beer coasters

magnesium

You say “picture and not text” If that is the case and you have a picture, depending on where you get your photopolymer plates made, I would say laser generated photopolymer. I can get small detail out of photos with photopolymer.

Image or line art?
What kind of press do you have?
Is this a job that will happen over and over?

Image or line art?
What kind of press do you have?
Is this a job that will happen over and over?

Thanks friends, I print with a windmill 10x15
Image
And indeed the work will be repeated

the cost difference between mag and copper dies is not that great anymore. i would highly recommend going with the copper dies. they are way more durable in regard to general wear and tear, and, a mis-register. if the edge of the sheet, of coaster stock were to hit across a mag die, it very likely is toast. copper will live thru that. i only use mag for hot kiss-cutting now. copper or brass for ev thing for me.

Yeah use copper

Ericm - what is hot kiss-cutting?

thermal kiss cutting of, static cling, for instance. the dies are produced as any photo die would be, except they come with a very sharp edge. A teflon coating can be added for better non-stick feature, heat and some pressure will kiss cut static cling. because of the photo process, rather than steel knife ass’y, very intricate designs can be done.

Thank you. I thought I had heard of everything and along comes another use for letterpress

ericm , do you have a pic of kiss cutting ?

Ericm - Can thermal cut any paper products like paper label stock and what else have you used it for. The reason I ask is we now use bore drilled dies ( no more bunter posts thankfully ) and can pull one die and drop another in the same place with great success. With a foiled label I would be able to switch over from foiling to kiss cutting in 2-3 minutes with no real change over. I am assuming You use the same setup as foil and don’t strike against a steel jacket.

Nipi - Listen to Ericm his info has helped me in the past and I trust his answers.

Copper is the best by far, as Eric has explained. I use Metal Magic and Owosso Graphic Arts. 16 gauge on a cherrywood mount works well. The mounting material is critical. Don’t let them use plywood, because it compresses too much. best wishes, Bruce

sorry, didn’t realize this post was still alive.
Thrmal kiss cutting really only works with plastic, synthetic based stock. Magnesium kiss cut dies are not well suited to cut paper based materials. they just won’t hold up. Steel rule dies for paper. if the image is very intricate, we now have laser cutting out there. A single die can be made for smaller, detailed images, but they are expensive.
Let me look for a hot kiss cut project.