For Sale Custom Milano China Clay Poker Chips (1 Viewer)

[fwg]

Hi Everyone,

First, I apologize if I’m posting this at a wrong place. I’m still very new to the forum and I want to thank the knowledgeable and friendly members. I have learned so much since I joined.

In short: I found Milano China Clay poker chips factory and can work with them to customize Milano chips in deferent levels.

I’m not a vendor. I have a full time job and I enjoy playing poker and I am addicted to poker chips, sadly but also happily, thanks to this forum.

I just want to say I have great respect to Justin from Broken Arrow and I thank him for what he does for the community. Credit to Justin, I was inspired by his custom Tina ceramic chips group buys.

I spent a lot of time to on the custom Tina ceramic chips, buying samples and all. I even found the source factory. Again, with great respect to Justin, I will just say that I got quotes from the factory directly, it would cost me MORE than buying from Justin’s group buy, mainly due to shipping cost.

Talking with the factory rep, I found that the “hybrid” term only means that the ceramic chip comes with a sticker, where the “regular” ceramic chip comes sublimated. The materials are the same. The reason the Greek mold and web mold chips have better grip is the texture, not the material. The Greek mold and web mold have exactly the same texture; they are different texture than card mold and no mold.

My main reason for China Clay preference is the handle and feeling. In my personal opinion, Greek mold and web mold chips stack well but I found it a bit unsmooth when I do the thumb flip and slide the middle chip out from the bottom, spin, shift back… that’s due to the extra texture to help with the ceramic’s slippery issue. Speaking with Tina rep, this cannot be fixed. It’s either slippery or too unsmooth to do thumb flips. Btw, web mold is only available to Justin (which I thought this was very cool), not to public, because he paid for this new mold design, the actual poker chip mold. The Greek mold is available to public. Same texture between the two. It’s possible to create another mold with different texture, therefore different slipperiness. Although it takes money and lots of effort, again I’m not a vendor.

So I found Milano factory.

IMO Milano chips are not slippery, stack well, and do well with poker chip tricks…

With my personal preference of China Clays and the great idea of customized chips, the Milano chips can be “customized” as well.

There are 3 levels of “customization.

1. With smaller volume, the factory can work with their partner/subcontractor to customize the labels. I know this can be done by different places in the States but it’s not cheap, and it’s a lot of work to personally peel off the existing stickers and the apply the new stickers.

2. With larger volume, the Milano chips’ base colors can be changed.

3. With much larger volume, there’s a possibility that the mold of the China Clay can be customized/created.

Yes, it’s MUCH easier and cheaper to customize ceramics vs China Clays. I just wanted to see if there’s anyone interested in this at all. The international shipping of small volumes of chips separately is very expensive therefore buying Tina chips directly from the factory would cost more than ordering from Justin. However, with a group, it’s doable.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[BigSlick4523]

Hi Everyone,

First, I apologize if I’m posting this at a wrong place. I’m still very new to the forum and I want to thank the knowledgeable and friendly members. I have learned so much since I joined.

In short: I found Milano China Clay poker chips factory and can work with them to customize Milano chips in deferent levels.

I’m not a vendor. I have a full time job and I enjoy playing poker and I am addicted to poker chips, sadly but also happily, thanks to this forum.

I just want to say I have great respect to Justin from Broken Arrow and I thank him for what he does for the community. Credit to Justin, I was inspired by his custom Tina ceramic chips group buys.

I spent a lot of time to on the custom Tina ceramic chips, buying samples and all. I even found the source factory. Again, with great respect to Justin, I will just say that I got quotes from the factory directly, it would cost me MORE than buying from Justin’s group buy, mainly due to shipping cost.

Talking with the factory rep, I found that the “hybrid” term only means that the ceramic chip comes with a sticker, where the “regular” ceramic chip comes sublimated. The materials are the same. The reason the Greek mold and web mold chips have better grip is the texture, not the material. The Greek mold and web mold have exactly the same texture; they are different texture than card mold and no mold.

My main reason for China Clay preference is the handle and feeling. In my personal opinion, Greek mold and web mold chips stack well but I found it a bit unsmooth when I do the thumb flip and slide the middle chip out from the bottom, spin, shift back… that’s due to the extra texture to help with the ceramic’s slippery issue. Speaking with Tina rep, this cannot be fixed. It’s either slippery or too unsmooth to do thumb flips. Btw, web mold is only available to Justin (which I thought this was very cool), not to public, because he paid for this new mold design, the actual poker chip mold. The Greek mold is available to public. Same texture between the two. It’s possible to create another mold with different texture, therefore different slipperiness. Although it takes money and lots of effort, again I’m not a vendor.

So I found Milano factory.

