DSF

Just started production of greetings cards again and I use a textured aperture card. I need to print info on the back but both my lasers eat the cards when the cutout catches. Tried rubber stamp with poor results so think foiling may be the answer. Have to fork out for a machine + uv stuff to make my own plates. Can probably find other uses but would like to know if the textured card will be a problem.

Anyone using one of these or similar ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222100615585

Wouldn't touch one of those. We took delivery of one of these this week. UK built. UK support. http://www.fastfoil.co.uk/index.html

We would also stay away from textured card if laser foiling. Smooth 300gsm all the way if your laser can handle it.

I saw your post and had looked at that machine. At full price it is very expensive and not worth the money. At the end of the day these machines are just a heated block on a press stand so the eBay one may suffice. I don't really want to do laser foiling as it is a slow process and I have hundreds of cards, direct print using laser would have been the best solution. Textured card looks really good and helps mine to stand out from others so staying with it. May even end up with printing gold laser labels.

If you decide to sell yours after the current project let me know !.

We didn't pay full price We got the 4x3 less than 12 months old for less than half price. You pay for quality. Just like sublimation getting your fingers burnt with cheap Chinese presses.

I have just thrown one of these in the bin it failed after 6 months. Just died. Got it cheap to play with. In use it was very awkward to set-up and alignment of the plate was a real nightmare as there was so little room to manoeuvre. There is very little downward pressure so on flat card it did the job OK. Not so good on textured as bridging occurred too often. The print area is obstructed by the bar at the bottom which draws the printed card out, making it difficult to get anything larger that 4" x 4" of material under the plate without bending it. Also the thermostat wasn't the best as the temperature varied when measured by 10-20 degrees in use.
Hot foiling is not an exact science it relies on the experience of the operator to judge, temperature, dwell and pressure. Different foils require variations of each. Alignment of the plates is the biggest hurdle. Once you've cracked that the rest is trial and error. Also there is not much help out there for users as hot foil printers are very secretive about their techniques.
Metal (magnesium) plates can be made for around £20 and will last a lifetime. Polymer plates are useful for short runs and can be made for around £2 each they will do around 500 impressions before the edge wears down. Making polymer plates is a bit time consuming and you need the plate material, exposure film, an inkjet printer, exposure unit, stiff brush etc.
If you are doing loads I would suggest saving up and getting a clamshell press at around £400 something like a du21 or a platen press like the fastfoil . These have a cast iron plate which is flat and spreads the heat evenly unlike the alloy plate of the Chinese machine.
For flat smooth business cards I would say it's worth the risk if you want to spend time on it but in the long term you will save a lot of time and frustration by getting something more reliable and durable.
Obviously using the bulk paper tray is not viable you would have to use the manual paper tray to insert your paper. Have you tried folding a thin piece of paper over the leading edge of the greetings cards when manually feeding the into the laser printer to cover the aperture and have them come straight out of the back of the printer.

I'm considering a hot foiler to be able to put the foil logos on our gift boxes ourselves, as we can get the boxes delivered next day if left blank, or can take upto a month for the supplier to print them for us.
Currently we have one block with the logo which works well on all the box sizes we use.

Thanks for that, I did look at the eBay press as a sort of base machine that could be modified and appreciate it is not the best. However your comments about pressure and temp are enough to make me think twice. I am aware of the other presses and may have to take the plunge but not sure how big my market will be. If the foilcraft machines were half the price I would buy however their clam operation does not offer any mechanical advantage to increase pressure like the vertical types. The large throat and work area is very good. I like the idea of a carrier for the cards to cover the aperture so will try that today.

Difficult decision for me as I am not sure how big my market will be but I can see that having a printed/foiled back will give a far more pro look.

I do not know that much about foiling machines or card making so this is just offering a couple of things in case you have not thought of them. Anything I say below could be utter rubbish

Have you thought about an OKI last printer? A C301dn is the cheapest. They accept heavy stock, but the real trick is that they have a back exit tray. This means the card stays relatively flat when passing through the printer. If you want to go flashy they have the white toner system as well

With regards to foiling machines, have you thought about a digital foiling machine? There is one made by UNIFOIL which is £6k plus VAT but looks the nuts so depending on your budget and how "big" you want to go this might be the one...

Just had a thought, why not try some metallic vinyl you could cut it on a craft robo or silhouette transfer to carrier and apply. It would be a cheap option.
Unless you've got 6 grand in your sock draw lol.

lol my sock drawer is full of socks, check everyday but never find any money in it.

I have an OKIW which happily eats the cards, not tried the paper slip method as I have several hundred cards made which will be too thick anyway. Given up with printing for now to concentrate on making product. Created an A5 sheet that sits behind the card with info and details, this will be ok while I explore other options.

Will keep my eye on eBay for potential bargains !.