When we first started selling hot foil machines, we only considered one make that was out there. It was Marshall’s and specifically their 6″ x 4″, 7″x4″ and 8″x6″ platen, hand operated machines. It was the equipment I was used to, and to be frank it was amongst the best machines out there.
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However, we wanted a new machine to offer clients and working with Polydiam we eventually helped to produce the HF-85 Digital, which in my humble opinion is the machine for anyone coming into the hot foil industry for the first time. “You may well say that Chris, you want to sell them”. That’s true but in reality there are very few manufacturers of new hand operated equipments out there these days. What makes the HF-85 Digital such a good machine is that Polydiam listened to us, the guys who actually printed before they actually started to manufacture it. We print thousands of items everyday so knew what the problems were with the machine they had at the time and we were not backwards in coming forward when asked by Pravin at Polydiam why we didn’t sell it.
Very quickly they turned the machine around and today its our bread and butter equipment and we love being associated with the HF-85 Digital.
A common question we are asked is “should I go for a new or used hot foil machine?”
Well the answer is down to budget and what your looking to do. Hot foil equipment can be found on sites like Ebay and through dealers such as ourselves. However when looking to purchase a machine you need to be careful. Its like buying a second hand car, chose badly and you could be left with a dud. Get it right and it will give you years of enjoyment.
Ebay and auction sites like it are a minefield. Often you see foiler’s going up for sale and the photos are the only guide you will get as to the condition of the machine and even then they sometimes aren’t the most helpful. To the untrained eye you think you’re getting a bargain. I saw a Marshall’s 80 advertised on there a while ago which went for £500. It was clear from the photos that there was a key component missing and the purchaser who may not have had any experience of the machine wouldn’t know it until they got the machine unpacked. In the description the vendor had put on Ebay, it was clear they didn’t know the item was missing either (the item was a chase used to hold the holding plate and printing plate into the machine). Why was it clear? because a photos showed the holding plate glued to the hot plate, and not a sign of the chase. The machine had pitted rust all over the platen (the printing bed) which would have needed specialised cleaning. I wouldn’t have paid £50 for it never mind the £500 it eventually went for. Some weeks later I got a call from a chap asking if we did training on Marshalls. We clearly did and invited him to come for training. When he arrived and put the machine in the bench and started discussing it. It became clear this was the very same machine. To say it was in extremely poor condition was an understatement. There was nothing we could do then, so it was left with us and a week later he returned and was amazed at the result. Chases were there, the platen cleaned and rust removed from all over the equipment. We had put a new temperature controller on as well as having the equipment PAT tested. All this cost £350 and then there was the training which we were now able to complete now added to this cost. A £500 “bargain” (by the way through checking the serial number on the machine we estimated it had been manufactured in the early 90’s) had become a £900 expenditure on a 20 year old machine.
On the flip side of the coin, we were contacted by a lady who had purchased a printer from Ebay and she to wanted training. It was in stunning condition. Everything was with the machine, it came with lots of foils etc and clearly whoever had this previously had looked after it. I was very envious, £600 was a real bargain. When something like that appears on auction sites there’s little companies like ours can do to compete. Neither should we, we have always thought the best thing to do is provide the help these people are asking for, there’s no point in turning people away just because they didn’t purchase from us. I know the problems they are going to experience, we’ve been there ourselves and there’s nothing better than help a phone call away.
What the auction sites rarely offer is proper professional, experienced training that companies like us and others provide. It’s not just about putting a plate on the machine and hey presto there you go. There’s far more to it than that. Its about , pressures, heat control and dwell just as the basics. Then there’s the minefield of embossing, uni-fraction, foils, substrates and make readies. What about multicolour printing or the manufacture of dies and which is the best die for the product your printing. You can even die cut, crease and perforate on these machines. More recently, we teach our clients about holographic’s and photographic’s plates along with textured and fluted dies. It can be a complex learning curve that only long established, experienced companies can offer.
If you’re stuck on the basics, you will feel like hurling the equipment out of the window. I can tell you that over 70% of machines brought second hand and via auction sites end up on the market very quickly afterwards if training isn’t offered.
If your looking for a good quality used machine and have never done a days hot foil printing in your life don’t go to Ebay. Have a look at the numerous companies selling the equipment. The machines would have been serviced and tested. Health and safety requires as such, we have to supply used machines with recent PAT testing certificates. Training is almost always given as part of the purchase and you will find there are guarantees offered with the machines. Most importantly the back up and the support you need when first starting with hot foil should also be provided.
Well, you might well be asking why do I need a new machine? A new machine can cost anywhere up to £2000 (with the Vat). Well it comes down to what you can do with the new equipment. Looking at the car analogy, newer modern cars have all the gadgets older cars don’t. They have satnav, Bluetooth and parking aids for instance. Its the same for new hot foil machines. You tend to find they come with jigs and aids to print items not usually done on hand operated machines and certainly not available with most used equipments. Platen foilers have been notoriously difficult when printing large diaries and bigger pieces of paper and card for instance. Now. some newer machines overcome that problem with simple aids to help you. Printing boxes that have been ready made are easily printed now and the mounting of printing plates have done away with bonding tape by using clipping systems to mount your plates. (Though Im old school and prefer the older methods). New machines come with digital temperature controls for greater accuracy of heat control, rather than the older analogue , simmer-stats. They just have that feeling of refinement which makes them easier to use.
Above all when looking to purchase a hot foil printer, you must see it working. New or used, watch it in operation. Don’t just test the on/off switch. When purchasing from auction sites you don’t always get the opportunity unless you collect the machine and even then, in our experience the training your given is limited judging by the amount of people who come to us after making such a purchase.
