Category: Letterpress for beginners
Later topic: Letterhead paper
Earlier topic: WIndmill Auto Stop

Different Type of Plates

Hi everybody,

This is probably a really silly question, but do adhesive-backed plates work on a magnetic base? We’ve been struggling to find a supplier in Canada that will provide us plates, we found one, but they only do sticky-back. I’m wondering if it’ll work with our steel backing.

Any help/advice for a newbie is greatly appreciated!

Kristin

Log in to reply   4 replies so far

If you have Bunting bases, then the only question is how thick the plates are. If the plastic-back plates are thinner than your steel-backed plates, then you will need to underlay the form to get it to type high.
The same is true of PatMag-style bases, but their rubber magnet may lose a little material when you lift the adhesive. It may not be a problem with Boxcar’s own adhesive, but some more aggresive adhesives pull off flecks of the magnet’s rubber surface.

Thanks so much for your comment. The magnetic base was custom machined (and tested), and there’s no rubber surface, so I don’t think damage will be a problem. I’ll have to find out what my measurements are exactly.

Thanks again.

Kristin

As long as your plate and adhesive and aluminum base measure .918 you are good to go, doesn’t matter if the base is magnetic or not. You can also underlay acetate slips to bring it up to .918 if need be. Acetate sheets are sold in art stores and have their thicknesses stated. Main thing is keep everything under the base clean. Very clean. Including the press bed.

Gerald
http://BielerPress.blogspot.com

Thanks Gerald. My base is 0.866” and the supplier’s sticky-back plates are 0.005, so I might go with the acetate sheets as you suggest. Thanks for the cleanliness tip!
Kristin