Can I just turn the photo over to deboss it ?: You can have an embossing die and turn the photo over to embosse its back (debossing it’s front) but your art will appear as in a mirror (written backwards) when viewed from the photos front.
Can I easily change the die/art in the machine ?: With the spring clip machines (options 1 to 6), for each machine, you have several spring clips, each with a die of different design. You can then easily and quickly change the die by releasing and changing the spring clip. The spring clips are not however interchangable amongst the different machines.That is, a die from the Small Hand Held can not be used on the Medium or Large machine. Apart from having multiple spring clips, to change the die you can send the embosser back to us to do this for you.
How thick a paper can I embosse ?: We have given an indication above of the maximum thickness of paper you can embosse. See the next two questions also.
Can I embosse canvas ?: You can, but canvas tends to have a “memory”, meaning that over time it tends to return to it’s original shape.
When to choose a Delrin die ? We recommend Delrin for simple designs comprising line work and text and simple logos. Delrin dies are a white plastic. Delrin® is a highly versatile engineering polymer that bridges the gap between metals and ordinary plastics with a unique combination of creep resistance, strength, stiffness, hardness, dimensional stability, toughness, fatigue resistance, solvent and fuel resistance, abrasion resistance, low coefficient of friction and hard and resilient surface. Delrin® exhibits excellent engineering and machining characteristics making it highly suitable for: extremely demanding Automotive, Engineering and Industrial applications. This highly durable polymer has replaced metals in many applications that needed high wear fatigue resistance, load bearing capabilities and abrasion resistance. Delrin® is processed with Laser cutting technology.
When to choose a Metal/Brass die ? A Metal die is recommended if a crest, coat of arms or logo with fine detail is required, or if paper 200gsm or thicker is to be embossed. Brass requires substantial machining time and the use of a variety of cutters to obtain correct, depths, thicknesses and optimum legibility, the process then requires a male mould to be produced from ABS plastic in a die extruder.
To Order:
Die Design: We create designs with text and basic shapes without charge. It is usually easiest to telephone and chat through your ideas first. We then ask you to put in writing (via email) your text and layout. We will create your design and email it to you for your comment/approval. If you want a logo or art in your design, or if you are creating your whole embossing design yourself, you will need to provide us with this in one of the following file formats:
- Indesign (Versions CS to CS3) plus a low resolution JPEG file, or
- CorelDraw CDR file (Versions 6 to X4) plus a low resolution JPEG file, or
- Adobe Illustrator file (Versions 6 to CS3) plus a low resolution JPEG file, or
- PDF file saved with text converted to paths plus a low resolution JPEG file, or
- EPS file, real size, 600 dpi, no fill, outlines only, plus a low resolution JPEG file
You can also provide your art as follows but we will need to charge a preparation fee (we trace your artwork and convert it into a format we can use). If the image is a bitmap we will always need to start from scratch no matter what format it is saved in.
- Photoshop (All versions up to CS3 plus a low resolution JPEG file
- TIFF file real size, 600 dpi (PhotoShop and most other photo editing programs allow you to save your file in this format), or
- a good original mailed to us (eg, your signature in a very thick pen), or
- specifications/requirements from which we create your artwork for you.
Sometimes problems occur when files are created on a mac as we use PC. We need a vectorised image to start with. Your artwork’s size can not be over your machine’s maximum emboss area (stated above for each machine).
Orientation: You will also need to tell us from which edge of the paper you are going to emboss. Most commonly we orient dies to approach the paper from the right hand side. This allows you to emboss anywhere up or down the right hand side and in as far as the embosser’s reach will allow. Of course, if you then decide you want to emboss from the left hand side your embossed design will appear upside down. So you need to tell us whether you want to approach the paper from the right, left, top or bottom.
To overcome this problem, some customers will order an embosser with a spring clip die (options 1 to 6 above) and a second spring clip die of a different orientation.
Timing to embosser delivery ?: Allow about 2 weeks from approval of embosser artwork to our dispatching a machine. This time can be shortened if we know you have a deadline, however if we have to drop everything and just do your machine we have a standard 25% surcharge and can dispatch within a few days.
Please telephone us to discuss your options.
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