nametag backing FAIL, help!

[Pete Bejmuk]

I did a large lot of name badges for a local high school NJROTC. I affixed the double-post-clutch bar to the back of the (Rowmark) nametags using plastic cement, clamping each one for a few hours until the bond was secure.

i'm now getting reports that many students are having the nametag torn off the bar via backpack straps being slung over one shoulder. This wasn't a problem with their previous tag vendor. Obviously, the client isn't very happy. He's already reported nearly a dozen incidents like this, and some of the kids don't even notice the missing badge until someone else points it out.

what do you normally use to affix plastic bar clutches to the back of Rowmark/IPI nametags?

I've had to make replacements for missing torn-off tags and have used gorilla glue -brand superglue on the replacements, which (so far) have not had the problem. I've been roughing up the contact surface of the nametag with a small file to provide more surface area for the superglue.
should I use superglue from now on, or did I just have a bad batch of plastic cement?

[Jakob Franz]

I'll be curious to see an answer to this too. So far I've just stuck the badge pins on with the adhesive tape they come with.

[John Noell]

We rarely see failures of the pinbacks that come with adhesive on thin foam pad. We had a lot of failures with our coconut shell tags while we tried every adhesive we could find - but we finally settled on superglue and that definitely had had the fewest failures.

[Bill Cunningham]

Go get a hypodermic needle from a farm co-op, or ask your doctor for one. Then suck up some acetone with it, and use it to put three drops on the back of the badge where the plastic backed pin or bar-tack goes, then press it into place. The acetone will fuse the two together, and let it sit for 5-10 min. for the acetone to evaporate and the bond to get solid. I've never had a backing come off the badge plate, I've had pins break off the plastic pin base, but never off the badge itself.. Best part, a quart of acetone will probably last you for years, and only costs a few bucks..

[Joe Pelonio]

I used to cement them but the foam sticks well and also tends to "give" a little when abused as the students are doing. I had 2-3 failures out of a hundred or so with cement but none with the foam.

[Mike Null]

I've made thousands using the foam type adhesive on pins and magnets with no complaints. I've seen the kind you're talking about applied with heat but haven't seen the process.

[Scott Shepherd]

There was an article published years ago in some engraving magazine about the various methods and I think Bill's got it. There was a method of putting some chemical on it that melted the plastic and when you pushed it down in there, the plastic came up through the holes and around the edges. I'd try Bill's method.

[Conrad Fiore]

Pete,
It's possible your problem was clamping. If you are using the recommended acrylic solvent cement, the clutch bars should not pull off. I would have use the capillary method of attaching the backs; see the attached TDS from Weld-On.

http://208.131.146.217/mm5/graphics/...ta%20Sheet.pdf

[Robert Walters]

I use these little bottles for applying acetone, MEK, or other solvents:
www DOT tapplastics DOT com/shop/product.php?pid=409

The needle is blunt, not sharp and won't pierce anything.

You squeeze part of the air out, then turn over and you can control the dispensed flow easily.

[Bjorn storoien]

I use only the ones without foam

just fill the a bottle cap with acetone and carefully dip them (only the face that you want to glue to the tag )

Bjorn

[Rodne Gold]

Done 10's of 1000's of these , the thin foam is what we use , it gives without shearing the pin back off , superglues and solvents have very low shear strength. The edge of the badge catching is almost always a shear failure. Never had one come back using the faom thing