The pencil has become an absolutely irreplaceable thing in human life. Starting back from kindergarten, he accompanies a person at school, university, home and office. Finally, it is a must when doing crosswords.
Total cost of the complete set necessary equipment, which is required in order to organize an average production of pencils, starts at two million rubles.
This is how much it costs a fully-loaded used line. To this must be added the cost of renting a production facility, which for a small workshop should have an area of \u200b\u200bat least fifty square meters, as well as for the purchase of raw materials, workers' wages and utility costs.
The exact payback period for a business like the production of pencils is difficult to name. First of all, they depend on the volume of output and on the starting (initial) capital.
In addition, during the initial time, all the profits earned are most often invested in promoting the market, since the competition among companies producing not only simple, but also colored pencils is quite high, especially among Western factories, with which domestic ones have little competition due to the high quality the products they produce. However, many experts say the minimum payback period for small businesses is two or three years.
Technology
The production of pencils is carried out using the following technologies. Preliminarily, the wooden blank is carefully sanded, then the body is primed four times, since a decrease in the number of passes leads to insufficient surface smoothness. The primer, filling all the irregularities in the wood, provides it with durability for subsequent painting. Then the body is painted.
Saving at every stage of the technological process, although it reduces the cost of the produced pencils, however, leads to a deterioration in their quality. In addition, the environmental friendliness of the final product is also important, depending on the composition of the varnish covering the body of the product. It is known that children, and sometimes adults, love to chew on writing utensils. Therefore, the varnish must be water-based and free from harmful chemical solvents.
What materials are needed
For the manufacture of simple pencils, not only the composition of the lead - clay and graphite - is of no small importance. It is also influenced by the quality of the wood. How the pencil is made depends on how the finished product will subsequently look like, and how easy it will be to sharpen. The cheapest products intended for non-demanding buyers are made from alder. The wood of such pencils is both unsightly in appearance, and has a gray color, and does not hold the lead very tightly.
Wood
The most common wood species that fully satisfies all the requirements for raw materials when the production of pencils is organized is linden.
In addition, it grows almost everywhere and is viscous enough to hold the rod tightly.
Better quality and, accordingly, more expensive pencil is a product made from pine, cedar and jelutong tropical wood, the production characteristics of which are very high. But the most valuable is the raw material from California cedar. Stationery made from this wood is very expensive and prestigious.
Slate
First, a pencil rod is made from clay with graphite. It is the proportions of these components that determine the hardness of the lead. Moreover, the more graphite, the softer the structure will be. Conversely, if there is a lot of kaolin in the lead, the composition of simple pencils will turn out to be harder.
It is very important how the stationery is sharpened. The quality of the wood ensures neat and even shavings. At the same time, it is very important that the rod is located in the center of the body, because if this pencil production technology is violated, the lead is cut unevenly during sharpening.
In addition, to prevent the refill from breaking in the event of a drop of pencils, many stationery manufacturers use so-called SV lead sizing. In this case, it only breaks at the sharpened tip, and not inside the case.
Painting stage
This third and also very important element in production does not allow less than seven layers of pencil painting, otherwise the wood will become covered with burrs. Renowned companies that take the quality of their products seriously usually start with twelve layers. Whereas the production of pencils with a high price involves staining up to eighteen, sometimes up to twenty times. Then this stationery will have a high gloss and literally a mirror surface.
Equipment
The equipment for the production of pencils is diverse. Clay cleaning requires a crusher and special mills. Clay, diluted in water, is poured with liquid glass to rid it of impurities, including sand. Then, according to the recipe, graphite and a binder made of starch are added to it. The core mass must have a certain temperature and humidity. The slightest deviation leads to spoilage of raw materials.
The carefully beaten "dough", mixed with graphite and clay, is sent to a screw press, where it is molded using rollers with three different gaps. As a result, the mass is crushed, becoming homogeneous. Air bubbles with excess moisture are removed from it. The thickness of the dough after repeated processing is gradually reduced from one to 0.25 millimeters.
Then the mass is passed through a die with holes, where it turns into a kind of "noodle" - into cylinders, from which the press squeezes out a rod with the required length and diameter. The rods are thoroughly dried in drying ovens, where they rotate continuously for fifteen or sixteen hours. The moisture content of the finished element should not be more than half a percent. After drying, they are calcined in an oven in special crucibles.
