It got shelved for years until he had another hot foil stamping project. This time he was prepared. He took the machine apart and robust-ified it by attaching it to a heavy-duty arbor press.

The cast-iron press, salvaged for $80, weighed about 3,500 lb. and was made by the Toledo Machine & Tool Co., a firm eventually acquired by press builder Aida, Dayton, Ohio.

The machine, nicknamed Giga Press, is the first of its kind and is produced by Idra Group in Italy. It has a clamping force of 55,000 to 61,000 kilonewtons (5,600 to 6,200 tf). Advertisement ...

This video has everything you need to know about the IDRA die-casting machine (Tesla Giga Press). ... Instead, it's capable of exerting 8,000 tons of force to stamp parts.