Practice Plates

[Sandy]

While at the Reno Show I noticed that on several of the table there were practice plates that were 3/16" to 1/4" thick. Is there any benefit to using a thicker practice plate.

 

[Tim Wells]

That was probably on the Lindsay table, I saw those too. The advantage to the thicker plates is that they don't "drum" like a thinner plate does when it's clamped in the vise without the center underside being supported.

As you engrave a thin plate and there is space underneath that isn't resting on solid vise jaw or some sort of base plate they will tend to vibrate and affect the cut as well as break tips of tools. If you're cutting and it starts sounding hollow it's best to stop and back that section up somehow to avoid problems.

 

[KSnyder]

Hello everyone, for what its worth, Brownell's used to sell practice plates in mild steel that were 1/4" thick.
Kent

 

[pilkguns]

my gosh what kindof engraving are you doing that you could get an 1/8 inch plate to drum? you must be pounding the crap out of that poor plate? No way you could do that with smaller handpieces like Lindsay or Monarch.

Sounds like sharp salesmanship to me

 

[Biorka]

Plates

Lindsay explained that he uses thick plates so that when they are fully practice engraved he puts them on his milling machine and re-surfaces them so that they can be used several times. "a resourceful fellow"!
Barry
Sitka, Alaska

 

[Sam]

Vibration is a power user's and hammer & chisel engraver's worst enemy. If thin plates are vibrating, you can attach them to wooden blocks with 5-minute epoxy or maybe hot glue. I think we've all experienced some vibration in common practice plates, but it's not anything that's critical. Then again, welcome to the real world of engraving. Not everything we cut will be rock solid and bounce-free.