness of the polished plank with cut grooves is 5 mm, which is equal to half the thickness of the future pencil.
At the next stage, the boards are glued together in pairs to make one pencil block.
The machine smoothly feeds the first plank and places the rods into its grooves. Following this, the second board, already lubricated with water-soluble glue, “leaves” from the other device, and neatly lies on the first one. The resulting pencil blocks are clamped in a pneumatic press and tightened with clamps.
If the board is made at the factory on its own, then the rod is mainly purchased from China. There it began to be produced using a "dry" technology, which does not require firing in a kiln at a high temperature.
As a result, the cost of the rod turned out to be so low that the lion's share of pencil manufacturers switched to such a rod.
To prevent the pencil lead from breaking inside the body, the factory uses the technology of additional gluing of the rod with a special adhesive system. After this operation, the glued blocks are kept in a special drying chamber for several hours.
It's pretty hot in the cell. Hot air is blown by a fan, maintaining a temperature of about 35-40 degrees. The wood needs to dry well so that in the future the pencil becomes smooth in one pass and gets the desired geometry. A pencil with a “simple” lead dries here for at least two hours, and a colored one for at least four. Due to the fact that the color contains more fatty substances, it takes longer to dry out.
After this time, the blocks are dismantled, placed in carts with all further parameters indicated and sent to the next machine, which will separate them into individual pencils.
In its shape, the machine is similar to the one that makes grooves in planks, but it also has its own characteristics. The blanks are placed in the loading hopper.
They pass through the transport hubs, end up, sawn off and the output is a familiar wooden pencil, but not yet painted.
The double cutter, which separates the blocks, also sets the shape of the future pencil, and this is all done in one pass. It is on the type of profile of the cutting cutter that it depends on what the pencil will be - hexagonal or round.
More recently, the factory has mastered the production of a trihedral pencil. It turned out that the demand for such a form is growing. Buyers are attracted by the ergonomics and natural placement of the fingers on the edges, which, of course, makes it easier for children to learn to write.
Next to the machine is the worktable of the sorter. Her task is to sort through the made pencils, select the “good” ones and separate the defective ones. Defects include rod chips at the end, roughness, wood burns, and the like. Above the table hangs a memo with the norms of marriage. Each tray on the table holds 1440 pencils.
Sorted pencils on a special elevator rise to the next floor, where they will be painted.
The paint is purchased in dry form and diluted to the desired density in the paint laboratory. The painting itself is pretty fast.
The device continuously ejects colored pencils onto a conveyor. The length and speed of the conveyor belt is designed so that the pencil dries out while moving on it.
Upon reaching the opposite end of the conveyor, the pencils are fed into one of three receptacles, from where they are sent back to the next floor.
On average, each pencil is covered with three layers of paint and two layers of varnish - everything here depends on the desire of the customer. You can also paint the pencil in almost any color. The factory produces sets of six, twelve, eighteen and twenty-four colors. Some pencils are only varnished.
After painting, the pencils are sent to the finishing shop. In this place, they acquire the final form in which they reach the consumer. A stamp is applied to the pencils, an eraser is put on and sharpened.
There are quite a few ways to apply stamps, but at the Siberian Pencil Factory they do this using foil of different colors. This method is called thermostating. The working part of the machine heats up, and the stamp is transferred to the pencil through the foil - so it will not peel off and stain your hands. The stamp itself can be anything, it is specially ordered from the engraver. Depending on the complexity, it takes about five days to make it.
On a part of the pencils, if necessary, put on an eraser.
The last operation is sharpening. Pencils are sharpened on a sandpaper, put on a drum and moving at high speed. This happens very quickly, literally in a matter of seconds.
In addition to sharpening, the machine can be configured to perform rolling - processing the back end of the pencil at a slight slope. Now the pencils are ready for packaging, they are sent to the next room. There, the pencils are assembled into a set, put into a box and sent to the consumer.
Packaging for the required number of pencils is printed in Novosibirsk. It comes in a flat form, so first it is given volume. Then, through picking machines, the required number of pencils is laid out in a given color scheme. A special machine allows you to collect a set of twelve colors. At the end, the pencils are laid out in boxes.