Colour pencils
Rods for colored pencils are made in a slightly different way. They contain pigments, as well as fillers with binders and fatty substances. Clay or kaolin is the main raw material.
Each more or less large manufacturer has its own recipe for the manufacture of slates, which is kept under great secret. Many factories use dyes and waxes to make additives, as well as natural cellulose-based fillers and binders.
Colored pencils do not undergo heat treatment, as high temperatures can destroy color pigments.
At the stage when the fat is added, which gives a color trail and holds it on the paper, two different technologies are used: the so-called hot or cold "preparation".
In the first case, it is carried out immediately after drying, while the slates are moistened in hot fat. This technology is most often used in the production of quality watercolor pencils.
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 aid is also necessary when doing crossword puzzles.
Some of the waste from the plywood industry is pencils. These are the remains of the block, which are obtained after peeling. Despite the same name, such pencils have nothing to do with office supplies.
Start-up capital
To organize an average production capacity, you will need to purchase a set of necessary equipment. The cost of such starts at 2 million rubles. Moreover, this is the price of a used line. In addition, you will need to pay for the rental of the premises where the cars will be located.
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 wages to employees, and reimburse utility costs. It is difficult to name a specific payback period for such a project.
This period is directly dependent on the number of products manufactured, as well as on the initial investment. In addition, in the initial period, the profit received is necessarily invested in increasing sales. 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 ensures the strength of the wood before the subsequent painting.
It is not recommended to save money 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 make 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 products are produced. Such wood, in addition to its nondescript appearance, does not hold the lead inside tightly enough.
More expensive products are made from pine, as well as cedar and jelutong, a tropical tree. Their production characteristics are quite high. However, the best wood for pencils is California cedar. Stationery made from 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 refined, special mills are required. Crushers will also be needed. The 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 starch binder and graphite are added to the clay. The resulting core mass must have a certain humidity and temperature. If this condition is not met, the raw materials are damaged.
The equipment for the production of pencils includes a screw press. A thoroughly mixed “dough” made of clay and graphite is sent to it. In a screw press, the incoming mass is molded. This is done using rollers with three different gaps.
After passing 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 re-processing the mass.
The 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.
Equipment for the production of pencils must include drying ovens with a continuous rotation process for 15-16 hours. In these devices, the rods must dry thoroughly, reaching a moisture content of 0.5%. At the next stage, the material is calcined. It is carried out in special crucibles.
The technology for the production of rods for colored pencils has some differences. In addition to clay, their formulation includes fillers, dyes, fatliquoring and binding components. Such rods are not heat treated. This is important for maintaining color pigments.
In parallel with the rods, product bodies are made. The machine is used for the production of pencils. With its help, future products are trimmed to the required length, taking into account further mechanical processing and shrinkage. On a gang saw, wood blanks are sawn into planks. After that, they are impregnated with paraffin in special autoclaves.
This improves the mechanical properties of the finished pencil. With the help of a special machine, the prepared planks, the thickness of which is equal to half the thickness of the future product, are put into "wells" where the drying process takes place. On the blanks, grooves are made from the slate. 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 boards are squeezed in a special device called a clamp. After that, the resulting blocks pass through a milling-throughput line, where, with the help of knives, they are divided into pencils. At the next stage of the technological process, the blanks are leveled, sanded, primed and varnished and painted.
Souvenir products
Nowadays, pencils with a logo are very popular. The production of such items 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.
Back in 1912, by decree of the tsarist government, a factory was created in Tomsk, where they sawed a cedar board for pencils produced throughout the country.
Much time has passed since then. There have been ups and downs in this story. In 1999 the factory was declared bankrupt, and in 2004 the well-known Czech company KOH-I-NOOR Hardtmuth a.s. became part of its owners. Today "Siberian Pencil Factory" is the only one on the territory of the former Soviet Union a manufacturer of pencils and pencil boards from Siberian cedar, the wood of which is used for the production of pencils of the highest price category. In the fall of 2012, the products of the Siberian Pencil Factory, having passed the examination of the commission, became a laureate of the Best Goods and Services of the Tomsk Region competition, and then a diploma winner of the All-Russian competition 100 Best Goods of Russia.
