FULL STORY
• World's first cold foil module with index.
• Savings on materials of up to EUR 0.09 per print sheet.
• State-of-the-art technology lowers costs and benefits the environment…
FoilStar, the cold foil module from Heidelberg, opens up a whole host of exceptional surface finishing options for labels, packaging, and high-quality commercial jobs. These include stunning metallic effects that create added value for your customers' print products and help them stand out from the crowd in an ever more competitive marketplace.
Pictured above: On the left you see the Standard FoilStar and on the right the FoilStar with index function. It is visible that the index function guarantees a foil usage without any interruption to facilitate cost and ecological advantages.
Heidelberg has now installed just under 50 FoilStar modules since they were launched onto the market at IPEX 2006 and has therefore exceeded its own expectations. The extremely high register accuracy and fast setup of FoilStar are just two of the benefits that make this market success possible.
While FoilStar has been able to process up to six foil webs in a range of widths since 2007, resulting in cost savings of up to 50 per cent, at IPEX 2010 Heidelberg will be presenting the world's first cold foil module that supports indexing when transporting foil.
In the past it has been necessary to cut off a length of cold foil corresponding to the circumference of the blanket cylinder. This is now no longer the case, as the foil transportation stops when the foil can no longer be transferred onto the sheet, for example when the foil travels over the gripper margin or the cylinder gap. In other words the customer uses only the required amount of foil for the sheet size.
The new FoilStar with index will be available for the following presses from fall 2010: Speedmaster XL 105, XL 75, CD 102 and CD 74. The maximum print speed is 15,000 sheets per hour.
It is also possible to retrofit existing FoilStar modules from 2007 and later (2nd generation) with the index function, thereby harnessing these major cost and environmental benefits.
Based on an annual print output of 4 million sheets, for instance, the new index function results in savings in foil consumption equating to 133 tons of CO 2. If the annual print output rises to 6 million print sheets, the environmental benefit amounts to a cut in CO 2 of 200 tons.
Cold foil finishing - the technology for stunning effects
FoilStar applies the cold foil using two offset printing units. In the first unit, glue is applied using the inking unit and an offset printing plate either as a spot application or over the entire sheet. The second, actual cold foil unit has take-up and take-off units for applying the foil. Along with the sheet, it is fed into the nip between the blanket and impression cylinders and applied by pressure to the areas of the printing stock coated with glue. When the substrate foil is removed, the metal layer remains on the sheet. Subsequent overprinting of the foil allows users to achieve a variety of colour nuances. A further benefit is that both printing units can be changed over rapidly and are then immediately available for printing.
© Graphic Repro On-line, 9 March 2010.
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