any such thing as interchangeable polymer type?
I’m interested in embossing, though I learned very quickly into my letterpress education about smashing lead type. I know that I can have a polymer plate made, which will handle embossing much better, but is there any way to use a polymer alphabet as interchangeable type? could I just methodically cut a bunch of letters out and rearrange them on the boxcar base as needed? is there a better solution for something like this?
D. S. (Movable Type) maybe a few hundred years too late.
Offered in jest, maybe.
But from a constructive point of view technically possible, but from practical point of view, soul destroying for the following reason(s)
(author) some 3 - 4 Yrs. ago actually had 2 Fonts *Cut* in 6 Line (72 Point) 6 Line Times & 6 Line Gill Sans.
Both were Laser Cut from 1/8” perspex, THE laser cutter was driven from and by a very sophisticated computer equipped with a dedicated Typesetting system, hence overall alignment was NO problem, + being laser cut and perfectly slab sided, Right Reading or otherwise was not an issue. ?
When it came to mounting the characters to Type High, it got complicated, i. e. with the Times face (especially) with such thin strokes and so little adhesive contact area, proved tricky in the extreme, + even at 6 Line (72 Pt.) the times face was less than reliable on a small Clamshell Press (Adana H.S. 3) a little better performance on the Ajax Parallel Approach (Ajax = crude attempt at Table Top parallel approach)
Hate to think of mounting anything smaller than 6 line, but good luck anyway.
Hopefully if You do the groundwork and publish Your results to the Forum - B.P. it may help those following on behind. !
ah, rookie mistake! I stand corrected, I did in fact mean “debossing”. basically any interchangeable type that would withstand the pressure to make repeated deep impressions in thicker papers.
You can have a polymer plate made with the letters you want, mount to a wood base to bring it to type high, then cut apart into individual pieces. I’ve mounted logos in this way. The adhesive eventually wears out but it’s good for a couple years.
Mike
You mention embossing but then it sounds like you a asking about standard printing. These are two different concepts that ake two different types of plates. You can do printing with a photopolymer plate and can also do embossing. We have both printing and embosssing plates with counter made through Crown Flexo. The embossing plates worked well but we have only done a few. We buy all our printing plates from them.