Question : newbie and practice plates?

Belprime · Oct 5, 2014

As a total newbie, I am asking for advice. I'm starting with h/c. So my question is what metal is the best to start with? Is it Copper, Brass or some kind of steel? And where would be the best place to get it? Thanks for your time...

monk · Oct 5, 2014

many will tell you to purchase practice plates from the suppliers. good to do, as the plates are finished so as to permit engraving on right away.less expensive[[[[ go to your local scrapyard. there's lots of good practice mtl there--mild steel, brass, copper-- whatever. mild steel is easier to cut than a newbie might think, large fender washers will give practice not only on steel, but in confining ones' design work to a limited area. smaller pieces of practice plate can be glued to a wood block using hotmelt glue sticks. releases with common isopropyl alcohol. clamp the wood in your vise, and you're good to go. thanks for joining, and read a lot in the forum and tips section. post a foto or two as you begin to work.

Sam · Oct 5, 2014

Mild steel is great with hammer & chisel. 2" steel practice plates from GRS are a convenient size and good thickness. As monk said, gluing it down to something will minimize vibration and give you something solid and sturdy to clamp in the vise, like a block of wood, etc. One of the biggest enemies of hammer & chisel and pneumatic handpiece engravers is vibration. It's also something we all learn to deal with, but try our best to keep it at a minimum. A thin plate held by vise pins is going to vibrate a small amount in certain areas, especially where there's airspace under it. Thicker plates are better and/or gluing them down to something really solid and clamping that in the vise will be of great benefit.

If you haven't already, check out my demonstration video on hammer & chisel engraving in the Tips Archive. In the video I have a 2" steel practice plate glued to a 1/2" steel block. Nice and solid with zero vibration.

Brant · Oct 6, 2014

I just bought 30 plates from Metal Supermarket last week, 1018 mild steel 1/8" thickX2"x2" $20.64.

Brant

Brian Marshall · Oct 6, 2014

30 of 'em will make a layer about a quarter inch thick in the bottom of that 5 gallon bucket...

Good start.

Brian

Ron Spokovich · Oct 6, 2014

If you're going to scrounge around for steel, and get to the point you use up your purchased supply, Monk's suggestion of the local scrapyard is an excellent one. If you get some steel, and cut it up into segments, get some shoe boxes and label them with what you think they were before cutting, as you won't know when they're cut. For example, SAE 1010 is fairly soft, and LedLoy, which you may not find as scrap, is softer yet. Bed rails, the angles, are tough and may be heat treated. Construction I-beams are generally A34 and aren't heat treated. You can't tell plate steel by looking at it. Most of the steels in the scrapyard shouldn't give you any trouble. There's so much scrap around my area, my supply will never dry up in sizes I need. In some areas, you just can't find anything and have to buy some. People throw away all sorts of thing along the country roads, but generally you don't find anything in urban areas unless you get lucky. There's a lot out there.

Marrinan · Oct 6, 2014

Look around for a local metal fabrication shop and get there "Drops". They used to give them away to me but scrap is $.11 per pound now so I just buy by the pound now and they can always tell what it is. sometimes I even find brass and copper from some job they did. Some "drops" are pretty large and the charge me for one of their guys to cut it like I want by the hour. Fred

monk · Oct 6, 2014

rpn is correct== i've fabricated many tables, benches, & carts from old bed frame stock. avoid angle iron, i beam, and such. just too heavy to be practical. bed frame will not engrave at all, unless you anneal it first. i meant for you to seek out smaller, thin sheet like 1/8-1/16" in thickness. small sizes can be had by the hundreds from cnc, laser, and waterjet profiling. much of the stuff has a good enough finish to layout and engrave without any fussing about. the plates from grs will eliminate guesswork, and is ready to go when it comes to your shop.
using the odd shaped profiled stuff will give great practice at designing to fill odd shapes. yours to choose, either way will work.

dlilazteca · Oct 6, 2014

Just buy from Tira, can't go wrong about 5 dollar shipping, well priced, I bought some two and a half years ago and I can't finish them yet

Saludos,

Carlos

Thierry Duguet · Oct 6, 2014

Having ready to use practice plate is certainly a good idea, having practice plate you need to polish is an other one. You will have to do hand polishing (the only way to go if you want a good surface to work on) you might as well learn to do it. An other thing do not try to design anything, cut straight lines (left to right and right to left) and circles (CW and CCW) after you learn to sharpen your tool and to control it you can try to do something a little more complicate.

Belprime · Oct 6, 2014

I want to thank everyone for all the great advice!!! I now know that I've got lots of options for practice plates. Just got to go on a search... and then it's sharpening and hammer time.

Marrinan · Oct 7, 2014

Your local metal wholesaler can provide you with any thickness, width but the length should probably 20 feet. Mine wont even cut it in half for trans port. Have to take a saw and square.to fit in the truck conveniently. Fred

Question : newbie and practice plates?

Belprime

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