What you need
- A button press in the size you are making. The dies are cut for one
diameter, so a 25 mm machine presses 25 mm buttons and nothing else.
- One set of parts per button: the metal shell that becomes the
domed face, a clear mylar disc that covers the artwork, and a
back — pin, magnet, clip or bottle opener.
- Plain paper, 80–120 g/m². Card stock is too stiff to fold over the
shoulder and creases instead of curling.
- A circle cutter or punch set to the bleed diameter. Scissors work;
they just cost you the even edge.
How it is assembled
- Print the sheet at 100% — any “fit to page” shrinks every circle off
its diameter.
- Cut each disc on the outer circle, the bleed one, not the button one.
- Stack into the pick-up die: shell face down, artwork face down on top
of it, mylar over that.
- Press once. Swing the die under the head and pull the handle — the
shell’s rim curls up around the paper.
- Drop the back into the crimp die and swing the pressed shell over it.
- Press again. The rim closes over the edge of the back and locks the
stack together.
- Check it: the pin swings free, the mylar is smooth, and no paper shows
around the rim.
The ring the preview draws faded is the bleed: it wraps
the shoulder and is gone the moment the button is pressed, so anything that has to
be read belongs inside the face left at full strength. Keep the print above 150 dpi
— the note under the preview turns red when it is not.
If the back takes a fixed pin, load it so the pin ends up
horizontal while the design is upright, or the button hangs sideways.