Bobst masters the hotfoil market

Bobst’s new Masterfoil 106 PR, which made its world première at the company’s open house in September, has an output of 8,000 sheets per hours and a number of innovations in hot-foil stamping onto carton board, and micro-flute corrugated board.  Most important are the completely new Foil Touch platen concept, an intelligent Smart Feeder system, a dynamic Power Register II foil-to-print register system, an automatic Easy Foil handling system and a new and highly ergonomic machine layout.
 
According to Sylvain Rebet, head of sales and marketing for Bobst hot foil stamping presses: ‘The need to reduce cost means there is pressure to use lighter substrates and thinner foils.  These combine to make life difficult for foil stamping presses, especially when layouts are becoming more challenging and complex.  We developed the Masterfoil 106 PR as a precision machine for the IIIb format and it completes our portfolio at the top end.’ 
 
The new machine’s revolutionary system, called Foil Touch, involves a new design of the lower platen section that delivers 50% more contact time between the foil and the sheet than any other machine in the market, even at high speed. This improves results for simple foil stamping, foil stamping combined with embossing, large area foil stamping, or fine detail foiling, and means that despite using lower temperatures and reduced stamping pressures, quality is maintained and productivity increased.  It also allows foils to be stamped only 13 mm from the front edge of the sheet.
 
The new Masterfoil 106 PR uses the first ever Smart Feeder available on a hot foil stamping press for sheets up to 1060 x 760 mm and a stock range from 70 g/m² to 2,000 g/m², as well as 2 mm corrugated board.  Sheet jams are reduced by up to 70%, while Power Register II offers perfect register between the printed image and the foil.
 
The Bobst also reduces setup times by 40% with its innovative Easy Foil automatic foil handling system. After a new roll is added, the foil enters a vacuum chamber from where it is automatically pulled through the entire machine.