IMO Milano chips are not slippery, stack well, and do well with poker chip tricks…

With my personal preference of China Clays and the great idea of customized chips, the Milano chips can be “customized” as well.

There are 3 levels of “customization.

1. With smaller volume, the factory can work with their partner/subcontractor to customize the labels. I know this can be done by different places in the States but it’s not cheap, and it’s a lot of work to personally peel off the existing stickers and the apply the new stickers.

2. With larger volume, the Milano chips’ base colors can be changed.

3. With much larger volume, there’s a possibility that the mold of the China Clay can be customized/created.

Yes, it’s MUCH easier and cheaper to customize ceramics vs China Clays. I just wanted to see if there’s anyone interested in this at all. The international shipping of small volumes of chips separately is very expensive therefore buying Tina chips directly from the factory would cost more than ordering from Justin. However, with a group, it’s doable.

Thanks,
Chris

I think this would belong in the Group Buy Section

 

[fwg]

I think this would belong in the Group Buy Section

I think I’m too new to post in Group buy section.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

You have the mold info backwards. Justin owns the Greek mold. Web mold is available to anyone.

Most here other than those on very tight budgets do not care much for Milano chips. The edges are more rounded and can also have flashing. Some say the chips have an obnoxious odor that doesn't go away. The colors are dull.

If the customization you speak of is going to raise the cost more than 10 cents a chip, I highly doubt anyone here is going to be interested. Milanos are starter chips. Their only positive quality is low cost. I came close to buying them when I was a brand new chipper. Now that I have experienced mid grade to high end chips, I wouldn't spend 20 cent a chip for Milanos. I doubt there are many here who would be interested in what you are proposing.

 

[ekricket]

Can you give numbers for each level of customization?

For option 3, will they produce blanks with no recess?

 

[fwg]

You have the mold info backwards. Justin owns the Greek mold. Web mold is available to anyone.

Most here other than those on very tight budgets do not care much for Milano chips. The edges are more rounded and can also have flashing. Some say the chips have an obnoxious odor that doesn't go away. The colors are dull.

If the customization you speak of is going to raise the cost more than 10 cents a chip, I highly doubt anyone here is going to be interested. Milanos are starter chips. Their only positive quality is low cost. I came close to buying them when I was a brand new chipper. Now that I have experienced mid grade to high end chips, I wouldn't spend 20 cent a chip for Milanos. I doubt there are many here who would be interested in what you are proposing.

You are right. Greek and web molds backwards.

I hope I was clear that I have great respect to Justin, and to Broken Arrow. I’m not here to make money, as the margin is just too tinny. And this would be no threat to Tina chips.

I’m interested in a custom China Clay set myself and I’m just trying to save some shipping cost and maybe able to get a free Pepsi once in a while for all the hours I put in.

 

[fwg]

Can you give numbers for each level of customization?

For option 3, will they produce blanks with no recess?

For level 1, there’s no real quantity requirement. It really depends on how many people sharing the shipping. Shipping is complicated, but in general it’s the more the cheaper.

For level 2, changing the color of the chips, from the preliminary chat from the rep, every new color we need 5000 chips to make sense. So if everyone agrees with the same set of new colors, and we all want 6 new colors, we need a total of 30000 chips.

For level 3, changing the mold would take a lot of chips.

 

[GreekRedEye]

This is definitely a group buy thread you should start when you have enough posts. I don't know if you will make the minimums, but you won't know till you ask. I could see potential for a custom label run that turns these into better tourney chips or maybe there are enough EU chippers that would be interested in a Euro denominated cash set. Maybe a different EU city or well-known European casino listed on each denom?

Level 2 - changing base colors, do you mean you can only change the blue in the $10 below (but must keep the spots) or could you also change the spots to a combo not already in the lineup (e.g. black spots)? And, are we limited to the colors that already exist in the lineup? For example, if we wanted to do a proper orange or yellow (not the peach and washed out pastel yellow colors on the $10k and $1k) could that be done?

 

[LeLe]

As an ex Milano user for over 2 years, just to let you guys know there is also a fake “Milano” replicate from China that is plastic and different from China Clay version of Miliano

 

[LeLe]

As mentioned above, they have slightly different label font / colour too

 

[BigSlick4523]

Dang even got fake Milanos thats wild

 

[fwg]

This is definitely a group buy thread you should start when you have enough posts. I don't know if you will make the minimums, but you won't know till you ask. I could see potential for a custom label run that turns these into better tourney chips or maybe there are enough EU chippers that would be interested in a Euro denominated cash set. Maybe a different EU city or well-known European casino listed on each denom?