When asked if the factory, following the example of Chinese enterprises, plans to switch to the production of pencils from cheaper wood or plastic, Anatoly Lunin admits:
I thought about trying to make an economical pencil out of low-grade aspen, but this is a different technology, and let the Chinese do it. I am more interested in the topic of increasing the useful yield by improving the quality of wood processing. And from the point of view of ecology, it is better to produce something from renewable raw materials. A plastic pencil will never rot, and a wooden one will completely decompose in a few years.
Here's a little more from the series how it's done: here, and here. Also how it's done in gifs, and The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -
By the way, in the production of a pencil, it goes through 83 technological operations, 107 types of raw materials and materials are used in its manufacture, and the production cycle is 11 days. If you still look at all this from the side of the whole product line, then a complex well-established production with careful planning and control is drawn.
Go...
In order to see with our own eyes the production process of pencils, we go to the Moscow factory named after Krasin. This is the oldest pencil production in Russia. The factory was founded in 1926 with the support of the government.
The main task of the government was to eliminate illiteracy in the country, and for this it was necessary to make stationery available. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Krasin factory remained the only pencil manufacturer in the CIS with a full production cycle. This means that everything is produced at the factory - from the stylus to the final product - pencils. Let's take a closer look at the pencil manufacturing process.
For the production of pencils, the factory receives specially processed and stacked linden boards. But before they are used, it is necessary to make writing rods.
2. Let's go to the workshop for the manufacture of pencil rods. Writing rods are made from a mixture of clay and graphite. The preparation of the necessary mixture begins with such technological installations, where clay is crushed. The crushed clay is sent by conveyor to the next production site.
3. In the next section, special mills are installed, where the clay is more finely ground and mixed with water.
4. Installations for the preparation of a mixture of clay with graphite. Here, the mixture for future rods gets rid of impurities and is prepared for further processing.
5. It should be noted that only natural substances are used in the production of leads, which allows us to consider the production environmentally friendly. Installation for pressing the mixture. Rods are obtained from the semi-finished products obtained. There is practically no waste in production, as they reuse it.
6. At this production site, the rods themselves are already obtained, but in order for them to get into the pencil, a number of technological operations will be carried out on them.
7. The very technology of obtaining rods is reminiscent of extrusion. Carefully prepared and mixed mass is squeezed out through a special stamp with holes.
8. After that, blanks for writing rods are placed in a special container.
9. And dried in a closet for 16 hours.
10. After that, the rods are carefully sorted by hand.
11. This is how the workplace for sorting rods looks like. This is a very difficult and painstaking work. Cats sleep behind a table lamp.
12. After sorting, the rods are calcined in a special cabinet. The annealing temperature ranges from 800 to 1200 degrees Celsius and directly affects the final properties of the rod. The hardness of the pencil depends on the temperature, which has 17 gradations - from 7H to 8B.
13. After annealing, the rods are filled with fat under special pressure and temperature. This is necessary to give them the necessary writing properties: the intensity of the line, the ease of sliding, the quality of sharpening, the ease of erasing with an eraser. Depending on the required core hardness value, lard, confectionery fat or even beeswax and carnauba wax can be used. Output product of the rod production area.
14. After that, the rods fall on the assembly. Here on such machines, planks for pencils are prepared. Grooves are cut into them for the installation of writing rods.
15. The cutting part of the machine grinds grooves in planks.
16. The boards automatically enter such a clip.
17. After that, on another machine, the rods are placed in pre-prepared boards.
18. After laying, the halves of the boards are glued together with PVA glue, and they are left to dry under pressure. The essence of this operation is that the rod itself is not glued to the planks. Its diameter is larger than the diameter of the groove, and in order for the structure to close, a press is needed. The rod, on the other hand, will be held in the wood not due to glue, but due to the tension of the wooden shell (prestressing specially created in this way in the design of the pencil).
19. After drying, the workpiece is sawn with special cutters into individual pencils.
20. Pencils are gradually sawn over several processing cycles.
21. The output is ready-made, but not colored pencils.
22. Already at this stage, the shape of the pencil is laid due to the type of profile of the cutting cutter.
23. Next, on special lines, the surface of the pencil is primed. When painting pencils, enamels made at the factory are used. These enamels are made from components that are safe for humans.
24. Line for painting pencils.
25. I think that in stores we have seen gift pencils painted with colorful stains many times. It turns out that in order to color them like that, a whole specially developed technology is used. Here is a small snippet of the painting process.
26. When visiting the paint shop, I happened to see a batch of pencils for delivery to the government of the Russian Federation of a new sample. The tip of the pencil symbolizes our national flag. Pencils dry in a special technological framework. The regularity of the rows looks very unusual and attracts.
