Cold-Foil Finishing with the Speedmaster CD 74 and Speedmaster CD 102 from Heidelberg |
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| 23-02-2006 |
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New cold-foil technology for high-quality print products with stunning metallic effects
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has developed an innovative cold-foil application process using tried-and-tested offset printing. The cold-foil module for the Speedmaster CD 74 and Speedmaster CD 102 series can apply stunning high-quality foil-based metallic finishes to all kinds of printing stock in grammages of 70 gram per square meter to 400 gram per square meter. Label, packaging and commercial printers can use this technology to satisfy the market's growing demand for high-quality surface finishes. Cold-foil application has a number of key advantages over hot-foil stamping. The use of a conventional offset printing plate results in short make-ready times, and the new process also achieves high printing speeds of up to 15,000 sheets an hour and excellent register accuracy. Cold-foil finishing is ideal for fine structures and elements such as text, lines and screens. And cold foil really comes into its own with short print runs and frequent job changes.
"We are confident our customers will appreciate the quality of this new foil application technology," states Alessandro Compagni, Managing Director of the highly specialized label printers Sebastian Wolf GmbH in Eltville. The print shop has a workforce of 44 and uses the cold-foil module on a Speedmaster CD 74. Compagni is happy about the time saved by using the new process. "With the CD 74, both inline and offline production is much quicker than with the previous hot-stamping method," he explains.
Ingenious process
Two units are required for cold-foil application. The first applies a paste adhesive to all or part of the printing material using a conventional offset plate, while the second incorporates the cold-foil module with the metal foil take-up and take-off unit. The foil is fed through the printing nip between the blanket and impression cylinders. The pressure of the blanket transfers the metal layer of the foil onto those parts of the printing material to which adhesive has been applied. When the substrate is removed, the metal layer remains on the printing material. What is more, the two units can be used for conventional offset printing again straight after cold-foil application.
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The cold-foil module for the Speedmaster CD 74 and Speedmaster CD 102 series can apply stunning high-quality foil-based metallic finishes to all kinds of printing stock in grammages of 70 gram per square meter to 400 gram per square meter.
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