THERM-O-TYPE Foil-Tech, foil fuser provides a new standard of foil
fusing equipment performance. Using the Automatic Foil-Tech, customers
can utilize foil fusing technology to efficiently produce a wide range
of high value products.
To operate the Automatic Foil-Tech, paper is first loaded into the
feeder. Sheets up to 14 1/2" wide by up to two feet long can be run
through the machine. A foil roll, up to 2,000' long, is mounted in the
machine, with foil unwind and rewind tension controlled through
adjustable clutches. Once the Foil-Tech has reached the adjustable set
point fusing temperature, the paper feed is activated. As paper is fed
into the machine, a sensor automatically activates the impression
mechanism. When running 11" long letterhead stock portrait through the
machine, up to 1,500 sheets per hour can be produced. Fused sheets are
delivered into a receiving tray and used foil is rewound for disposal.
When feeding has been completed, the Foil-Tech will automatically drop
off impression. Fusing quality on various papers is controlled using
both temperature and speed (dwell) controls. If a foil jam should occur,
a sensor and interlock will automatically drop the machine off
impression and stop the drive.
A second foil support and rewind shaft can be added to the Foil-Tech as
an option. Using this option, two rolls of foil can be fused in a single
pass.
Foil fusing eliminates the need for expensive equipment, a skilled
operator, dies, and a makeready/set-up process for each job. One
drawback to foil fusing is the amount of foil consumed to produce
individual jobs. With a foil stamping press, an adjustable foil draw
allows operators to advance the foil to match the size of the image
area. Using a foil fuser, foil is continually drawn through the machine
while the fusing mechanism is on impression.
THERM-O-TYPE has incorporated several features in the Foil-Tech to
minimize foil waste. Interlocking the paper sensor to the on/off
impression mechanism significantly reduces foil waste. The ability to
run most sheet formats either portrait or landscape allows for optimum
foil utilization. The ability to run two narrow rolls of foil, instead
of a single, wide roll, can dramatically reduce foil waste on many
applications. Finally, a reliable and easy to use feeder minimizes the
gap between sheets to further reduce foil waste.
Personalization
Individual or small quantity personalization of greeting cards and other
products with foil has always been a hassle. Today, foil-stamping
equipment is used for this work. The problem is that foil-stamping
equipment is expensive and requires a skilled operator, a foil-stamping
die must be created, and set up must be accomplished for each small
quantity order. Using Foil-Tech, personalized information is imprinted
on the sheet, using a low cost laser printer, then the sheets are fed
into the Foil-Tech, where the foil is fused to the toner image area. No
die is required. No registration or impression adjustments are required.
No special operator skills are required.
Personalization applications include greeting cards, graduation,
business and social announcements, invitations, and name cards.
Business Cards
Small quantity business cards are now successfully produced using full
color laser printers. Run ten-up on a sheet, a 250-card order only
requires 25 sheets of paper to be processed through the printer. Using
relatively low cost digital equipment, these full-color, fast turnaround
business card orders are successfully marketed with a retail value
between $40.00 and $85.00.
To add additional value to these products, Foil-Tech can be used to
imprint metallic and/or pigment foils.
Producing a full color, ten-up business card sheet with foil logos, with
Foil-Tech, requires three steps. First, imprint only the image area to
be foiled on the sheet using black toner. Second, run these sheets
through the Foil-Tech to fuse the foil to the image area. Finally, run
the sheets back through the laser printer to add any black or color text
and/or graphics that need to be applied with toner.
The same process is used to add foil to letterheads and other personal
or social stationery.
Custom products
Anyone, who has ever been to the National Stationery Show, will
appreciate the number of companies that serve small niche markets with
very small quantity custom products. Many of these companies use full
color laser printers to produce their products. Using the same
three-step process used to produce business cards, described above,
greeting cards and other specialty products can be enhanced with foil,
using Foil-Tech.