How are pencils that have received such consumer acceptance produced?
TRAINING
The production of a pencil begins at the timber exchange, where the harvested cedar is stored. Now there are more than three thousand cubes of wood here. Last year, the authorities of the Tomsk region greatly helped the factory in providing material. This year they plan to produce about 85 million pencils.
The wood we buy does not come to us as a result of barbaric felling, - says Anatoly Lunin, director of the factory. - In the overwhelming majority - this is sanitary felling of the stagnant cedar, which no longer gives a nut. Cedar grows up to 500 years, but cones appear on it somewhere up to 250, after which it begins to die and be affected by various insects. If you cut it down during this period, a new cedar will grow faster.
Each log from the timber exchange first undergoes mandatory training. Before sawing it, the tree is placed and kept in a special pool of warm water. This is done so that pieces of earth or clay with stones do not accidentally damage the saws. In the summer it is kept here for a short time, up to twenty minutes, but in the winter, the log is kept in the pool until it thaws. This takes up to three hours.
In the upper right part of the photo, a tree trunk is just visible, prepared for immersion in the pool. After 369 hours or 16.5 days, after going through 26 different technological operations, you will get ready-made pencils from it.
At the sawmill, such a beam is made from a log.
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 from such a tree can no longer be made, 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 various ways to increase the depth of wood processing. One of these ways is to expand the range of products. So, from a plank, which is not suitable for the production of a pencil, by the summer they plan to launch the production of wooden puzzle-coloring for children and moth repellent. Some of them go to the production of short pencils, like for IKEA stores, and some go to the production of such wooden skewers.
The timber obtained from the log is sawn into short pieces, 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 planks have the same size and strictly perpendicular edges.
Then the calibrated plates are placed in an autoclave.
In appearance, it resembles a barrel, to which many pipes of different diameters are connected. With the help of these pipes, a vacuum can be created in the chamber, pressure can be generated and all kinds of solutions can be supplied inside. As a result of these processes, the resin contained in it is removed from the board, and the wood is impregnated (impregnated) with paraffin.
Today this is not the easiest, but one of the most effective ways to improve the important properties of the material and protect wood from the harmful effects of the environment.
This is how "refined" pencil boards look after autoclaving.
It remains to dry them properly and send them to the pencil production. On this, the process of making the board can be considered complete.
PRODUCTION
The finished board goes to the white pencil workshop, where, for a start, grooves are cut in it 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.
The plank is served at the far end on the right side of the photo. On the way, its surface is sanded for gluing, and recesses are cut out with a special cutter. At the near edge of the machine, the boards are automatically stacked.
This is what a sanded plank with cut grooves looks like.
Now its thickness is 5 millimeters, which is half the thickness of the future pencil. At the next stage, the boards are glued together in pairs to form one pencil block. This is what it looks like.
The machine smoothly feeds the first board and places the rods in its grooves.
Following this, a second plank, already greased with water-soluble glue, "leaves" from another device, and gently lays down on the first.
The resulting pencil blocks are clamped in a pneumatic press and tightened with clamps.
If the board is made at the factory independently, then the core is mainly purchased in China. There they began to produce it using dry technology, which does not require firing in a furnace at a high temperature. As a result, the prime 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 glue 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 in by a fan, maintaining the temperature in the region of 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 for it to dry.
After this time, the blocks are disassembled, placed in carts with all further parameters indicated and sent to the next machine, which will divide them into separate pencils.
In its shape, the machine is similar to the one that made grooves in the planks, but it also has its own characteristics. The workpieces are placed in a hopper. They pass through transport hubs, trimmed, sawed, and at the exit you get a familiar wooden pencil, just 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 depends on the type of profile of the cutting cutter whether the pencil will be hexagonal or round.
More recently, the factory has mastered the production of a triangular pencil. It turned out that the demand for this form is growing. Buyers are attracted by the ergonomics and naturalness of the finger placement on the edges, which certainly makes it easier for the child to learn to write.
Next to the machine is the sorter's work table.
