The Heater plate of Hot Foil Attachment is manufactured from a specially developed graded casting and machined upto a highest accuracy. It has tapped (M6) holes over it's surface. The thickness of the heater plate is 17.5 mm. So it is possible to use a stamping dye of the image height 6.5 mm (max) on the heater plate. If one desires to use a thin dye (image height of 1.5 mm approximately), it is required to paste the same thin dye on an aluminium plate of 4 to 5 mm thickness. Some strong rubber solution or any other adhesive. A full size aluminium plate may also be permanently fixed on the heater plate.
To hold and move the dye for getting proper registration, different clamps are provided. To use calmp no.1, which gives much firm hold, it is essential to reduce the dye thickness at the borders by around 2.5 mm.
Clamp no.2 gives a lesser firm hold on the dye but it is more easy to use. It does not require any reworking of the dye. Movement of the dye is quite easy and a very minute adjustment is also possible with these clamps.
The operator has to be very cautious while fixing the dye on the heater plate. While mounting the clamps, never use invalid screws of longer length. This will damage the heater element placed inside the heater plate. It may also lead to a serious short circuit and the unit may get damaged. Never leave any screws loose. Use only the holes provided by the manufacturers. Creating additional holes for covering more printable area is risky. It may lead to serious accidents and damage to the machine.
A 100% firm contact between the surface of the heater plate and bottom of the stamping dye (or the aluminium plate beneath it) is extremely essential. Any gap may result to non-conduction of the heat.
Selection of proper foil, make-ready material and make-ready technique and properly mounted dye of the best quality are the proven keys of getting good stamping results. Excessive temperature and pressure would never help to produce better results. One has to develop his own make-ready methods and choice of material for achieving more and more improvement.