What is Cold Foiling?

Any Edale machine with a print module can have the option to do cold foiling.

This video shows you how its done, answering the questions like "what is cold foiling?" and "how can I do cold foiling?"

It’s all done on our lamination module which has a foil unwind and a rewind. These can be added to any Edale press and are fitted on our modular rail system so can be moved to almost any print module.

You also need a cold foil nip which can also be moved to any print module through mounting holes.

Using regular flexo printing plates the image you want to foil is printed using UV adhesive making the web sticky.

There’s no expensive die tooling, just regular flexo printing plates.
The foil unspools from the lamination module unwind and is then stuck onto the substrate using the movable cold foil nip.

The foil and substrate now stuck together will wrap around the chill roller and the UV dryer will cure the adhesive. The foil has partial transparency so the UV light will penetrate it from the opposite side and avoid any wet wraps.

Note that while conventional UV dryers are shown in the video, you can also do this with LED UV dryers, another option on any Edale press.

The foil that does not get transferred to the substrate remains on the plastic backing liner of the foil and is peeled off after the print station and wound onto the foil waste rewind.

If you have smaller rollers of foil, differential mandrels are available to help separate the rolls.

Some of the effects that can be created with cold foiling are amazing. You can print the foil over existing print or print onto the foil for a coloured metallic or patterned effect.

If you’ve got a lamination module on your machine for cold foiling it could also be used for other lamination types such as embellishments, holographic effects or with a small upgrade self-wound lamination.
We also have options for hot foiling too but that is for another video.

So cold foiling in summary:
• There’s no expensive stamping die tooling involved.
• Foil in almost any print station with our rail system
• Range of attractive foils available
• Ink or varnish coating can be applied to give visual effects

To learn more about cold foiling please go to our website at www.edale.com or contact us at info@edale.com

We’re also often doing live webinars which show the cold foiling in action so please take a look at our events page to see what’s coming up.

Images of foil courtesy of Kurz foils.