Lanyards or lanyards worn around the neck have been designed to carry small objects around one’s neck while being able to keep the hands free. A lanyard is made up of one large loop that fits over the head as well as a small bottom loop to attach the hardware. Lanyards are usually used to hold identification cards but it seems that today there are more and more uses for these pieces of material. A few of these items are the following: keys, lip balm, mp3 players and cell phones. Let us take a look at all the essential ingredients that go into making these versatile items from material and hardware selection all the way to instructions for making lanyards and the machinery that is used in order to put them together.
The material that is used to make a neck lanyard may vary all the way from a simple cord or a beaded chain that is one inch wide flat cotton or synthetic webbing. When you measure a lanyard end for end, the most common cut length is a standard 36″. After having formed the loops, the finished size of the lanyard is about 17″. The cord material made for lanyards is typically cotton and nylon and is roughly 1/8″ to 3/16″ in diameter. Lanyards are available in a vast array of colors.
If you are looking for a beaded chain lanyard, you will be able to find them in both plastic as well as metal. It seems that today if you want to attach an ID card to your lanyard the thing that is most popular is the nickel-plated brass ball chain. For a beaded chain, the most common size is 0.12″ in diameter and the overall chain length would be anywhere from 24″ to 30″.
Both the ball chain and cord lanyards come under the lanyard sub-category that is called blank lanyards, which do not have any print on them. These lanyards are just about the lease expensive ones that you can buy. If you want to purchase a custom printed lanyard, then the most popular materials they come in are polyester, cotton and nylon. As far as printing goes, the most popular widths come anywhere from 3/8″ to ¾” If you are looking for a more robust imprint, then you will have to think about getting a wider material. This would also be better to put a logo on.
The material selection for printing will depend largely upon what kind of printing process that will be used. If you are looking to have a screen-printed lanyard done, then the most commonly used materials are nylon and cotton. For using dye sublimation or hot stamping, polyester material is typically used.
The selection of hardware to be attached to a custom lanyards will depend upon what it will be used for. For name badge holders and ID cards, two of the most often used pieces of hardware are either bulldog clips and snaphooks. You will also see snaphooks being used to attach a variety of different objects all the way from lip balm to pens to whistles and cell phones. For those of you who are not familiar with what a snaphook is, it is defined as a “tear drop” shaped part of plastic or metal hardware. It is able to stay closed because of the tension in the material. You have to open a snaphook with the application of side pressure. Then when released they will spring closed.
The bulldog clip is manufactured especially to attach ID cards as well as ID holders. These clips have oblong holes that are punched out of its top. These clips are spring loaded and when you squeeze the end the clips open like jaws and they close when released.
In order to attach keys, the lanyard is made with an item called ‘split ring hardware’. Even though you may not know what it is called, it will be familiar to you when you see it because it consists of a piece of coiled wire in order to snake your keys on and off the ring. When a bulldog clip is incorporated to hold the name badge or ID holder, the solid o-ring is used.