Her task is to sort through the made pencils, select the "good" ones and separate the defective ones. Defects include chips of the rod at the end, roughness, wood burns, etc. There is a memo over the table with marriage rules.
Each tray on the table holds 1,440 pencils.
The sorted pencils are taken on a special lift to the next floor, where they will be painted.
PAINTING AND PACKAGING
The paint is purchased dry and diluted to the desired thickness in the paint laboratory.
Painting is fast enough. The device continuously pushes the colored pencils onto the conveyor.
The length and speed of the conveyor belt are designed so that the pencil dries as it travels on it.
Upon reaching the opposite end of the conveyor, the pencils fall into one of three receptacles.
From there, they are sent back to the next coating.
On average, each pencil is covered with three coats of paint and two coats of varnish. It all depends on the wishes of the customer. You can also paint a pencil in almost any color. The factory produces sets of six, twelve, eighteen and twenty-four colors. Some pencils are coated with varnish only.
After painting, the pencils are sent to the finishing workshop. At this point, 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.
This machine applies the stamp.
There are quite a few ways to apply it, but at the enterprise they do it using foil different colors... This method is called incubation. The working part of the machine heats up, and the stamp is transferred through the foil to the pencil. So he will not climb and get his hands dirty.
The stamp itself can be anything, it is specially ordered from the engraver. Depending on the complexity, it takes about five days to make.
On some 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 angle.
The pencils are now ready to be packed, and in order to do this, they are sent to the next room.
There they are assembled into a set, put in a box and sent to the consumer.
Packaging for the required number of pencils is printed in Novosibirsk. It comes flat and is first given volume.
Then, through the picking machines, the required number of pencils is laid out in a given color scheme.
This machine allows you to assemble a set of twelve colors.
At the end, pencils are laid out in boxes.
Here at the stand are presented samples of products manufactured by the factory.
During the tour, we asked about the equipment upgrade. “There are twelve factories in the world now,” Anatoly Lunin said. - And all similar equipment. They have been making pencils in Tomsk since the 30s. Since then, the basic principle and production technology has not changed. All processes are well debugged. Modernization of equipment is expressed in the replacement of some units, 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. "
When asked whether the factory, following the example of Chinese enterprises, plans to switch to the production of a pencil from cheaper wood or plastic, Anatoly Lunin admitted: “I was thinking of trying to make an economical pencil from low-grade aspen, but this is a different technology, and even if the Chinese are doing this ... I am more interested in the topic of increasing the useful yield by improving the quality of wood processing. And from an environmental point of view, to produce something better from renewable raw materials. A plastic pencil will never rot, and a wooden one will completely decompose in a few years. "
It remains only to wish that in the world of global computerization, there is a place for a simple wooden pencil.
Text, photo: Evgeny Mytsik
About the technology of making pencils
A pencil (from Türkic kara - black and tash, -dash - stone), a rod made of coal, lead, graphite, dry paint (often framed with wood or metal), which is used for writing, drawing, sketching.
The first description of a pencil was made by Konrad Gesner of Zurich in 1565 in his Treatise on Fossils. It contained a detailed construction of a pencil showing a wooden tube into which a piece of graphite was inserted.
Pencil prototypes - lead and silver (giving a dark gray tone) pins inserted into metal clips - were used in the 12-16 centuries. In the 14th century, artists painted mainly with sticks made of lead and tin, they were called "silver pencils". graphite pencils (the stroke of which has a low intensity and a slight sheen) and pencils made of burnt bone powder, held together with vegetable glue (gives a strong black matte stroke) have spread.
In the 17th century, graphite was commonly sold on the streets. Buyers, mostly artists, pinched these graphite sticks between pieces of wood or twigs, wrapped them in paper or tied them with string. In England, the rod was a soft graphite stick suitable for drawing but not writing. In Germany, graphite powder was mixed with glue and sulfur, thus obtaining a rod of not the highest quality. In 1790, wooden pencils were invented by the French scientist N. Conte. At the same time, the Czech I. Hartmut proposed to make writing rods from a mixture of crushed graphite and clay. In principle, this method is also the basis of modern pencil production technology.
Modern production: At first glance, the pencil appears to be a simple object, consisting of a writing rod and a wooden shell. But in order to make one pencil, more than 80 production operations are carried out within 11 days. In addition, more than 70 types of raw materials and materials are used for the range of products manufactured by the factory. These are mainly natural food substances and products.
