Hot Foiling

[Kevin.Beck]

yep. we have one.

You can foil, wedding cards, business cards, leather goods, plastic goods, paper goods.

we have a Marshall`s machine. most machines are either marshall or blockmaster.

best get a machine with a large chase, so you aren`t limited to small items.

Most of our hot foil work is business cards. We charge more than the average price, as there are only a few hotfoilers in our area.

There is profit there, but it does depend upon the area. Its like signs, theres some people out there, who`ll work for pea nuts.

I would recomend going on a training course, it cuts out all the hair pulling.
Theres a exerbition coming up soon, I`ll look up ther date and make a post later.

Keep away from firms that sell the complete package. You can buy the machine and training seperately, at at lot less £`s.

A good book to buy, is the Hot Foil Printing Guide, by A C Flemming.

[Rodney Gold]

Basically a foiling machine is something that can apply pressure and heat to a bass relief block with a heat sensitive foil running under it.
You can go from simple hand operated machines to huge pneumatic roller foilers.
Its a very cheap way of branding stuff and you really need large volumes or runs to really make money.
The cost of foils is merely pennys per item generally and the margins are huge!!!

It’s considered very much a home or “make money in your spare time” industry at the lower end of the scale and its big in the labelling industry (with automated machinery also being big money)
The problems you will face are making the blocks , making the jigs , die cutting the items , dwell time (how long the block stays on the substrate ) heating temps , whether the material can be foiled , heat treating materials making then foilable and so forth – it’s not rocket science tho and the foil suppliers are generally helpful

Blocks can be made out of silicon (we do them on our laser) for rough surfaces or surfaces that are NOT dead flat, or magnesium/brass/steel for flat items.
You really need to get a press with decent power heaters , temp control etc. We “supercharged” our hand press (we have a pneumatic one too for really big runs)with overpowered heaters so we can do “wood branding” and leather “embossing”
You get foils in a zillion colours as well , so you can do some really nice multi coloured stuff too – mostly ppl use metallics.
You can also foil vinyl , its actually quite easy to make foiling blocks that both foil and kiss cut the vinyl. Foiling is also used to “tip” foil injection moulded plastics , IE stuff where there are raised sections are tipped with foil using a flat plate.
You can use your foiling machine for embossing or debossing too , without foils.

You can get some decent 2nd hand stuff for around GBP 1k , generally a 1/2 decent setup will cost around GBP 2k. (im working on what stuff costs here in SA)
It depends what you want to do whether this is a profitable line , if you are already branding items for the promotional industry , this and a pad printer are logical aquisitions. If you have a print shop , this is great for cards , invitiations , serviettes , decals etc
Yo can get presses that have moveably type so you can , lets say , foil one offs on leather diaries etc.
Its a pretty nice addition and a profit centre at low cost and is quite low tech.
Make sure you have somone to make your blocks quick and cheap – you can do it in house with photosensitive printers plate , a laser printer , an exposure unit and a hot acid etcher. Often print shops make foiling blocks.
If you are looking at foiling , then look at pad or tampo printing , this is REALLY profitable and not many places do this , this is a method of printing on curved surfaces using a cliche a sort of etched plate carrying ink) and a rubbper flexible pad that picks up ink off the cliche and then deposits it via the flexible pad to a curved item.
This will do golf balls , pens flat stuff etc etc.

[Phil Jenkinson]

We’ve just got a hot foil machine and are having trouble finding a supplier of key fobs and particularly blank dairies. Wondered if there was a main supplier all you boys use? We also need some additional metal fonts for it same thing is there a supplier you all use?

Thanks

Phil

[Kevin.Beck]

key fobs Kenex 0116 271 8444

other leather goods. Cheshire Leathers 0161 3685518

[Fat Bob]

hi guys seen the post.
Have a marshall machine with a load of foils tons of type and a load of paper stock.

anybody interested in making me an offer ?

….FB

[Tim Painter]

Contact Foilink a user group for foiling in the UK im a newbe here and don’t represent foilink ask for Nigel he is most helpful

Foilink Tel:01706 810800 (-)

[Kevin.Beck]

yep, joining foilink is the way to go.

Nigel and Shelley are always ready to help.

Foilink can train you as well.

[Phil Jenkinson]

Just phoned Nigel…………..boy that man can chat… 😮 …..nice northern bloke who was more than helpful.
Only phone ‘im if you’ve got a few hours to kill!!

phil

[Kevin.Beck]

Foilink Exhibition 2003

11th & 12th October.

Hanover International Hotel. Kidderminster rd, Bromsgrove.