A professional who operates machine to emboss and imprint designs, lettering, numbers, or product information onto surfaces of material, such as paper, cloth, leather, or plastic, using foil, gold-leaf, coated ribbon, or plastic tape, following specifications. Responsibilities include:

• Receives verbal instructions, reads work order sheet, or inserts disk in drive of computer and depresses keys to retrieve job order slip with printing instructions on computer screen.
• Sets heat, pressure, and time controls, according to material to be stamped.
• Installs and locks character wheel, embossing die, or stamping die in heated chase of machine.
• Turns on heating element.
• Inserts reel of specified material, such as foil, gold-leaf, coated ribbon, or plastic tape in holder or on spindle, and threads end through rollers which feed and guide material under die mounted on ram of machine or places sheet of foil over impression.
• Positions and aligns workpiece under holding arm in bed of hand fed machine or feed hopper of automatically fed machine in position specified on work order or in illuminated window on computerized machine.
• Starts machine which lowers ram to heated die or character wheel and ribbon to emboss and imprint workpiece and automatically moves coated ribbon with each stroke of machine.
• May operate machine to imprint trade names, brand, and grade onto leather sweatbands and be designated sweatband printer.
• When printing titles and designs on book covers, is designated embosser.
• When imprinting identifying information on battery lids or encasements, is designated embossing-press operator.