Hi guys,
These companies are very small and I'm not sure if they have any website. I found them by checking the Yellow pages. The printing company do advertising banners and all kinds of large printouts for advertising signs etc. The lexan sheet they printed on had a perfect label look with a "bumpy" surface and they don't use ink, it is some kind of film that is applied to the surface from the printer. The film is on the smooth backside surface so it won't wear off. The die cuts the shape and also the double sided tape applied to the back. I made a little jig to align each label so they look identical.
The die is made by a company, also found in the yellow pages, that makes cutting dies for the industry. I paid them a visit to found out what it actually is and I was quite surprised to find that it was hardened steel blades that was sharpened on one side and then pressed down onto milled slits in a wood plate and dies that used heat had most wood milled out. I made two dies, one for cutting the label and one for cutting the holes in the box. Made an arrangement for a Black & Decker drill press and I'm very happy with the results. I bought a big chunk of aluminium for the die cutting the box and mounted it at the back of the die, with the milled slits done all the way through the wood at places so it had thermal contact with the aluminium block. Mounted a couple of resistors with metal housing to the aluminium block to make it hot and reasonable controlled. After a bit of testing I found a good temperature for going through the plastic with minimum "bur" (melted plastic). By pressing from the inside of the box onto another aluminium plate, it becomes a very good clean cut with a bit of melted plastic on the inside and very little on the front easily filed off.
You will need a bit of woodwork skills and tools (if you work with electronics you probably already have this) to do the setup, specially the Black & Decker press setup to align properly and consistantly.
I think there will be a "revolution" at the screenprint companies when they found out about the printing. No more messy screenprinting is needed. But they already use these dies. I asked at at the die company if this is how they cut and he said they have a lot of screenprint customers.
I have still not figured out how the embossing is done or who makes the embossed "mold".
This way of making your own labels have opened new possibilities for me, without having to fork out a smaller fortune for the startup costs the silkscreen companies charge.
MrEd