Pencil sheath Wood for the pencil sheath must have a number of specific properties:
Be light, soft and durable, not breaking or crumbling during the process of making pencils.
Have the same resistance to cutting the fibers both along and across, should not delaminate.
When cutting with a sharp knife, the cut should be smooth, shiny, the shavings should curl, not chipping or breaking.
The wood must be low hygroscopic, i.e. should not absorb moisture. All these qualities correspond to the Virginian juniper, which grows in the USA.
None of the tree species growing in Russia fully meets all these requirements. The closest in its properties and structure is cedar and linden wood, but for use in pencil production, it must first be subjected to a special treatment - waxing (i.e. refining).
The boards are sawn into bars, the bars are trimmed to the length of a pencil with allowances for machining and shrinkage, and then the bars are sawn into planks on a multi-saw machine. After that, the boards are soaked in paraffin in special autoclaves. This procedure improves the mechanical and chino properties of the future pencil. All resins are removed from the planks by a couple, and the legnin of the wood, when interacting with the steam, changes its color to pinkish-brownish. Then the boards are thoroughly dried. For drying, they are put in special "wells" using a machine. A special way of laying the boards for drying allows you to increase the area of \u200b\u200bthe board in contact with the drying agent - hot steam, and, therefore, dry them as thoroughly as possible. Wells are placed in drying rooms for 72 hours. After drying, they are sorted - cracked planks, planks sawn by the wrong fiber, etc. are rejected. Paraffin-ennobled and dried planks are sorted and calibrated - “grooves” (grooves) for the rods are applied to them. A graphite rod is made from a mixture of clay and graphite. Clay is pre-cleaned. To do this, it is crushed in special crushers, then mixed with warm water in special mills. During processing, the clay diluted in water is poured with liquid glass, which, settling, takes out all impurities from it - pebbles, twigs, sand, etc. And then, according to the recipe, graphite is added to the clay, and each gradation has its own recipe. The mixture is mixed with a binder - aparatin, cooked from starch.
For the manufacture of rods, a rod mass of a certain temperature and humidity is required. In no case should the mixture be allowed to dry out, otherwise it will be like a stone and will lead to equipment wear - there will not be enough press pressure. The kneaded dough from clay and graphite is pressed by a screw press for molding through special equipment - rollers with three different gaps. This is done to crush and grind the mass, averaging moisture by volume and remove air bubbles. The thickness of the dough layer is at first 1mm, with repeated processing 0.5mm, then 0.25mm. Then the dough is passed through a die with holes, forming the so-called "noodles". "Noodles" are formed into cylinders, and from them a rod of the required diameter and length is pressed through a diamond die on the press. The rods are finally dried in special drying ovens in very nice barrels - rotating continuously for 16 hours. After this process, the moisture content of the rod is approximately 0.5%. Then the rods are calcined in a furnace in special crucibles. Instead of a lid, crucibles with rods are filled with the same "raw material". The filling density of the crucibles affects the quality of the cores. Firing is necessary in order to burn off the binder in the rod and sinter the clay to form the framework.
The degree of hardness (gradation) of a pencil from 6m to 7t depends on the ratio of clay, temperature and duration of firing and the composition of the fatliquoring bath. Depending on the gradation of the rod, firing is carried out at a temperature of 800 to 1200 degrees. After firing, the fatliquoring operation is carried out: the pores formed after the binder has been fired are filled with fat, wax or stearin under pressure at a certain temperature. Some factories use edible and confectionery fats and binders as raw materials. (for example, aparatin is made from starch). The choice of substance for fatliquoring depends on the grade (hardness) of the rod. For soft pencils, confectionery fat is used, for hard ones - wax. Intermediate values \u200b\u200bof hardness, for example, TM, are achieved by fatty stearin. Large diameter rods are produced on vertical masonry presses.
