I've given some thought from time to time about the possibilities of hot foil printing, especially in relationship to book covers and the like. But this was a passive interest only until a couple weeks ago when I had the opportunity to pick up a vintage hot foil press that was otherwise destined for the scrap yard. It needs a good cleaning but I've fired it up and tried it out with the included burgundy tape and it works just fine. The two "idler" bars on the automatic feeder that stretch the tape between them and keep it at the right distance from the type were missing but an old catalog showed that they were simply 5/16" diameter round metal rod. I bought a length from the local hardware store and bent it to the right shape and now you can't tell the difference from the factory originals. The hand wheel that moves the upper arm was broken and I replaced it with a vintage part from my old parts pile in the basement. Only the cleaning remains.
The type holder holds forms up to 1" wide and 5 3/4" long. It's actually a rather large machine. The table is 12" x 12" and it weighs a good hundred pounds or so, about the size of a large tabletop drill press. Foil tape seems amazingly low priced so I'll have to pick up some gold and a few other colors. So the Front Room Press has become a bit more diversified in what it can do. Anyone need your name on a book? If anyone has any information on this company or press, I'd be very grateful if you'd get in touch.
