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Hot Foil Printing Plastic Name Badges
To hot foil print a name, job title or text onto a
Plastic Name Badge a cast metal die of each letter of the word or words must be placed in reverse order into a jig and clamped tight. Once held firm the text and the jig is paced into the hot foil stamping machine. There is then a waiting time while the letters get hot enough to print with. A coloured foil is placed face down onto the front of the plastic badge label. Once hot enough the letters are stamped into the foil which releases ink onto the front of the plastic name badge.
In order to position the printed text accurately onto a plastic name badge a clear plastic material would be fixed to the hot foil machine over the front of the badge. The badge label needs be moveable and not fixed at this stage. The imprint of the letters on the clear plastic material shows where the print will be and it is then possible to position the text on the badge label by moving the badge label underneath. The badge labels are then held into place in the hot foil stamping machine, the clear plastic removed and the text is printed accurately onto the front of a plastic name badge. This process can be used on a number of other materials but for the purpose of producing name badges plastic was the most popular material.
Hot foil printing of a logo or a company identity onto the front of a name badge is in principle done in the same way as printing of the text onto a plastic name badge. The obvious difference is that the same logo, slogan brand name or corporate identity is usually hot foil printed onto a number of badge labels whereas the names and job titles are usually different on each of the badges. Text on name badges was usually the same colour whereas the logos or symbols are often different colours. In order to print a company logo or identity with a number of different colours the logo, company logo or design is broken down into individual colours and a die is made of each of the logo colours. The number of plastic name badges required and some extra for waste would be passed though the hot foil machine printing and one colour of the logo at a time or just one colour if that is all the logo required.
An advantage to hot foil printing plastic name badges are that gold and silver leaf can be printed where neither silk screening nor digital print can produce print finished even close. There are also a number of specialty foils including holographic foils that can only be hot foil printed.
Disadvantages to hot foil printing of name badges are many. There are a limited number of foils colours available and so matching pantone colours is usually not possible except where a specific foil is available to match a pantone exactly. Printing of shades and half tones are not possible as with digital print or silk screening as the printing plates are made of metal and the print surface flat and solid and so the colours need to be “block colours”. Hot foil printing plastic name badges is a slow semi skilled process which is labour intensive. It is often wasteful due to the text and each colour of the logo being positioned individually and with the inaccuracies of the hot foil printing machines there is often movement. If there are changes in the temperature of the block when printed or the pressure of the stamp then there can be differences in the print quality from badge to badge even in the same batch of badges.
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