# How do they make/decorate wooden toys in mass production



## Skiedra (Feb 16, 2012)

Hey, everyone,

Got few questions and hoped someone has experience or knowledge. Or point me at the right direction.

How do they mass-produce wooden toys? They have to be pretty accurate in size, shape, drill holes, etc. And considering the speed and amounts for it to get profitable…

So, my questions are:

1) Shape. Are those bandsawed / CNC'ed or is this the work of big expensive machinery?
2) Hole drilling, dowels, small parts. Some of those parts are very small, drill holes come at various angles. These are not hand made, are they??
3) I see a lot of painted wooden toys for kids. How do they put eyes/noses/etc on toys? It is not stickers and too fine to be hand painted on. Some sort of polygraphic printing technique?

Thank you for the answers.


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

I have made toys to sell, in the past. I no longer make them but making some of them it is simple to make $20 an hour, (not counting selling costs) Hole drilling is quick and easy with a drill press with a fence. I bought the wheels and axle pegs or dowels. Our club still makes them to give away and before all the new regulations, we would dip the toys in a finish and let them drain a bit and wipe off any runs. It is simple to do. We did about 1000 at a time this way. Eyes and windows in cars we drilled in and sometimes used a magic marker for eyes. We no longer put any finish on toys.


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## Dakkar (Feb 14, 2013)

I'm no expert on this, but I've heard anyone producing products intended for use by children needs to may very close attention to safety and-even moreso-have very good liability insurance in place. We live in a time when health is of great concern and litigation has ruined many, many businesses.

I've produced quite a few miniatures for use in dollhouses, but I learned early on that most everybody who does to any extent stresses clearly that their items are not intended for children.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

You can make jigs with drill bushings in them where holes
have to be drilled in the same relationships every time.

There is also a drill press accessory called a "commander" 
which allows the drilling of multiple holes in a fixed 
linear or non-linear clustered relationship.

Production cutting of parts is a good job for a pin router
or Onsrud inverted router. A CNC can do the work
as well but the machine is a lot more complicated to
learn and generally a big investment which may require
some serious wiring to run the vacuum hold-down 
system pumps.

Turnings are done on a copy lathe but you may find
it simpler to outsource them.


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## ClintSearl (Dec 8, 2011)

Elves


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## Skiedra (Feb 16, 2012)

I found couple of videos on youtube where some of those toys are made with a scroll saw and then sanded.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Elves, Clint?

I was gonna say CHILD LABOR INSOME THIRD WORLD COUNTRY


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

I'm pretty sure those hand painted toys are made in China or a 3rd world country using low cost labor. It would be too expensive and labor intensive to produce them here and still make a buck.


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## Planeman40 (Nov 3, 2010)

Believe it or not, there are federal regulations regarding toys to be sold. I strongly recommend that you review these before starting as you may be setting yourself up for liability and other problems. This link will get you started: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_safety

Planeman


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