Colored pencils are made from a mixture of pigments, fillers, fatty agents and binder. "Assembly" The rods are placed in the grooves of the prepared board and covered with the second board. The boards are glued together with PVA glue, but the rod itself is not glued to the board, but is held by the tension of the board. The diameter of the rod is slightly larger than the diameter of the groove, therefore it is very important to correctly squeeze the boards in a special mechanism (clamp), where future pencils are glued together. For each standard size of the pencil, its own pressure indicator for pressing is determined so as not to break the rod. Next, the ends of the glued planks are processed - they are trimmed, the remnants of glue are removed.
On the milling line, the blocks are divided into pencils. The shape of the future pencil depends on the shape of the knives - it will turn out round, faceted or oval. And the "newborn" pencils are sent on a conveyor belt for sorting. The sorter checks ("rolls") all the pencils, looking for and eliminating defects. Then the pencils should "get dressed" - go to the painting. Painting The surface of the pencils is finished by extrusion (broach), and the end is finished by dipping. Extrusion is the process of passing a pencil through a priming machine. At the end of the conveyor, the pencil is turned over so that the next coat of paint or varnish occurs from the other end. This ensures an even coverage. Dark colors are applied 5 times with paint and 4 times with varnish, light colors - 7 times with paint and 4 times with varnish. A dipping machine is used to finish the end. With smooth rotational movements, the dipper lowers the frame with pencils into the paint tank. Pencils are marked by hot impact stamping. Sharpening of pencils is done automatically. All pencils are labeled. The packaging of sharpened pencils is done manually, non-sharpened pencils - manually and automatically: on automatic and semi-automatic machines. On a semi-automatic machine, in one full shift, you can pack 15 thousand pencils, on an automatic machine - 180 thousand. The machines are capable of placing both 6 and 12 pencils in boxes.
Quality control Incoming control of all raw materials and materials and technological control of the production process and finished products are carried out by the laboratory. Chemists check everything thoroughly! They also make up the soil formulations. By the way, the products of one well-known factory are even tested for contact with the mouth, like baby pacifiers! In the second half of the 19th century. appeared, and in the 20th century. mechanical, or automatic pencils became widespread. According to their writing properties and production technology, pencils are divided into graphite (black), colored, copying, etc., according to their purpose - into school, stationery, drawing, drawing, carpentry, make-up room, pencils for retouching, marking and marks on various materials. Special types of pencils are sanguine and pastel. In Russia, graphite drawing pencils of several degrees of hardness are produced; the degree of hardness is indicated by the letters M (soft), T (hard) and MT (medium hard), as well as numbers in front of the letters. A large number means a higher degree of hardness or softness. Abroad, instead of the letter M, they use the letter B, and instead of T - N. Automatic pencils are divided by design into: screw - with the supply of a writing rod by rotating one of the parts; collet - with a clamping of the writing rod by a split collet sleeve and feeding the rod by pressing a button; multicolor - with two, four or more rods, one by one, pulled out from the store.
Each of us with early years, being engaged in creativity, or in school lessons I came across such a subject as a pencil. Most often, people treat it as something ordinary, as a simple and useful thing. But few people thought about how complicated the technological process of its production is.
By the way, during 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 a whole product line, then a complex established production with careful planning and control is drawn.
In order to see with our own eyes the process of making pencils, we go to the Moscow Krasin Factory. This is the oldest pencil production in Russia. The factory was founded in 1926 with government support.
The main task of the government was to eliminate illiteracy in the country, and for this it was necessary to make office supplies available. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Krasin's factory remained the only pencil manufacturer in the CIS with a full production cycle. This means that the factory produces everything - from lead to the final product - pencils. Let's take a closer look at the pencil production process.
For the production of pencils, specially processed and stacked linden boards are sent to the factory. But before they can be used, you need to make the writing rods.
Let's move on to the workshop for making pencil rods. Writing rods are made from a mixture of clay and graphite. The preparation of the required mixture begins with such technological units, where clay is ground. The crushed clay is transported along a conveyor to the next production site.
In the next section, special mills are installed, where the clay is ground more finely and mixed with water.
Plants for preparing a mixture of clay and graphite. Here the mixture for future rods gets rid of impurities and prepares for further processing.
It should be noted that only natural substances are used in the production of slates, which makes the production environmentally friendly. Installation for pressing the mixture. From the obtained semi-finished products, rods are obtained. There is practically no waste from production, as they reuse it.
