abs,composite, clay-injection,compression explained

palmimports · #1 (**permalink**) 01-16-2007, 06:17 PM

For those who want to understand whats out there here it is..
1- Clay chips are nonexistant. The term CLAY is loosely used - primarily indicitive of casino chips such as Blue Chip, Paulson, ASM etc however for most import chips it is a misnomer

95 of Chinese chips are abs in composition. There are two grades- raw unrecycled abs ( plastic) and recycled plastic. All of which is ABS.

A good quality abs chip using raw material will have good colors- whites will be white, etc. Recycled chips will carry a distinctive hue to the base color.

Composite chips are just that- a composition of abs and something else.
When the chip feels soft it is because the composition consists of abs, calcium carbonate and other ingredients which change the feel/sound from the typical plasticy sound to a more pleasant, softer sound.

THese chips may be soft and easily breakable-

All of these chips are made using an injection mold machine. An injection mold machine cannot make a chip dense and packed tightly with material- so in order to give the chip WEIGHT a metal disc is added. Mostly steel but sometimes aluminum. The weight of a NON slugged chip is light and will always be light because the density per mm of the raw materials used cannot increase beyond a certain weight.

By increasing the thickness of the chip some added weight can be achieved.

Molds vary slightly which is why some abs chips are thicker then others
a distinctive problem years ago and possibly even to day was one color of chip was slightly thicker then another- as evidenced by uneven rows of chips in cases- and often times the inability to put 50 chips in a row in a given case-

By adding new mixtures into the abs it has been possible to increase the weight now without the use of a slug or metal insert- these are still, by definition composite injection molded chips

New to the market is a hybrid compression chip using similiar materials as USA manufacturers. While still not a true compression molded chip by strict definition it does fall most accurately into the compression mold arena.

By compressing the raw materials under extreme pressures- the density per mm of chip can offer substantial weight without the use of a metal slug.

While possible to supercede 10grams in weight, the new compression molded chips are best at that given weight/thickness/diameter.

So when you see a chip advertised as clay, 100 per cent clay- true clay etc..chances are strong it is a composite chip with additives to replicate a softer feel to the abs chip.

Whle the ingredients in USA manufactured chips is a highly guarded secret- chances are good there isnt clay at all in these chips-- but a proprietary mixture of ingredients that is referenced in the chip market as a clay chip.

The term CLAY has been loosely coined and used more inaccurately in advertisement of poker chips-- but you will find most chips either:
1- abs
2-abs/composite( abs/calcium carbonate) or other soft material which can mix well with abs
3- material as used by Paulson, Blue Chip, ASM etc

Hope this sheds some light on an often confusing topic

bmwguy525 · #2 (**permalink**) 01-16-2007, 06:27 PM

interestingly abstract in release, but an informative post nontheless

JoseRijo · #3 (**permalink**) 01-17-2007, 08:32 AM

Hey Joe,
Thanks for taking the time to post this. You did a great job!
I tried to find a definition of 'clay', and found this:

http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/webindmn/combo.htm#clay
Clay: (a) A rock or mineral fragment or a detrital particle of any composition (often a crystalline fragment of a clay mineral), smaller than a very fine silt grain, having a diameter less than 1/256 mm. (b) A loose, earthy, extremely fine-grained, natural sediment or soft rock composed primarily of clay-size or colloidal particles and containing a considerable amount of clay minerals (hydrous aluminum silicates).

With that definition, I think you can define "clay chips" as simply being "anything but plastic". It doesn't necessarily have to be made of dirt.