Platen
Hot Foil
Printing Machines
Toner Hot
Foil Printing
Machine
Suppliers to
Her Majesty's Government,
Schools, Colleges,
Universities, Industry
and new Business Start Ups.
(Plate making accessories available at extra cost - please see below)
This Mini Starter Kit costs £64.00+VAT
We
supply a mini optional 'Starter Kit' for making polymer hot foil plates. The
Starter Kit consists of:-
2 x A4 Artwork Sheets (For laser printers)*
2 x A4 Negative Film
100ml Negative Developer
100ml Negative Fixer
Washout Pad
Measuring Cylinder
2 x Lifting Tongs
10 x Polymer Hot Foil Plates cut to Business Card Size (Metal backed for
better heat transfer)**
3 x Tubs for Developer, Water and Fixer
Instructions
Images shown above are for illustration purposes only.
* We do not recommend the use of inkjet paper
for creating artwork as inkjet printers do not always produce dense enough
images which are so vital for the correct production of hot foil plates.
** We only recommend the use of metal backed
polymer plates for hot foil printing as they transfer heat far better than
plates which do not have metal backing.
On-going supplies/costs
20 x A4 Artwork Sheets £12.00+VAT
1 Liter of Developer £11.60+VAT
1 Liter of Fixer £11.60+VAT
20 x A4 Negative Film £27.00+VAT
1 x A4 Sheet of Polymer Hot Foil Plate (uncut) £21.00+VAT
(or cut into 10 x equal Business Card Sizes £22.50+VAT
With improvements in the quality of polymers,
better quality exposure unit, and better grades of foils, it has now
become possible to create your own hot foil polymer plates in-house, at a
fraction of the cost of metal plates.
With metal Type almost extinct and costing hundreds of pounds per font,
you can now make your own hot foil using any
font on your PC together with logos and symbols. No need to keep
investing money in expensive Type when you now have the luxury of making
your hot foil plates in-house. A single font can cost you about the
same price as our Plate Maker - with our Plate Maker, you can print in
1000's of different fonts without having to outlay 1000's of pounds in
Type!
No more waiting for days for your plate to arrive by post - now you can
take an order and deliver the product within the hour!
The Hot Foil Plate Making Process (simplified)
-
Create mono artwork onto transparency artwork paper (using laser printer is best)
-
Place artwork and Negative Film together in the 'UV Ultra' plate maker and expose for a few seconds
-
Wash Negative in Fixer solution and then develop in developer solution
-
Once dry, place negative film and blank polymer plate into the 'UV Ultra' plate maker and expose for
a specified time period. -
Wash plate in hot water, which creates a relief image of your text and logos
Dry plate, post expose in UV
Ultra Unit - Your hot foil plate is now ready to use.
~ Total time taken to make a hot foil plate from scratch is about 30
minutes.
~ Several plates can also be made at once on our UV Ultra Unit.
~ Cost to produce a business cards size plate is around £2.00 each.
Benefits of making your own Hot Foil Polymer Plates
-
Keeps set up costs low (Thus making you more competitive)
-
You can turn jobs around faster (e.g. same day)
-
No need to keep or invest in metal type - use any font on your PC
-
Incorporate logos etc. without any problem
-
Ideal for one-off jobs or where small runs are required where the cost of a
metal plate cannot be justified.
Metal/Plate Cutting
Shears 
Two powerful, cost effective, shears which
have the ability to accurately cut PCB laminates, plastics, polymer plates
up to 2.00mm thick and aluminium up to 1.5mm. Now you can cut polymer
plates
to size, on demand.
An important feature of these shears is
safety. Free access to the cutting area is prevented by heavy Perspex
shielding extending along both sides of the blade. A safety latch is
fitted to the pivot to prevent operation without it first being released.
For positional accuracy the cutting bed is fitted with a rule which is
recessed to assist in securing the PCB or sheeting whilst cutting is in
progress.
The 8" Cutter is extremely compact with an overall height of
only 575mm and a footprint of 335 X 140mm. It has a cutting bed of 110mm
wide from the blade although wider material can be cut.
The larger 12" Cutter will cut materials up to has a
height of 670mm and a footprint of 440 x 245mm. It has a larger cutting
bed 225mm wide from the blade although once again wider material can be
cut.
You can also cut metal plates with a tin cutter (like a scissors) from DIY
stores, but in our opinion, they can leave
a kink in the plate as you cut through the plate in stages. This can
adversely affect the quality of the printing plate.
What is required to ensure
good quality polymer plates?
Factors such as quality of artwork, correct exposure times, washing
out, use of correct grade of foil (for hot foil), selecting the
correct hot foil machine temperature, dwell time, substrates etc. can all affect
the quality of your finished plate and hence printing quality. We will
give you good guidelines with your purchase (and also offer after-sales
telephone support) but would like to stress that some, or a
combination of such factors can affect the quality of your plate and
printing which are out of our control for which we cannot hold any
responsibility. Our
exposure units are sold on this strict understanding.
It must however be pointed out from the outset (which others fail to mention) that polymer plates will not totally replace the need for metal plates. Unlike polymer plates, metal plates is not something which you can make at home due to their complexity. Making Polymer Plates requires practice and following tips contained within our instruction manual closely.
Metal
plates may still be required where you have the following within
your design: very fine fonts, fine lines, large print areas etc. Metal
plates may also be required for certain surfaces.
These plates work best on machines which have 'toggle action' and those
with pressure adjustment screws.
Copyright 2006 Creative Printers of London www.hot-foil.co.uk