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Q: Will commercial and instant print shops in my area affect my business?
A: Not really!
The more printers locally the more print requirement there is locally.
These print businesses are potential customers as most if not all will not have in-house Hot Foiling equipment.
By operating from home your overheads e.g. rent and rates are lower, so you are able to hot foil cheaper then high street or commercial printers. These businesses are potential customers as you will be able print small orders cheaper than they could. |
Q: Who are my potential customers?
A: Your customers are all around you.
Most businesses require business cards, letterheads, promotional products, etc.
Clubs require party tickets, club business cards, promotional products, etc.
Individuals require personalised stationery, Christmas cards, party invitations, wedding stationery etc.
There is a growing demand from schools, charities, clubs and
associations for fund-raising products. |
Q: If required, would marketing, product information and advice be available?
A: Yes, support is readily available, with over 25 years of business experience at your disposal. Polydiam has provided years of sales and marketing advice to our customers and are happy to share our knowledge. |
Q: Will operating this business part-time be profitable?
A: Most Certainly. Many of our customers are successfully operating this business on a part-time basis and earning a good income. Some have given up their jobs and have made a career out of running a small printing business from their home, a small shop or an industrial unit. |
Q: Are their any royalty payments to be made once I have purchased from you?
A: No, this is not a franchise and so there are no royalties or commissions payable to us. All profits are yours to keep and enjoy. |
Q: Are supplies readily available?
A: Yes, We supply hot foil polymer plates and some supplies but we provide a 4 page list of companies that supply most products you would require at competitive prices. |
Q: What methods of payments do you accept?
A: We accept all usual methods of payments, Cash, Bankers Draft, Cleared Cheque, Paypal most credit and debit cards such as Visa, Master Card, American Express, Maestro etc. |
Q: What is the maximum print area on the Polydiam HF85 Digital?
A: The maximum print area on the HF85 Digital is 8" x 5”. However, the print bed (Platen) can hold products larger than 8" x 5". With the addition of the optional A4 extension plate, flimsy A4 size items such as paper can be placed on the hot foiler. |
Q: Can I use the HF85 Digital for printing onto small as well as large products?
A: Yes, you can. |
Q: Does the HF85 Digital have a print impression counter?
A: Yes, it does. Our machine incorporates a LCD counter with each count triggered by a magnet for accurately counting of the number of impressions printed. |
Q: What are the service issues on the HF85 Digital?
A: The Polydiam HF85 Digital hot foiler is virtually maintenance-free. Apart from adding occasional drops of machine oil to the moving parts on the machine, there is generally no other servicing required.
Excludes wear and tear to the bearings and heating element failing or burnout. |
Q: What types of materials will I be able to print onto?
A: Hot foiling is suitable for printing onto most flat surfaces such as Paper, Card, Plastic, Leather, Vinyl, PVC, Soft Wood, Ribbon etc. |
Q: What materials are not suitable for hot foiling?
A: Hot foil printing does not lend it self to printing onto Ceramics, Metal, Glass etc. To print onto these types of surface you need to pad print (see our pad printing machines section). |
Q: Can I print onto round surfaces with hot foil stamping?
A: Hot foil printing is generally better suited to flat products.
There are hot foil machines specially made for printing on round objects. These machines tend to be expensive and automated. On regular flat bed machines specially curved dies can be made for printing on curved surfaces. However, these dies tend to be expensive and using then is generally for experienced user. Pad printing lends its self better to printing onto round and odd shaped products. |
Q: Can I use the HF85 Digital to die cut shapes?
A: Yes, however the amount of pressure created by the HF85 Digital will enable you to die cut small shapes out of material such as Magnetic rubber (i.e. to create "Fridge Magnets"), thin card, fabric, paper, thin plastics, rubber, etc. To die cut larger areas, you would need much larger industrial hot foilers or large cutting machines. |
Q: What is required to die cut shapes?
A: A small die board or punch tool is all you need to die cut. The die board is attached to the HF85 Digital and the pressure applied by pulling the handle will cut out the shape required. |
Q: The HF85 Digital is a manual machine, is there an automated system for Printing Business and Plastic Cards?
A: Yes, there is. Our unique AF-2 Auto Card Feeder attachment (optional) will help to increase your printing speed several fold when compared to feeding individual cards by hand. |
Q: Can I print Ribbons or die cut reeled Labels using the HF85 Digital?
A: Yes you can. You can print ribbons or label stock of various widths on the HF85 Digital. To improve the efficiency, speed up and automate the feeding of the material through the foiler, we have developed the LP-1 Ribbon/Label Feeder (optional). This will enable you to feed Ribbon or Label stock from reel to reel (manual advance) with remarkable ease. |
Q: Can I print sequential numbering onto Plastic Cards, Party Tickets etc?
A: Yes you can. You can buy a special numbering box which will fit onto the furniture chase of the HF85 Digital and will enable you to hot stamp sequential numbering. |
Q: What is the cost of foils?
A: Foils for hot stamping are available in Metallic, Holographic, Gloss & Matt shades and cost start from as little as £1.50 per width inch (25mm) x 400 feet (122metres) roll length. With one roll of foil, you should be able to print around 3000 Business Cards or almost 15,000 Pens! Therefore, the unit cost of printing is extremely small. |
Q: Does Foil easily scratch off the product, once it’s been printed?
