How Coffin Handles Are Made

Everything we make follows one of two routes. Metal parts are die cast, hand polished and electroplated. Plastic parts are injection moulded, vacuum metallized and colour coated. Both routes run in the same building in Wenzhou, which is why a metal handle and a plastic ornament on the same coffin can be matched to each other.

Zamak #3 ingot is melted and die cast. The die is ours, cut and trialled in our own mould workshop, which is the part of the business we invested in before the factory existed.

Castings come off the machine with a parting line and gate that have to be removed, then go to the polishing bench. Polishing is done by hand. It is slow and it is the step most often skipped by cheaper suppliers, and it is also the step you can see afterwards, because electroplating follows the surface underneath it rather than covering it.

Plated finishes include gold (GP), nickel (NP), antique brass (AB), antique copper (AC) and chrome. After plating, load bearing models go to the lift weight rig before they are assembled with bars, caps and screws and packed.

ABS or PP is injection moulded to the mould form. For reinforced handles a steel bar or steel wire is placed so that the steel carries the load and the moulding carries the appearance.

The moulded part then goes through vacuum metallizing, where a metal layer is deposited under vacuum, followed by colour coating to reach a gold, silver, copper or bronze tone. Some ABS parts can also be taken to antique brass or antique copper.

• Incoming material is checked before it enters the casting or moulding cell
• Castings and mouldings are inspected in process, not only at the end
• Plating and coating tone is compared against the approved reference sample
• Load bearing models are tested on our lift weight rig
• Count and pack are verified before the carton is closed

Doing the inspection in process rather than at the end is deliberate. A plating tone that has drifted is recoverable if it is caught at the plating line and expensive if it is caught on the packing bench.

A typical lead time of 30 days after order confirmation covers material, casting or moulding, polishing, finishing, testing, assembly and packing. Some references run 35 to 45 days depending on the plating batch and the assembly work involved. We do hold stock on some items, so if the date matters, ask before you assume the full lead time.