Cold Foil Stamping, Do You Know What's New?

Cold Foil Stamping: The Pros And Cons

Do you know what the difference between Cold Foil and Hot Foil Stamping? The main difference between the two, from a technical point of view, is hot foil is stamped into a surface and cold foil is laid onto a surface. The application of cold foil on the lithographic sheet-fed press should be viewed as an extension of the use of foil to embellish the printed surface. There are a variety of applications between the two process. There are applications that will be hot foil always. There is an area of the processes that could be either one and there is a new part that is absolutely cold foil.

The final look that you can achieve with hot foil has been around for years and well understood. The outcome that you can attain with the litho process of cold foil is not so much understood, though many types of the same looks can be attained with either ink or the cold foil process.

Being able to produce solid areas of foil in a variety of sizes and thicknesses, as well as the ability to produce half tones that are foiled create added value to this process.This process is also better suited for textured substrates. Example:Linen Stock. Using the cold foil process allows such stock to retain their texture after foiling. This gives the designers more flexibility for designing products. It also gives the manufacturer more flexibility on materials that are not suited for hot foil stamping.  

Cold Foiling is also more adaptable for "flexo" packaging applications. Because it uses thinner films that are heat sensitive, hot foiling is not the right process to use. Hot foiling causes these more sensitive materials to distort. Cold foiling allows thing films to be foil stamped but lets the foil shrink or expand just a little, without cracking. 

Every business is focused on costs of processing their products. Cold foiling reduces or eliminates many previous costs such as running speeds, maker ready times and cost of stamping dies. Changing over to multiple print format costs is also reduced. Adhesive is applied through the use of a polymer plate, which is very cost efficient. Hot foil requires rotary tooling which is very expensive and has several drawbacks for many applications of the process. 

The negative side of cold foiling is the use of sheet-fed presses. These are not useful in many applications and have drawbacks that hinder many uses. In these cases, hot foiling is a better choice. The cold foiling is better suited for use with coated stock vs dry and porous stock. Though cold foiling has advanced with technology, including using with the more porous stock, hot foil is a better choice for cost effective use. Cold foil stamping can't be used for the combination of stamping & embossing. It employees a flat application and defers to the hot foil stamping process for the best applications of this type. 

The current cold foil advancements today appear to point to the market of web flexo labels. Experts expect to see more sheet-fed operations for such markets as folding cartons and greeting cards.With hi-speed rotogravure printing in the future, cold foiling could come to include markets such as gift wrap and cigarette cartons.

The final analysis of the cold foil process is it's ability to complement the hot foil process by opening markets where foiling was not even an option. For manufacturers getting their products out, all they know is their options have improved. They can offer great labels on their product and it can be done in a cost efficient way. 

Information and Education is necessary and should begin out in the marketplace. If a foiled product is put on the shelf, it stirs curiosity in people who are taking notice, such as Designers. Like any good idea, it becomes more and more popular with the passing of information and ideas. The advancement of this growing process is a positive move for the industry of packaging and labeling. 

Direct Thermal Or Thermal Transfer Label Printers? Which Is Ideal For Your Business Needs?

Do you know the differences between direct thermal label printers  & thermal transfer label printers? What type will fit your needs best? Many of the current models are dual mode printers. This means they have the ability to print both thermal transfer labels and direct thermal labels. If your needs lean more towards just the direct thermal printing, you might want to buy a true direct thermal printer instead of a dual mode type.

Direct Thermal Printer Or Thermal Transfer Printer?

In order to determine what is going to work best for you, it is necessary to ask some questions about your needs for now and for the future.

• Do you need just black & white printing or will you be printing colored labels.
• Will labels need to be scanned or is there a shelf-life of at least 1 year?
• Are you printing high density bar codes (i.e. limited space)?
• Are the labels going to be used on products that are in the heat or sunlight?
• Are the labels going to be subjected to abuse or surface friction?
• Are there a variety of different printing materials (i.e. papers, films and foils)?

Yes answers to any of the questions above would indicate consideration of using a thermal transfer system instead of a direct thermal system.

Thermal Transfer Printers Capabilities

Thermal transfer means using heat to transfer a variety of colors to a variety of materials such as foil, paper or types of film material. This produces very clear and long lasting labels that are going on products that require labeling to be readable for extended time frames. With the vast choices of materials available to use with thermal transfer printing, it allows manufacturers to customize their labels to fit their businesses. Matching the label stock and printing ribbon is absolutely imperative to get the best quality and performance of the finished product.

Direct Thermal Printers Capabilities

Direct thermal printers is similar to thermal transfer printers, but eliminate the need for a  transfer ribbon. It is limited in color options to black. Special, preprinted direct thermal paper offers color options but the print quality is greatly reduced. Labels darken with age and that processed is advanced with heat and sunlight factored in. A true direct thermal label printer can increase print head durability when it has a print head made from a thicker glass. Direct thermal printing applications are most used in food labeling. Not subjected to lots of heat and sunlight and averaging less than a year on shelf life, this type of labeling process serves the food industry well. It is also cost effective because of lower overall cost and easy media changeovers associated with not using a ribbon.

Should You Use A Direct Thermal Printer or Thermal Transfer Printer? Lets Look At The Facts!

Direct Thermal Printing	Thermal Transfer Printing
Labels print only in black, preprinted with special thermo chromatic ink	Labels can be printed in various colors
Labels have a shelf life of 1 year or less	Labels have a shelf-life of over 1 year
Labels not subjected to sunlight or heat	Labels are open to heat or sunlight
Labels will not be subjected to friction or abuse	Labels are exposed to abuse or surface friction
Examples: Shipping Labels, Library Date Due Labels	Examples: UL Recognized  Labels for Outdoor Use, Shelf Marking Labels, Product Labels
	Labels contain high density bar codes (i.e. limited space)
	Labels have to be printed on varying materials such as foils, paper etc.

Which Model Printer Will Work Best For You?

When you determine what method of printing is best for your company then it is important to determine label usage and other things such as:

What is the label usage per day? Will your label usage exceed 500 labels per day? Consider using an industrial printer. If label usage is a few hundred a day, it would be more feasible to set up a small table-top printer.

What is the maximum label width and length? Minimum label width and length is another important factor to decide on? With varying capabilities of printers, you want to know what will work for you. Some printers can handle wide width labels, and you wouldn’t want to spend the money on something that is too big for your needs. Some customers may require extra-large labels, so a wide-web printer may be the option that works best. Extra-long label lengths often require the installation of memory cards in the printer.

What’s printed on the labels? Are you printing graphics, and/or very high density bar-codes, or tiny fonts? If so, then high resolution printers are great considerations.

How do we want to connect the printer? Are you going to use a USB cord, parallel, serial, wireless, or an Ethernet connection? For several printers, an Ethernet connection is often the better choice, since each printer on the network has its own IP address.

Is the printer connected to your PC? Remote system (stand-alone) are efficient choices for this type of printing application. This would utilize a keypad, and optional battery pack. Label formats are created on a PC and loaded into the printer's memory. Formats are then recalled and labels can be printed from any location. Variable information can be entered into the keypad at print time, & the time/date can be stamped with a real-time clock feature, automatically. Some of these systems include label software.

Whichever printer you decide is best for your business, getting it right is important. Labels Fort Worth has been in Fort Worth for many years. We are happy to consult with our customers to help them get the right label printing applications for their businesses.