A: No. The foil will bond permanently onto the product. However, if you use the wrong grade of foil for the product or the temperature of the hot foiler is not correct, then the foil bonding will be poor and so may come off easily. On products such as Leather Key Fobs, foils will eventually wear out (over a period of time) due to regular handling and flexing. |
Q: Can I print without using any hot stamping printing plates?
A: Yes you can by using "Type". Type characters are made out of Lead or a hard alloy. A set of Type will normally consist of Capital, Lowercase, Numbers and Punctuations. You will normally get several of the same type characters with vowels (a,e,i,o,u) having even more. The text created using type characters are locked into a special unit known as a "Slip Case" (One Slip Case is used for each line of Type). Slip Cases are then locked into a "Type Chase" (supplied with each machine) which is then inserted into the heater block of the HF85 Digital. Type and slip cases are optional items and both are available in a selection of sizes. |
Q: What else do I need to with Type?
A: You will need "Quads & Spacers" which cost around £10.00 for a set, and "Slip Cases" which cost £6.00 each. Quads & Spacers are used to leave gaps between words, whereas Slip Cases are used to securely hold Type in straight lines. A Slip Case is required for each line of print. Correct size Quads & Spacers as well as Slip Cases must be used for the appropriate point sized Type. |
Q: How much does a set of Type cost?
A: Type made out of Lead are the most common and are readily available, costing as little as £35 per set. The harder and longer life Alloy Type are becoming more difficult to source and can cost £60 and more and. Type can be used over and over again for different printing jobs. |
Q: Do I need to cut Business Cards & Foils to size?
A: No, Cards are supplied in a box and pre-cut to popular sizes. Foils can be cut to any size width by your preferred supplier. |
Q: Do I need a different "Foiling Plate (Block)" for every job?
A: Yes a different Plate (Block) is needed for every job. However, simple jobs (in Standard text and in straight horizontal lines) do not require Plates (Blocks) as they can be printed using Type. Type is especially recommended for single line printing. A Plate is usually a one-off cost which is added onto the customer's first order. Once made, Plates can be used over and over again for the same job, on repeat orders. |
Q: How much do Plates cost?
A: The cost of hot foiling plates is usually worked out by calculating the number of "square inches" (square centimetre) taken up by the artwork. For example, a standard business card size plate can cost around £10.00 as minimum order charges apply, and can take a few days to receive from the Platemaking Company. However, with our Photopolymer Plate Making Systems, you can make your own for as little as £3.00 within an hour. |
Q: How many individual prints can I hot foil in lets say 1 hour?
A: The HF 85 Digital is a hand operated machine but with experience you should be able to print around 1000 impressions per hour. Even as a complete novice over 500 impressions can be achieved. Printing speed however is not as important as consistent high print quality. |
Q: How much will it cost for me to purchase the blank products for hot foiling?
A: You will receive a comprehensive list of suppliers when you purchase the hot foiler. A lot of these suppliers can give you excellent prices for unprinted products. These suppliers have been recommended to us by customers but have no links with Polydiam.
Below are cost examples and are as a guideline only. The prices below are not necessarily up to date and as such the actual prices may be higher.
Cost examples:
Wharfedale and Bowies in Leeds supply leather promotional products
Key fobs £11 per 100
Book marks £11-£13 per 100 (dependent on size)
Coasters £11-£13 per 100 (dependent on size)
Tax Disc holders £8 per 100
Spee-Dee in Chester supply a huge range of cut cards, foils and promotional products
1000 Chromolux cards any colour £8-£13 (dependent on size and colour)
1000 linen finish cards £27
50 book matches £1.90
400 3-D cards from £28-£46 (dependent on design)
Die clean sticks (for cleaning you metal plates) cost around £12
Foil and Tool in Redditch Foils are wide in colour and very varied in application
but just to give you an idea a General purpose roll of 4 inch wide metallic foil will cost about £5.35.
The standard length of foil will be 122 metres (400 feet).
Matt and gloss foils will be of a very similar price.
Abbey Wholesale in Stoke An excellent supplier of quality pens and pencils.
100 Hex Pencils with erasers £4.60
100 HB pencils with erasers £6.50
100 Corvina stick pens £4.40
100 Corton Deluxe pens £13.60
100 Super retractable pens £9.40
100 safety stick pens £3.40
Albafoil in Scotland.
Foils again from £5.50 for a 4" wide foil up to £25 for a 4" Holographic foil.
100 White plastic cards £4.75
100 Metallic cards £6.75
100 Fluorescent cards £7.75
Hubbard Type Foundry of North Walsham.
Supply type ranging from 6 to 72 points and has a large range of type faces. Type can also vary in price from as little as £40 for a set of lead type.
Font made out of a hard alloy such as Mazak can cost as much as £100 per set. An alloy set of type will last considerably longer and for printing on pens it comes highly recommended. However Mazak type is difficult to buy as they are no longer made.
C.S. Concord of Sheffield Suppliers of magnesium printing plates.
Plates can vary in thickness and the price you pay is dependent on area and that thickness,
not the amount of detail you want on the design. The price for an average business card sized plate is approx £13- £14.
The Quality of plates produced by C.S. Concord is excellent and they can turn plates around with just a few days.
As with all metal plate makers they do charge a minimum plate price up to a certain size which is normally but not always approx 16 square inches. |
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