At this production site, the rods themselves are already received, but in order for them to fall into the pencil, a number of technological operations will be carried out over them.
The very technology of obtaining the rods resembles extrusion. A carefully prepared and mixed mass is squeezed out through a special stamp with holes.
After that, the blanks for writing rods are placed in a special container.
And dried in a closet for 16 hours.
The rods are then carefully sorted by hand.
This is what the bar sorting workstation looks like. It is very complicated and painstaking work... Cats sleep behind a table lamp.
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 8V.
After annealing, the rods are filled with fat under special pressure and temperature. This is necessary to give them the necessary writing properties: intensity of a line, ease of sliding, quality of sharpening, ease of erasing with an eraser. Depending on the required hardness of the rod, you can use: salomas, confectionery fat or even beeswax and carnauba wax.
Output from the bar production area.
After that, the rods go to the assembly. On these machines, pencils are prepared. Grooves are cut into them for the installation of writing rods.
The cutting part of the machine grinds grooves in the planks.
Planks automatically go into such a clip.
After that, on another machine, the rods are placed in pre-prepared planks.
After laying, the halves of the boards are glued together with PVA glue, and they are left to dry under a press. The essence of this operation is that the rod itself does not stick to the planks. Its diameter is larger than the diameter of the groove, and in order for the structure to be closed, 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 (specially created in this way in the construction of the pencil).
After drying, the workpiece is cut into separate pencils with special cutters.
The pencils are gradually sawn over several processing cycles.
The output is ready-made, but not colored pencils.
Already at this stage, the shape of the pencil is laid due to the type of profile of the cutting cutter.
Further, on special lines, the surface of the pencil is primed. When painting pencils, enamels made at the factory itself are used. These enamels are made from components safe for humans.
Line for painting pencils.
I think we have seen gift pencils painted with colorful stains many times in stores. It turns out that in order to color them like this, a whole specially developed technology is used. Here is a small snippet of the painting process.
When I visited 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. The pencils dry in special technological frames. The regularity of the rows looks very unusual and attractive.
After painting, the pencils are stacked in batches for shipment to the next areas of the factory.
It is a great pleasure to look at thousands of pencils colored according to the proprietary technology of the plant. This is a very unusual sight.
Technological line for surface finishing.
Locker for storing stamps. It stores stamps for the entire range of products.
If necessary, pencils are sharpened on a special machine before packing. The photo shows an intermediate stage of sharpening.
I was amazed at the speed of the machine. The pencils fell into the tray in a continuous stream. All personal unsuccessful attempts to sharpen pencils immediately came to mind. From these memories, this machine began to inspire even more respect.
The factory also produces such interesting oval-shaped pencils used in construction and repair.
Arrays of stacked pencils look very unusual and attractive. You won't see anything like this anywhere else.
In the packaging area, pencils are sorted and packaged by hand. There is a special atmosphere here. People work quietly and silently. Many employees have over 40 years of continuous work experience in the factory.
The factory has its own equipped laboratory in which products are tested throughout the entire production cycle and new production technologies are tested. The picture shows Amsler's device for determining the resistance at the fracture of the writing rods.
Before leaving, I walked into a room with display stands of the factory's products. The factory emblem evokes some nostalgia. After all, these pencils are familiar to each of us from childhood.
The factory produces several lines of products. Professional pencil series for painters, decorators and designers.
Samples of pencils supplied to the government of the Russian Federation. For the design of pencils, a drawing was chosen to match the color of standard malachite desktop instruments of employees of the government of the Russian Federation. But besides this, they have other differences from regular pencils: firstly, their shape is made with maximum consideration for the ergonomics of an adult's hand, and besides, they use a special lumograph-type rod for notes on the margins and in the diary, it is not smeared by hand, but can be erased well with an eraser without damaging the paper.
Engineering pencils:
Original souvenir products of the factory.
The visit to the factory was very exciting and educational. It was very interesting for me to see how much original technology and labor is invested in the manufacture of a seemingly simple object like a pencil.
I want to express my deep gratitude to the chief production technologist Marina for help and clarification technological processes in production. At the end of the visit to the factory, its management donated their own branded pencils to Reedus' editors, including those supplied to the government of the Russian Federation.