27. After painting, the pencils are stacked in batches for shipment to the next sections of the factory.
28. It is a great pleasure to look at thousands of pencils painted according to the factory's proprietary technology. This is a very unusual sight.
30. Technological line for surface finishing.
32. Locker for storing stamps. Here are stored stamps for the entire range of products.
33. If necessary, before packing, pencils are sharpened on a special machine. The photo shows the intermediate stage of sharpening. I was amazed by the speed of the machine. Pencils fell into the tray in a continuous stream. I immediately remembered all my personal unsuccessful attempts to sharpen pencils. From these memories, this machine began to inspire even more respect.
34. The factory also produces such interesting oval-shaped pencils used in construction and repair.
35. Arrays of stored pencils look very unusual and attractive. You won't see this anywhere else.
There are two main types of pencils - plain and colored. A simple pencil has a graphite lead and writes, depending on the hardness of the graphite, in gray from light to almost black. Simple pencils differ in lead hardness, which is indicated by the letters M (or B in the English version) - soft and T (or H) - hard. Normal - a hard-soft pencil is marked with the letters TM or NI (sometimes it is also indicated with the letter F). This marking is applied to the body of the pencil. If the pencil is not marked in any way, it means that it is hard-soft. Colored pencils also come in several types: classic colored (one-sided and double-sided), wax, pastel, watercolor, etc.
Although graphite pencil popularly called "simple", its production technology turns out to be much more complicated than the technology for making colored pencils, since, unlike the latter, it requires additional firing.
The lead of simple pencils is made from white clay - kaolin and graphite, and the core of colored pencils consists of kaolin with color pigments. Moreover, the pigments themselves can be both synthetic and natural. The stylus, which includes natural ingredients, is more convenient to use, provides soft application, gives bright saturated colors that do not fade even under direct sunlight. Special emulsions are added to the lead of watercolor pencils, which dissolve upon contact with water, creating a uniform layer of paint on paper - the so-called watercolor effect.
Pastel pencil leads are made by pressing natural pigments and linseed oil. And in the composition of the stylus wax pencils as a binder, as the name implies, wax is included. It creates a strong hold on the lead, leaves a wide oily trail and provides a better glide on the paper.
The production process of wood-sheathed pencils is fully automated and consists of several stages: the manufacture of the stylus, the boards, the joining of the components and the processing of the workpieces. First of all, the lead of future pencils is made from a mixture of clay and graphite. The proportions of the components at the stage of mixing graphite and clay determine the hardness of the future lead. The more graphite is added to the lead, the softer its structure will be. If kaolin predominates in the lead, the pencil will be harder.
Clay is pre-cleaned. To do this, the raw material is first crushed in crushers, then mixed with warm water in special mills. Clay diluted in water is poured with liquid glass to get rid of impurities - sand, etc. Then graphite is added to the clay, according to the recipe, and a binder, which is boiled from starch.
The core mass must be at a certain temperature and humidity. The slightest deviation from the norm will lead to damage to the raw materials. For example, if the mixture dries out, it will become too hard, which can cause damage to the equipment. Carefully kneaded "dough" of graphite and clay falls into a screw press. There it is molded through rollers with three different gaps. As a result of this procedure, the mass is crushed, becomes homogeneous, air bubbles and excess moisture are removed from it. The thickness of the dough with each re-processing gradually decreases - from 1 mm to 0.25 mm.
Then the mass is passed through a die with holes, after which it turns into the so-called "noodles". It is formed into cylinders, from which a rod of the required length and diameter is squeezed out on a press. The rods must be dried. This is carried out in drying cabinets with continuous rotation for 15-16 hours. The moisture content of the finished rod should not exceed 0.5%. After drying, the rods are calcined in special crucibles in a furnace. During the firing process, the binder is burned out in the core, and the sintered clay forms the skeleton of the stylus.
In addition to the ratio of clay, the degree of hardness of the finished pencil is also affected by the temperature and duration of firing, as well as the components that make up the so-called fattening bath. The firing of the lead, depending on the desired gradation, is carried out at a temperature of 800 to 1200 degrees Celsius. After firing, the rods are placed in a special fat bath. As a result of this operation, the pores that have formed in the graphite after the binder has been burned out are filled with fat, stearin or wax under pressure at a certain temperature.