Level 2 - changing base colors, do you mean you can only change the blue in the $10 below (but must keep the spots) or could you also change the spots to a combo not already in the lineup (e.g. black spots)? And, are we limited to the colors that already exist in the lineup? For example, if we wanted to do a proper orange or yellow (not the peach and washed out pastel yellow colors on the $10k and $1k) could that be done?
View attachment 1374869

For level 2, all 3 colors can change. However, the shape of the small colors cannot change. The colors will be less bright. The reason is this is actually Clay. The brighter colored ones have plastic mixture in there so the colors can be brighter. Attached are the color choices. And no, this mold is paid by someone like Justin and is not available for public. We can get one as level 3 but it takes a large order.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

For level 2, all 3 colors can change. However, the shape of the small colors cannot change. The colors will be less bright. The reason is this is actually Clay. The brighter colored ones have plastic mixture in there so the colors can be brighter. Attached are the color choices. And no, this mold is paid by someone like Justin and is not available for public. We can get one as level 3 but it takes a large order.
View attachment 1375238

So its the A-mold from CPC, a direct copy on china clays?

 

[fwg]

As an ex Milano user for over 2 years, just to let you guys know there is also a fake “Milano” replicate from China that is plastic and different from China Clay version of Miliano

Thanks for sharing.
I don’t want to get into this conversation about replicas as there are no name brands here, I could be wrong.
I don’t know about the label font. I know the labeling companies are the chip factory’s subcontractor, so they can change subcontractors and have different versions of labels.
I’m not a material specialist. Although I’m told, the reason for the less bright colors, similar to CPC chips, the clay material caused the less bright colors. The brighter colored ones have plastic mixture.
I’m not the factory. Worst case if they are not the original Milano factory, as long as they use “real” clay, I personally am ok. I have good feeling about their material is clay. Due to the less bright color. See my above reply for their new mold.

 

[fwg]

Can you give numbers for each level of customization?

For option 3, will they produce blanks with no recess?

I didn’t skip your question. Just the rep didn’t have the answer and has to ask. I will get back to you if I get an answer.
Do you plan not to have stickers?

 

[fwg]

So its the A-mold from CPC, a direct copy on china clays?

I don’t know if there are any differences.

On the other hand, I think a lot of the aftermarket chips have molds same as the casino chips molds. Like the card mold?

 

[fwg]

Can you give numbers for each level of customization?

For option 3, will they produce blanks with no recess?

New information for level 3, we need 50000 chips to consider. They will charge one time for the mold fee and then the mold would be private to us.
If we ever get there, let’s design a mold that’s not a copy of CPC or any other name brands. So we don’t get questioned for copy right and stuff.

 

[fwg]

Can you give numbers for each level of customization?

For option 3, will they produce blanks with no recess?

Also, the mold fee includes only the “stamped” texture. It does NOT include the small triangles, etc. designs. These could cost a lot extra, more than the mold. I recommend we just stick to the current ones per that last private mold picture.

 

[ekricket]

Also, the mold fee includes only the “stamped” texture. It does NOT include the small triangles, etc. designs. These could cost a lot extra, more than the mold. I recommend we just stick to the current ones per that last private mold picture.

I want to hot stamp them

 

[fwg]

I want to hot stamp them

Only explanation for asking for no recess.

 

[BGinGA]

I’m not a material specialist. Although I’m told, the reason for the less bright colors, similar to CPC chips, the clay material caused the less bright colors. The brighter colored ones have plastic mixture.
I’m not the factory. Worst case if they are not the original Milano factory, as long as they use “real” clay, I personally am ok. I have good feeling about their material is clay. Due to the less bright color.

China clay chips contain zero clay. They are injection-molded plastic with silicates and other additives (which cause them to be more fragile, less colorful, and feel more 'chalky' and clay-like).

I want to hot stamp them

It's my understanding that they are too fragile to hot-stamp, with a high failure rate and lots of breakage.

 

[ekricket]

It's my understanding that they are too fragile to hot-stamp, with a high failure rate and lots of breakage.

Good to know. I was hoping that the softness might let them stamp better than some of the others, but it looks like it goes too far.

 

[fwg]

China clay chips contain zero clay. They are injection-molded plastic with silicates and other additives (which cause them to be more fragile, less colorful, and feel more 'chalky' and clay-like).


It's my understanding that they are too fragile to hot-stamp, with a high failure rate and lots of breakage.

Thank you for your comments. I’ve learned so much from this forum and I’d like to continue to learn.

I could have been misunderstanding the whole time. I thought the “real clay”, the China Clay, they are all a mixture of different materials. Maybe the most correct term for them all would be “composite”. I imagine there’s high content of clay in the “real clay” chips; there’s little or no clay in China Clay. Could you share documents to support the material differences between the two types of “clay composites”? I tried to research online but couldn’t find much evidence.

