Owosso 16ga Magnesium Plate on Wood ? Anyone Use?
I am just getting ito letterpress and have a Damon Peets standing letterpress. The dimensions inside the chase are 6”x10”.
I am considering ordering a wood mounted 16ga magnesium plate from Owosso Graphics. The price seems pretty good and it comes type high from Owosso on the wood base.
I was hoping someone with experience with the mag plates might be able to lend a little advice…
I am also considering going to a local letterpress shop nearby and possibly purchasing a old one they no longer need to practice with… The gentleman there is a good guy and might help me along a little bit..!
Thanks,
Mike
just cause your chase is 6x10, don’t think you can print a plate that size, best to start with smaller ones and work your way up. the larger area you try to print the more pressure it will take. I buy mag dies from Owosso, because i do foil stamping i get 1/4” dies and have them shipped unmounted, they mount on my hot plate, if i have to print them with ink i mount them on my furniture.
When I started I used Owosso also for these mounted plates. The quality of their dies is excellent, never had any issues with them, but the mounting I have. Sometimes they will warp because of the wood base and this makes inking miserable. However, they are excellent at customer service and would next-day air me a new die for free. I’ve gone to the polymer side after a few deadlines were missed while waiting for a new plate. I’d recommend trying their mounted dies and see how you like it, great people to work with but just not what I need right now.
I think if you are printing text or line art and not going for heavy impression or long runs, that the 16 gauge on wood will serve you fine. If you intend to run big solids, you might want to find a metal base system (Sterling toggle base or what have you) and get the 11 pt plates, or pay to have the 16 pt plates mounted on magnesium.
Remember that most platens are very unhappy if printing more than a 25 % solid area equivalent (so 3” x 5” in that 6” x 10” chase).
If you go to polymer, you’ll have to be extremely mindful of your rollers, trucks and ink—it is a very persnickety print media. Have fun with metal!
Hi Mike
Yeah, printing with photopolymer is sort of like the princess and the pea fable. It will give you what you ask of it. For better or worse. Thing is, most folks really don’t care. Deep impression is concern numero uno. Increase the packing, or whatever, and away you go, go.
Gerald