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Adding
metallic, pigment and special application foils easily and inexpensively
to small quantity books has always been a problem. Foil has
traditionally been applied using a die (or hand set type) and a foil
stamping press. The cost of the dies, image area restrictions, equipment
costs and other factors made applying foil difficult and expensive for
small quantity applications.
By replacing traditional “foil stamping” with “foil fusing” many of
these problems are eliminated. The foil fusing process bonds foil to
compatible toner image areas that have been imprinted with a laser
printer. Unlike traditional foil stamping, foil fusing does not require
a die, eliminates image area restrictions and allows large solids and
fine text to be applied in a single process.
To manufacture a hard cover book with foil fused text and graphics,
cover sheets are first imprinted using a suitable laser printer. After
imprinting, foil is fused to the toner image areas using Foil-Tech
equipment. The foil fusing process only takes a few seconds and requires
minimal operator skill.
After foil fusing, the cover sheets are run through a cold laminator
that applies an adhesive backer.
Since the cover material is foil fused before the adhesive backer is
applied, the hard cover is made, or the book is bound, defective cover
sheets can be identified and removed from the production process. This
significantly reduces the potential for lost profits caused by defective
foil stamping on pre-assembled covers and/or books.
This process also eliminates the need to produce books that fit
pre-manufactured hard covers formats. Using the foil fusing process and
low cost equipment to assemble the hard cover, almost any size book
format can be produced.
ExactBind (www.exactbind.com) has been working with THERM-O-TYPE on this
project for several months. ExactBind sells short run, soft and hard
cover book binding equipment and supplies.
We would like to thank ExactBind for sharing their knowledge of the
print on demand book industry and for binding foil fused hard cover
sample books.
With the growth in small quantity hard cover book manufacturing, the
ability to combine text and graphics, almost without limitations on the
front, back and spine surfaces of the cover, without the need for dies,
will be an important and valuable capability for any book manufacturer.
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