I’ve watched Hobbyphilic’s videos comparing chips, including Milano and Apache China Clays. If I recall correctly, the Apache China Clays had brighter colors, didn’t have as strong of smell, but were more slippery; the Milanos had smells and less bright colors but were less slippery. I think Hobbyphilic even said the Dunes China Clays were the less slippery ones out of all; and the Dunes looked more dull in color to me than the rest. Again, it was from my monitor watching YouTube so I could be wrong. All these lead to my possible misunderstanding of - the less plastic (hence less bright), the less slippery.

This is my personal opinion only. I’m personally looking for chips I can do some tricks with, without too much added resistance and not too slippery when stacking 20 chips together. And I don’t want metal inserts and I want my chips to weight about 9-10g each. If it’s made of some clay content, great; if it’s in different composite, but meet my requirements, I’m happy. With the added customization possibilities, even better.

I think depending on the amount of interests/group buy, we should be able to get each chip for less than $.50 each, and this is with the custom mold. I need to do more math and again depending on how many people.

 

[BGinGA]

I thought the “real clay”, the China Clay, they are all a mixture of different materials. Maybe the most correct term for them all would be “composite”. I imagine there’s high content of clay in the “real clay” chips; there’s little or no clay in China Clay.

Actually, there is no actual 'clay' in any chips produced today.

Those chips that are called 'clay' are compession-molded (high heat & pressure), contain proprietary materials, are machine-finished after pressing into their final configuration, and can only be purchased from GPI and CPC.

Plastic chips (often called 'clay composite' by lying sellers) are injection-molded with adhesive-backed labels, and are mainly produced in China. As mention earlier, silicates and other minerals are added to the plastic mixture to produce 'China clay' chips.

I’ve watched Hobbyphilic’s videos comparing chips.... Apache China Clays had brighter colors, didn’t have as strong of smell, but were more slippery; the Milanos had smells and less bright colors but were less slippery.

This is correct. All other things being equal, 100% plastic chips colors will be brighter and will be slicker, older China clays (plastic with additives) will have dull colors and increased surface friction, and modern China clays (plastic with fewer additives) will fall somewhere between the two on both issues.

 

[fwg]

Actually, there is no actual 'clay' in any chips produced today.

Those chips that are called 'clay' are compession-molded (high heat & pressure), contain proprietary materials, are machine-finished after pressing into their final configuration, and can only be purchased from GPI and CPC.

Plastic chips (often called 'clay composite' by lying sellers) are injection-molded with adhesive-backed labels, and are mainly produced in China. As mention earlier, silicates and other minerals are added to the plastic mixture to produce 'China clay' chips.


This is correct. All other things being equal, 100% plastic chips colors will be brighter and will be slicker, older China clays (plastic with additives) will have dull colors and increased surface friction, and modern China clays (plastic with fewer additives) will fall somewhere between the two on both issues.

Thank you again for responding.

I have samples from Apache and my copies are pretty good and not too slippery. I did ask Apache if they would offer customizations to the China Clays and the answer was no. If it was yes, I might not spend so much time then. But Apache China Clay chips’ starting price were higher so any customization might just be a bit too expensive.

With your comment that there are no real clays in chips produced today, I actually felt better about the Milanos. They check all my boxes and previous I felt less satisfied as they were “fake clays” but there are no real clays anyways.

I understand CPC chips are in better quality. Although they do wear and break and are less durable than plastics and ceramics.

Please correct me on this. CPC chips are closer than any of the China Clays in terms of durability than plastics and ceramics. I know I cannot break a plastic nor a ceramic chip by hand. I can break a CPC and a China Clay chip with similar force. Both CPC and China Clay chips chip/wear over time much more than plastic and ceramic.

Everything has a value. If money is no issue, CPC all the way. When they eventually break, I just buy more. I felt the customized Milanos or China Clays are in a sweet spot for me that I can get the customization I want at a decent price cheaper than $.50/ea.

 

[BGinGA]

In the last china clay group buy that I was involved with, the price-per-chip was 9-1/2 cents for blanks and 10-1/2 cents for labeled chips. Chips were on a new mold design that we supplied; mold cost was $600.

Minimum order size was 50,000 chips (300,000 was the size of our order), and shipping nearly doubled the total cost per chip.

Good luck. We found it really helped to speak and read Chinese.

 

[fwg]

That was a large order. I think if we can get anywhere near that large of an order, I should be getting a much better deal from the factory. The factory would lower per chip cost by a lot. Although shipping is still expensive. I’m trying to get to 5,000 or 10,000 chips together with someone… that was why I said the per chip cost might be lower than $.50. I need to know how much chips we order in order to negotiate with the factory. The custom chip label quote they gave me was higher than what Justin is charging. Likely due to the size of order Justin is getting continuously. If we get a large order, I should be able to negotiate more.

How long ago did you all had the that big order? I missed out.

And was it the older or modern China Clay?