Proofs, design samples, small quantity tests
Creating proofs, design samples and small quantity test runs that
feature foil, has always been expensive and time consuming. What is the
right color foil to use to achieve the desired effect? How do you
present design options for your presentation? How do you quantify the
fact that the design is effective?
Using Foil-Tech, sample proofs can be quickly and economically produced
using various colors of foil. Proofs and design samples can be created,
evaluated and presented with various colors of foil. Once an initial
design decision has been reached, small quantities of test product can
be produced for design quantification. All without the delay and expense
required with traditional foil stamping equipment.
Controlling production costs
Cost effective purchasing and utilization of foil is critical to
minimizing foil fusing production costs. Foil-Tech is designed to accept
rolls up to 2,000' long (4 1/2" diameter rolls on a 1" core). To receive
the best price on foil, customers usually purchase 24" wide master
rolls, then use a foil cutter to cut rolls to match the width of the
image area. Cutting foil from master rolls, to gain maximum finished
product yield per roll, is a significant factor in controlling foil
fusing production costs.
Foil Fusing limitation
As a graphic process, foil fusing has incredible potential. However,
like all technologies, foil fusing has limitations that need to be
understood.
As the image to be foil fused is imprinted with a laser printer or copy
machine, it is important to remember that finish quality will be
dependent on the type and finish of paper used. Papers that are too
heavy to run through a printer are unsuitable. Papers with excessive
surface texture will affect finish quality. High gloss coated sheets may
pick up toner on non-image areas on the sheet. As foil fusing will apply
foil to any toner on the surface of the sheet, certain high gloss coated
sheets may not be suitable.
There are a wide range of copy machines and laser printers available.
Toner image quality will affect the finish quality produced on the foil
fuser. Imaging equipment should be in good condition, with the ability
to eliminate toner from non-image areas and, preferably, with the
ability to control the density of the toner applied to the sheet.
Registration between image areas, imprinted during multiple passes
through a laser printer, will affect the type of products that can be
produced which combine foil and non-foil image areas. This condition
will be controlled by the laser printer's ability to register the image
on the sheet.
Summary
There are many ways to apply foil to paper. Each production
method has capabilities and limitations that make them either ideal or
unsuitable for specific applications. Most methods are currently
designed to produce thousands of impressions per hour. None are designed
to efficiently, and affordably, produce single sheet, and very small
quantity, foil imprinted products.
With the introduction of Foil-Tech, the foil fusing process has become a
practical production process.
Therm-O-Fusing Improves Image Quality and
Durability
Full color laser printers can produce beautiful text and graphics at
acceptable production speeds. While image quality and durability do not
compare to offset printing, they are considered "good enough" for many
applications. For those applications where it is desirable to
significantly improve both image quality and durability, Therm-O-Fusing
is the answer.
Therm-O-Fusing is accomplished using Foil-Tech equipment and embossing
film. Embossing film is basically a roll of thin plastic material. To
Therm-O-Fuse sheets that have been printed on a laser printer, sheets
are run through Foil-Tech with the embossing foil replacing the normal
metallic or pigment foil. As each sheet moves through the Foil-Tech
fusing mechanism, the toner is re-melted.
Therm-O-Fusing the toner on the sheet, under pressure, with a smooth
plastic film over the toner provides three important results. First, the
toner is aggressively bonded to the sheet, improving durability. Second,
variations in toner density are smoothed out, providing a denser, more
uniform image. Finally, the surface finish of the toner changes from a
dull, flat finish to a gloss finish. The visual difference between
sheets that have been Therm-O-Fused and those that have not is dramatic.
Therm-O-Fusing sheets is easy and inexpensive. Running 11" long sheets,
up to 1,500 sheets per hour can be produced. Embossing film costs are
$.55 for a "unit" of film (a unit is 1" wide by 200' long). Rolls up to
2,000' long can be run on Foil-Tech. To put this in perspective, to
Therm-O-Fuse 250 business cards, run 10-up on 25 sheets of paper, the
embossing film cost would be about $.65 and the run time would be about
a minute.
Automatic Foil-Tech Foil Fuser
