DIY magnetic base for attaching photopolymer plates
Hello,
I wonder if I could please some advise/people’s views on my idea.
I have been using an aluminium base along with steel backed photopolymer plates for some time by attaching them using bog standard double sided tape.
It has worked perfectly apart from one thing……..it is a nightmare having to remove the plates afterwards as they are very well stuck!
I am no starting to loose my patience a little with it and need to work out a more time saving method.
I have started to wonder about somehow inserting magnets into my aluminium base.
I bought the base as a slab of aluminium from an engineering shop and my partner then milled it down to the exact height for me at his work (he is an engineer with access to loads of great machinery, which helps!).
So I was thinking maybe boaring holes into the back of the base maybe 10mm diameter and gluing magnets in place all over the base?
Or attaching strips of magnets like the bunting (I think) bases.
I appreciate that they would need to be pretty strong magnets to hold the plates securely without them creeping all over the place when the rollers slide over the plate.
I was also wondering about milling the base down a bit more to accommodate a magnetic sheet over the top like the Patmags? But, I am worried about the shore hardness of the magnetic sheet.
I wish I could just use the sticky backed photopolymer that a lot of people use in America but unfortunately, we only have one supplier here in England and I did not have much luck the company/product.
Has anybody got some experience in a DIY magnetic base at all? If so, I would really appreciate any advise you have or any ideas even if you haven’t got any experience yourself?
The removal of polymer is made easier by careful heating of the base and when warm you will find the glue will release easier .
There are other ways to fit polymers but you will need to do the math ,i dont have relevant info for thickness of polymers , you can mount your polymer to 20/40 or 60 thou ali plate and clip those to honeycombe base ,when done just leave them mounted for the future with the ali attached .
I have a wood block somewhere with a mag sheet as you describe attached to it , i will go look in the weekend ,it was stuck to the side of a rule rack last time i saw it ,if i locate it you can borrow it for trials as you are in the uk i can post you it .
I believ the hardness of magnet mat as i know it is relatively uniform and possibly hard enough for most printing although large solids may be a problem ?
Is your supplier Pomeroy ? If not get in touch with them they have been in photopolymer for longer than i have been in print and i only briefly used their kit ,we replaced rubber stereo with polymer at the end of my letterpress time and it was a good system .
Bunting Magnetics might have a magnetic sheet that would work for you. They have all kinds of configurations and likely something stronger than the rubber magnetic sheet used on the PatMag. They sell internationally.
Installing magnets in your aluminum base might be more than a bit tricky. The current Bunting Cerface base (introduced in 1994)
http://bielerpressxi.blogspot.com/2008/05/bunting-magnetic-cerface-flat-...
uses many small magnets and steel separators inserted into hollows. Note that these magnets are ceramic and do not draw down vertically but rather horizontally. The steel strips are the transfer. This prevents plate travel and allows for pickup. If not constructed in this manner your would never get the plate off of the base.
Gerald
Repeating (without repeating) that which Peter states, all good, but a little extra take!!! as yet apparently it hasent been tried, but as follows:- I have some good engineering equipment and learning fast making small parts for obsolete presses, but one invaluable tool is the MAGNETIC mounting base to accomodate clock guages when turning, (or trying) to turn accurateley, it is no ordinary magnet but in fact a sandwhich which involves a tiny release lever at side, which seperates the two main layers and releases the magnet with an air gap, for attachment and vice versa, transpose the base of the lathe, for the metal backed plate and business resumes!!!!! AND where I go for some of my raw materials,steel etc, they use exactly the same principle, albeit in different guise, for attaching fairly H/D drill to massive lengths of steel, R.S.J.s to drill, when extra holes are not an option. The magnetic base of their machine is less than the size of the bed of a smaller platen, and only (even in sandwich form) about an inch thick, obviously with the drill mounted on top, in essence quick release plate mounter, derivation. The saying goes “needs must when the devil drives” maybe he hasent driven hard enough yet, but perhaps, given the challenge, I could experiment and modify, one of my two clock guage magnetic mounts, and then, half joking, half serious, watch as a high flying print orientated company, perfects/patents, and makes a killing marketing, said same product, WATCH THIS SPACE? >>>>>>>>>S 677 you obviously have good engineering back up, but just possibly, as the self styled crackpot, with a fair insight into print related problems/situations I might just be useful, (U.K.) Good Luck Mick