honeycomb base & 16 gauge copperplates

Can you use 16 gauge copperplates with honeycomb bases?

I have a couple of different thicknesses of honeycomb and what I think is a variety of clips, but things just don’t seem to quite work for me.

Anyone doing anything with these that can help me get started with it.

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I don’t use honeycomb base but if the base is low you could try doublesided taping 6 point slugs down flat on top of the base then tape the plate to the slug. for many years now i have used 1/4” mag dies that i get unmounted then tape them down on my furniture, behind it you need a piece of chipboard and you are type high. for the thinner plates i make a form the size of the plate out of slugs, then tape 6 point slugs flat on top then tape the plate on this, type high. the wood they use today to mount plates is junk, i’ve used this for years, also the elrod could cast a high slug that you could mount plates on, but i don’t know anyone with an elrod.

There are industrial catering chopping boards around made of a heavy nylon type material thy are 20mm thick . I have used this in the past with no problem .
You can also ,if necessary get some dowel lengths and plug the holes appropriately in your honeycombe base and drill the copper for pins and literally nail the plate as you would for old fashioned block mounting.

The honeycomb bases were made for 1/4” and 11pt. engraving and casts to be mounted, so the height is too short for 16 ga. engravings. One could build up under the base, but the hooks are designed to latch onto the beveled edge of one of the above two sizes above. 16 ga. engravings leave very little of an edge to grip.

I use honeycomb base with polyester-back photopolymer plates. I use a mid-base made of polycarbonate which brings the image surface up to .918”. I use adhesive to mount the plate on the mid-base and cut an angle on the edge of the sub-base so it will mount securely with the standard honeycomb base hooks.

This could work for 16 ga. as well, but the plates would bend when trying to remove them. you could surface tape them in place as well.

Of course the key to success is to find something which will allow mounting the plates so they are type-high when placed in the press. Any means of doing that will work.

John Henry

Thanks for everyone’s time to comment. I think using the double-faced tape, much like is used for adhesive photopolymer plates and the right thickness of some form of base (aluminum?) would give me what I want.

You’ve all given me a path to try. Thanks again.