Just one other thing, we often see low cost new, budget “hot foil printers” for sale on Ebay, most are imports from Asia. I can tell you now having had over 20 years experience in this industry that if you are looking to start a business, a professional hot foil printing business to provide quality bespoke business or wedding stationery and promotional items.You will be wasting your time with these machines (with the very odd exception). Its an opinion I know, and you’re perfectly free to make your own judgements.However ask anyone with a modicum of experience in this industry and they will all agree. The budget machines are perfectly fine for the hobbyist don’t get me wrong, they have their place but they in no way compare to the quality, ease of use, range of products you can print, volume or finish of a good robust British made hot foil printer.
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Our range of hot foil printing machines are extensively used in the fashion industry for personalisation, by various manufacturing industries where product marking is required and for printing a wide variety of promotional gifts and incentives.
Each machine is designed as a vertical format system meaning that the product remains stationery during printing – the print head moves up and down, not the product. This allows for more difficult, thicker, heavier products to be personalised with ease.
Most machines are modular and can have various accessories added to them, or upgrades to components made at any time during ownership. These machines are probably some of the simplest to operate and remain the most versatile hot foil printing solution available.
Foil printing is a printing process that uses a combination of heat and pressure to transfer a design onto a wide variety of products. The print is not ink based and completely dry to the touch at all times. After printing, products can be handled and re-packaged immediately and the foil printing machine does not require cleaning after completing a print run.
A wide variety of products can be decorated with foil or by embossing / debossing the material, where no coloured foil is added but the design is stamped into the product instead. Suitable materials for hot foil printing include leather, plastics, paper, card, vinyl and more. However, the suitability of an individual product for printing versus embossing depends on a variety of factors. We are happy to advise clients on the possibilities.
It is not possible to foil print directly onto clothing such as t-shirts, metal products, glass and ceramic based products. A pad printer or screen printer is the preferred printing methodology for these materials. Foil can be added to garments using a special transfer process – please contact us for details.
Hot foil printing machines are normally used to print onto flat products using flat printing plates or type. However, it is possible to print shaped products provided that special tooling to support the product is available and the printing plate must also be shaped to match the profile of the product.
Foil is available in a wide variety of colours, finishes and grades. The grade of foil has to be matched to the type of product you are printing onto with some specialist plastic grade foils being the costliest. With this variety comes a variety of prices but generally, although a gold foil may seem like it will prove to be an expensive commodity, the cost per print will be very low indeed. The final cost per print depends on several factors that include the image area that is being printed and the grade and colour of foil used. We are happy to assist you in calculating cost per print for your individual product based on the factors mentioned. In the main though, the cost per print is usually measured in pence or fractions of a pence.
In the fashion and retail industry, our range of hot foil stamping machines are generally used to add customer names and initials to high end leather goods. To achieve this, you have to purchase sets of type. A set of type consists of loose letters, either upper and lowercase with numbers (a full font) or uppercase only (often the choice for monogramming). The individual letters are quickly and easily set into the type and die holder of the Kwikprint hot foil printing machine, allowing for a quick and efficient point of sale task where needed. The customer can wait for their product to be personalised. Our equipment is so reliable, it is regularly used to monogram leather goods worth thousands of Pounds at point of sale.
Logos can be printed in a number of ways depending on the type of product being printed. An engraved brass die can be produced for the best possible print quality. A chemically etched die made of aluminium or magnesium alloy is a good and cheaper alternative where the product is firm, i.e. not a plush diary cover with lots of give in it. You can also produce a polymer printing plate in-house if you purchase some additional equipment – an exposure unit – but this process is much more limited.
Emojis are becoming a popular add-on to the monogramming market and we can supply them engraved in the same way as the brass type so that letters and emojis can be used together since they are of the same height. Chemically etched dies are a completely different format and are usually mounted on a special mounting block to be used in the Kwikprint machines.
No, learning the process of hot foil printing is simple and quick, and there is no other machine available that is as simple to set up and easy to use as a Kwikprint. Full training is offered to those clients that request it, and on-going support is only a telephone call away. We also offer full event support where a member of our staff is available to personalise goods at your special events.
The choice of foil colours is vast, and generally the range is split into metallic, gloss, matt and holographic finishes. Within these colour ranges, there are specific foils for use on card or paper, plastic, wood and other specialised materials. However, foils cannot be exactly matched to specific Pantone® colours. We can advise on the nearest colour to your chosen Pantone® reference if required.
Yes. All of the hot foil printing machinery that we sell is perfectly placed to be used in a home based, business or retail environment. The machines are not very big and have no special electrical requirements.
Each KwikMBoss machine shares the same common parts, so an entry level machine can be upgraded to include more parts as your business grows. In addition, the KwikMBoss 2000 can be upgraded to air operation if a manual machine has been originally purchased.
Traditional British platen machines operate in a completely different way to a KwikMBoss hot foil printing system. KwikMBoss machines are designed as a vertical format system – British machines generally operate like a clamshell.
The advantage of a vertical configuration is that the item being printed always remains in place on the worktable during printing. The print head is the part that moves up and down. On a British platen system, the product moves in an arc toward, and away from the fixed and stationery print head. The design of a KwikMBoss allows for larger, more complex products to be printed with ease.
Yes. In fact, we have customers across a wide range of premium brands who use the KwikMBoss range to personalise a wide range of leather goods. The model chosen will depend on your exact requirements and products. We highly recommend that you discuss this with us over the phone for personalised advice.
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