Sometimes edible and confectionery fats, as well as additional binders (for example, based on starch), can be used as raw materials. The choice of substance that is used for fatliquoring depends on the hardness of the rod. For example, confectionery fat is used for soft lead pencils, and wax is used for hard lead. Stearin for fatliquoring is used for the manufacture of leads of intermediate hardness (for example, hard-soft). Rods of large diameters are produced on vertical masonry presses.
Colored pencil leads are made somewhat differently. They include pigments, fillers, binders and fattening agents. Clay (kaolin) is the main raw material. Pigments, astringents and, in some cases, fat additives are added to it. Each manufacturer has its own recipe for making leads, which is kept a big secret. Many factories use other additives, including dyes, natural fillers, waxes, and cellulose-based binders.
After mixing all the components, the mixture is extruded using a press, and the rods of the desired diameter are obtained at the output. They are cut into pieces of a predetermined length and then dried at room temperature. As we mentioned above, only graphite rods are hardened. Cores for colored pencils do not undergo heat treatment, because under the influence of high temperature, color pigments are destroyed (if we are talking about components of natural origin) or significantly change color (this applies, first of all, to inorganic components).
At the step of adding fat, which gives a color mark and keeps the colored particles on the paper, two different technologies can be used: the so-called cold or hot "preparation". With cold preparation, fat is added to the mixture during mixing of the components. As a rule, this technology is used in the production of inexpensive medium-quality pencils, the lead of which consists of organic pigments, which, in turn, are contraindicated in high temperatures.
Hot preparation is carried out immediately after the drying of the rods. As a result of this procedure, the leads are wetted in hot fat. This method is used in the production of quality art (especially watercolor) pencils. The composition of such a bath is one of the main trade secrets of the factory, but, in any case, it contains high quality organic fats (for example, coconut or sunflower oil).
All colored pencils are conditionally divided into school (high-quality, inexpensive and cheap) and art. The latter are of the highest quality and good coloring properties. But, in any case, regardless of the price category, the rods of both simple and colored pencils must go through several stages of quality control, unless, of course, the manufacturing company cares about its reputation.
Simultaneously with the production of rods, pencil cases are also produced. The pencil body is made from various tree species, which determines the quality of the finished product. So, for example, wood of an alder and a poplar is considered low-quality. In order to achieve a satisfactory body quality, this material requires expensive processing, which can not be afforded by small producers who choose such wood. Linden wood is considered satisfactory in quality. It is used most often for the production of inexpensive school pencils. The wood of pine, jelutong and cedar (Siberian and Californian) is considered high quality, expensive and is used to produce special art pencils.
The process of manufacturing a wooden case for a pencil consists of several steps. First of all, you will need ready-made bars of wood. They end along the length of future pencils with allowances for machining and shrinkage. Wooden blanks are sawn into individual boards on a multi-saw machine and impregnated with paraffin in autoclaves to improve the mechanical properties of the finished product. The thickness of each plank is half the thickness of the finished product. During steam treatment, resins are removed from the planks, and the wood acquires a light brown color with a pink tint.
After that, the boards are dried in the "wells", where they are folded using a machine. The laying method used makes it possible to increase the area of the plank that is in contact with hot steam. On the one hand, this optimizes the production process, and on the other hand, it allows you to remove moisture from the raw materials as much as possible. "Wells" are moved to drying rooms, where they stay for 72 hours. Then the boards are taken out and sorted. During sorting, rejects are removed (split blanks, incorrectly sawn boards, etc.). The boards impregnated with various compositions and dried are sorted and calibrated by size.
Grooves or grooves for the stylus are made on each board, and then PVA glue is applied evenly on it. After that, the pencil is assembled: a lead is inserted into one of the two boards, and then it is covered with a second board. In this case, the rod itself is not glued to the board, but is held due to the tension of the “shell”.
Since the diameter of the rod is slightly larger than the diameter of the groove, the correct compression of the plank in a special device - a clamp, where pencils are glued together, is of great importance. According to the production technology, for pencils of a certain size and type, a different pressing pressure is used. Deviation from the recommended indicators leads to a large number of rejects: pencils simply break under pressure.
The resulting blocks enter the milling line, where they are divided into pencils using knives. The type of knife determines the shape of the future pencil - faceted, oval or round. Then almost finished pencils are sent for sorting on a conveyor belt. Sorters check each pencil, identifying and seizing defective products.
