Hot Stamping/ Tipping - Topcoat

[Jason Dunmire]

Company recently purchased a Kensol-Franklin hot stamping press that we will be using for top coating/tipping of photopolymer with foil for interior signage. We are having an issue with setup of the machine, we are either getting spotty coverage or what seems like to much pressure and it is making the photo appear "blown out". We sent samples of our product to the foil supplier and they seemed to have no issue with it but we can not seem to get it to work properly repeatably. I have reached out to them and have tried their heat settings and have little to no success, was hoping someone on here would have an idea or suggestion to try. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[vincesigns]

If you are having problems getting good coverage on pictograms you are experiencing a very common problem. Hot stamp work great on raised copy but not on large surfaces as is common on pictograms. We have tried everything that was recommended by our hot stamp foil vendor and by Nova but they will all tell you too that this is a shortcoming of hot stamping on photopolymer. We address this by using hot stamp where we can and for signs with pictograms we "tip" using screen and ink.

 

[Jason Dunmire]

If you are having problems getting good coverage on pictograms you are experiencing a very common problem. Hot stamp work great on raised copy but not on large surfaces as is common on pictograms. We have tried everything that was recommended by our hot stamp foil vendor and by Nova but they will all tell you too that this is a shortcoming of hot stamping on photopolymer. We address this by using hot stamp where we can and for signs with pictograms we "tip" using screen and ink.

Yeah our foil vendor told me the same thing but its on the copy that I am having my issues. Thought maybe it wasn't hot enough but I maxed out the machine and had the same issue. I even tried to change the color of the foil and used a silver and it worked better, was told white was the worst for adhering but it should at least still stick lol.

 

[vincesigns]

Yeah our foil vendor told me the same thing but its on the copy that I am having my issues. Thought maybe it wasn't hot enough but I maxed out the machine and had the same issue. I even tried to change the color of the foil and used a silver and it worked better, was told white was the worst for adhering but it should at least still stick lol.

sorry for my delay in responding. if you are having trouble with foil adhering to letters then i would look at the other variables; temperature; adjustment of the pad to the sign. We rarely have trouble with foil adhering to letters/numbers that can't be fixed by adjusting those variables

 

[Jason Dunmire]

sorry for my delay in responding. if you are having trouble with foil adhering to letters then i would look at the other variables; temperature; adjustment of the pad to the sign. We rarely have trouble with foil adhering to letters/numbers that can't be fixed by adjusting those variables

I appreciate your help... I know not every machine is the same but could you give me the temperature you do most of you stamping at so we have a jumping off point. Like I said in a previous post at one point we had the heat all the way up, I'm pretty sure that is overkill.

 

[vincesigns]

We stay within a range of 175 - 200 degrees celcius

 

[Jason Dunmire]

We stay within a range of 175 - 200 degrees celcius

Thank you I will use that as a jumping off point and see where I end up

 

[vincesigns]

you will be fine. Like a lot of things in the sign business hot stamping is part art and part science. Merry Christmas!

 

[MikePro]

the issue arises with larger fields of foil stamping, that micro-airbubbles get trapped under the foil during the stamping process and create a "weathered" effect in the final product. just awful.

our trick, is to "chew" the stamp.... little by little. by that, I mean, working from top-to-bottom and only stamp your foil 1/4-1/2" at a time. the whole foil is there, laid in place, but you're not trying to hit it all at once, allowing the air to climb its way out as you progress through your stamping.