We are looking getting into embossing We are wondering if the bunter post are strong enough to hold a small die in place or we need to also use a heat tape. We plan to one one each of the 4 sides.

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if you can cut or grind the sides of your die about 10-15 degrees, the posts alone should be okay. if you need to keep the sides of the die at 90 degrees, i would use the tape also. with the sides ground to a bevel, the posts will tend push the die onto the hot plate quite securely, without the beveled sides, the posts will likely lift the die off the plate a bit, allowing room to move under pressure.

Dies can be ordered chamfered, I use 3 Companies, one for flat Magnesium, one for cnc Brass and one for sculpted Dies, they all know what this is, this creates the Lip for the Bunting Post. No need to try and do this at home.
If your Die maker doesn’t know what this is, change the Vendor.

yes, i suppose a 4th company for flat copper then, and a 5th for die-cutting dies.
if you are new to this, i would stick with just a one or two vendors. “Universal engraving” is quite capable to fill your all your needs as is “Graven Images”. there is “Owasso” for magnesium, but, the mag dies are really not the value they used to be. the metal is soft and damages easily.
there used to be a significant price difference, but now, not so much. copper is much more readily recyclable, and any copper shavings, dust, or trimmings are not going to burn like magnesium can. the mag dies will also corrode quicker than copper or brass.

First of all, thank you for the responses. A part of our reasoning for using the posts was to help with the time requires for alignment. Is it wrong in believing that if we do not use tape that we will be able to make fine tune adjustments by turning the shafts and sliding the die into position Will the tape allow the die to be slightly moved or is it so strong the die wont budge at all.

A few points
Tape is supposed to keep die in place but often does not
mechanical mounting does allow for adjustment to register
does your heater lock up in a chase if so you can move the heater to get register
However once you have a counter in place on the platen any register must be done with front lays and side guide
Do you really need heat? Most embossing does not require it, you can get a poly counter and mag die from your supplier and do it cold.

3M makes a heat set Tape (444) which properly applied will hold your Die no matter what.
A clarification: A Bunter Post requires a vertical side wall on the die to dig into, it is common to use a centerpunch to give the Bunter a starting point. The Bunter can be mounted with Screw and nut, running in slots or screwed into a drilled and tapped base.
if you use a Honeycomb base and mount with Honeycomb hooks, THAN you need a chamfered edge.

In the Industry, we have large Presses for Foiling and the Dies are drilled and screwed to a tapped base.

Whichever you use, careful planning is Tantamount to make sure you land with your Die exactly where you’re supposed to.

Just a thought and a blast from the past, perhaps nobody knows or remembers and maybe completely irrelevant anyway!!!! in which case apologies.

Is it worth suggesting a re-examination of the system that Employed *Honey-comb* mounting base with Register hooks for POWERFUL lock up with variable and precision positioning.???

Until the demise of letterpress,!! the above was the Norm, on Big American Meihles, Tirfing,s & Johannisbergs.

typenut - thanks for the good info

Mike Conway- thank you for the info. I never knew I could emboss cold, thought it always took heat. When do you need to use heat. Is there such a thing as a wood mounted embossing die or would it be to unstable.

Heat if you want the product to hold the image longer and sometimes sharper very often the client’s budget decides hot or cold.
Yes to wood I always drill and countersink my dies so they can be mounted on my tapped heater.655 brass or base(5/8 alum)
For wood I use .625 die board and screw the die to it, they comes in handy when die cutting and embossing at the same time as the board holding the embossing die can be floated inside the steel rule die. In this case heat is not an option.

Good evening Mike. Thank you for the info. It adds some extra ideas to our possibilities an added concept design ideas.

you can emboss cold. the difference between hot and cold is like salt and pepper. whatever the customer likes. Hot will give a better, crisper image and take less impression strength, it may on certain stock, cause wrinkles at sharp corners.
most die makers however, will “heat compensate” the size of the die.(both embossing and foil), this will not affect a small die much, but if registering to a tight fit, it may make a difference.
a slight chamfer is desierable for the bunter posts. as i said above, the angle will drive the drive die and hold it to the plate better. 10-15 degrees is not a lot, (or 80-75 depending on how you see it) i would however, order your dies big enough to get 2 sets of posts on opposing sides, either vertical or horizontal.

Good Morning Mike,
Thanks again for taking the time to assist us in our quest. You have given some tips we had no idea about.

When printing trade shows still came through here, the Brantjen & Kluge booth always had folders of textured stock showing large hand-tooled dies embossed at high heat. It not only smoothed out all the texture of the stock but the embossed image had a brown color from the scorching.

Along his line do we need to lock up with metal furniture or will the wood furniture be OK at temps of 140- 200