The workpieces obtained as a result of crimping are sawn along the length of the pencil, leveled, sanded, primed and covered with paint and varnish. The surface of the pencil is opened with paint and varnish by drawing (extrusion), and its ends - by dipping. In the first case, the pencil is passed through the primer. First, it moves in one direction while applying varnish or paint, and then at the other end of the conveyor it turns over and returns. This helps create an even and even coverage.
Pencils dark colors covered with paint at least five layers, and varnish - four. In light colors, the pencil is painted with at least seven layers of paint and four varnishes. But ideally, in order for the surface of the pencil to be even, without smudges and “burrs”, the total number of layers of varnish should be at least seven to eight (the more layers, the more expensive the finished product). The maximum number of layers is 18.
The so-called dipping machine is used to color the ends of the pencils. With its help, the frame with pencils is gently lowered into the paint tank. But in some cases, paint and varnish are not required. For example, cedar-bodied pencils go on sale without additional wood treatment. It is believed that the very texture of the tree is quite beautiful and does not require painting and varnishing. The designation of the lead hardness is applied to the pencil by impact hot stamping using colored foil tape.
Pencils are sold in two types - sharpened and unsharpened. Products of the first type are packed into boxes exclusively by hand, and the second - manually and with the help of special automatic and semi-automatic equipment. On a semi-automatic machine, you can pack about 15 thousand pencils per shift, on an automatic machine - more than ten times more. The machines pack boxes of six or twelve pencils each. The capacity of the pencil packing machine is 350-550 packs per hour on average.
So, the quality and, consequently, the cost of the finished product is affected by the exact observance technological process in the manufacture of the lead and body and in the assembly. The core of the pencil should be located strictly in the center of the body. If the centering of the stylus is broken, then when sharpening it will be cut off unevenly and it will be impossible to draw with such a pencil.
When sharpening a pencil, the type of wood used is also important. Poor quality material crumbles, and linden, pine or cedar wood gives even, neat chips when sharpening the product. Great importance has a high-quality double gluing of the stylus. It protects the rod from deformation inside the housing. Such a pencil is not afraid of falling even from a great height. The "rule of eight layers" provides not only the aesthetic appearance of the product made of alder, linden or poplar, but also protects against splinters. And, of course, the safety of the materials used in the production is of particular importance - from wood to paint and varnish. In particular, only safe water-based varnish is used for the production of pencils.
The total cost of the necessary equipment for the production of pencils and colored pencils starts from 2.5 million rubles. This is how much the cheapest used line will cost (most likely, in an incomplete configuration). Add to this the cost of renting production premises (at least 50 square meters for a small production), paying utility bills, and salaries to employees.
To work in the production of pencils, the following specialists will be needed: a calibrator of tablets, a sharpener of pencils, rods and sticks, a picker of pencils and rods, a pencil dyer, a printing machine operator, an operator of an automatic white pencil production line, a graphite rod burner, an operator of pencil assembly machines, a rolling line operator , operator of dispersion mixers for the preparation of core mass, pencil finisher on an automatic machine, pencil block presser, core presser, pencil board impregnator, core impregnator, pencil mass grinder, core unwinder, core thread cutter, mixer, sorter in the production of pencils, core dryer, blender , grinder of rods, stamper of pencils. Of course, the exact number and types of specialists that will be required to work at the factory depend on the size of the production, the assortment, the technologies used and the budget.
Finished products are sold, as a rule, through wholesale companies. The produced batches of pencils are too large, so it is impractical for manufacturers to work directly with retail chains.
It is difficult to name the exact payback period for the pencil manufacturing business. First of all, they depend on the volume of production and the initial start-up capital. In addition, during the first time, all profits will most likely be invested in promoting their products on the market, since competition among manufacturers of pencils and colored pencils is very high (especially among Western manufacturers, with which domestic factories cannot yet compete in terms of the quality of their products). their products). The minimum payback period, according to some data, is from 2-3 years (for a small enterprise).
Lilia Sysoeva
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A pencil in a person's life is a truly irreplaceable thing. Acquaintance with him occurs at a very early age.
Accompanies a person's pencil in school and university years. He is always in the office and at home. In addition, this writing utensil is also necessary when solving crossword puzzles.
Some plywood production wastes are pencils. These are the remains of churak, which are obtained after peeling. Despite the same name, such pencils have nothing to do with stationery.
Start-up capital
To organize a medium-sized production, you will need to purchase a set of necessary equipment. The cost of such starts from 2 million rubles. And this is the price of a used line. In addition, you will need to pay for the rent of the premises where the cars will be placed.
A small workshop should be located on an area of \u200b\u200bat least fifty square meters. You will need money to purchase the necessary raw materials, pay workers wages and reimbursement of utility bills. It is difficult to name a specific payback period for such a project.
This period is directly dependent on the number of products produced, as well as on the initial investment. In addition, in the initial period, the profit received is necessarily invested in increasing sales volumes. However, many experts say that the minimum payback period for small enterprises is two to three years.
Technology
For the production of pencils, the wooden blank must be carefully sanded. After that, the body of the semi-finished product is primed four times. This stage of the technological process allows you to ensure the strength of the tree before subsequent painting.
It is not recommended to save at any stage of the technological process. Although this will affect the reduction in the cost of production, it will lead to a deterioration in its quality. An important factor for a successful business is the environmental friendliness of the produced pencils, which depends on the composition of the varnish applied to the body of the product.
After all, children, and sometimes adults, love to gnaw on writing supplies. That is why the varnish used must be water-based and not include chemical solvents that are harmful to health.
Necessary materials
In order to manufacture simple pencils, you will need a lead made of clay and graphite, as well as wood. For buyers who do not pay attention to quality, cheap alder goods are produced. Such wood, in addition to its nondescript appearance, does not hold the stylus tightly inside.
More expensive products are made from pine, as well as cedar and jelutong - a tropical tree. Their performance characteristics are quite high. However, the best wood for pencils is California cedar. Stationery made of this material is considered prestigious and has a high cost.
Technical equipment of production
Equipment for the production of pencils is diverse. For the process during which the clay is cleaned, special mills will be required. Crushers will also be needed. Clay diluted in water is poured with liquid glass.
At the same time, it is freed from unnecessary impurities, which include sand. After that, according to the technology, a binder from starch and graphite is added to the clay. The resulting core mass must have a certain humidity and temperature. If this condition is not observed, the raw material is subject to deterioration.
Equipment for the production of pencils includes a screw press. A carefully mixed "dough" of clay and graphite is sent to it. In a screw press, the incoming mass is shaped. This happens with the help of rollers having three different gaps.
After passing through this stage, the mass is crushed and becomes homogeneous, without air bubbles with excessive moisture. The thickness of the resulting layer gradually decreases from 1 to 0.25 mm. This happens after the mass has been re-treated.
Equipment for the production of pencils includes a die with holes. A mass of graphite and clay is passed through it, taking the form of "noodles". The resulting blanks pass through special cylinders, from which a rod of the required diameter and length is squeezed out by a press.
The equipment for the production of pencils must necessarily include drying cabinets with a continuous rotation process for 15-16 hours. In these devices, the rods should dry thoroughly, reaching a moisture content of 0.5%. The next step is the calcination of the material. It is carried out in special crucibles.
The technology for the production of cores for colored pencils has some differences. Their recipe, in addition to clay, includes fillers, dyes, fattening and binding components. Such rods are not subjected to heat treatment. This is important for the preservation of color pigments.
In parallel with the rods, the product cases are manufactured. In this case, a machine for the production of pencils is used. With its help, future products are trimmed to the required length, taking into account further machining and shrinkage. On a multi-saw machine, wood blanks are sawn into planks. After that, they are impregnated with paraffin in special autoclaves.
This improves the mechanical characteristics of the finished pencil. With the help of a special machine, the prepared boards, the thickness of which is equal to half the thickness of the future product, are folded into “wells”, where the drying process takes place. On the blanks, grooves are made from the stylus. After that, the boards are covered with a layer of PVA glue.
The next stage of the technological process is the assembly of the product. The lead is inserted into the groove of one workpiece and covered with another. The planks are compressed in a special device called a clamp. After that, the resulting blocks pass through the milling and throughput line, where, with the help of knives, they are separated into pencils. At the next stage of the technological process, the blanks are leveled, polished, primed and coated with varnish and paint.
Souvenir products
Currently, pencils with a logo are very popular. The production of such products is carried out for offices and for promotions.
A branded pencil is a great souvenir or corporate gift. In this case, the image on the original product can be applied by one of two methods - hot stamping or pad printing.
