Embossing

I want to do more embossing but the grippers tend to rub across the 30/000 counter. I love the counter my vendor makes but when I ruin one it is a problem. I have tried making my own with bondo( dropped it and it broke), poured counter mix (worked good but a mess), prago therm fused to glass board ( worked fine but had height issues, embossing board touched up finished with prago therm( yet to try might work). We did build a jig with a .30 die jacket cut out in the corner and .20 packing ( .50 )height to keep the grippers off the counter and taped to the platen which works great but it’s just a little bat shit crazy. **This is what I have tried**

This is my question- What I am wondering is if I can use 15/000 counter but pack behind the base to raise it to meet the now lower counter. Since I can’t under pack the counter to bring it up in height (do the underside of the gripper rubbing) can I raise the base in effect above type high to meet the now lower counter.

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Sure. The type high thing is mostly critical for ink printing with rollers. as long as you are only shimming the die out .015, you should be fine. You may still have to “ramp” the grippers over the counter for safety, but not as much will be better.

Thanks for the feedback. Using a a .030 rails for a .015 counter rails is easier than .050 rails for a .030 counter. We are also thinking about embossing but not to guides for those jobs not as critical and building a set or rails at the top and bottom of the platen. This last time we had the raised rails area only until it got the gripper got past the counter then let it drop down to the normal height and it seems to work ok. For us this is still a work in progess of what to do. so any feedback is a big help.

Right. I wouldn’t extend the Ramps/Rails any further than needed. or any higher than needed for that matter. the sheet should still drop into the guides then for precision work.
BTW, Those thinner counters are much more fragile. Be careful removing them. As a small note, when i order my counters, I alway order 3 pin holes in them. I have many people put the counter on 180’ off with only 2 holes.

Thank You ericm. Actually I had not thought about using a ramp buildup so thanks for that. I am going to try some polyglass board strips and press pack in between to control the height and then a piece or embossing cover film over the top. My ramp had a cliff drop off, sort of a sudden drop, and reflex for the grippers. A true ramp will put less stress and provide a good contrl. Since I have .04,.07, .12,and .20 press packing I think it will work, will update when I find a good fix.

if you can get a hold of some .010”-.020” shim stock. I cut it into strips, and use it as the top layer of the ramp. It gives a nice smooth transition. You can also use “Banding wire”. It is that flat steel banding is used for pallet loads. it works good. Just use really good tape for these. Brown “Kraft” paper tape, “Fiberglass reinforced” tapes both work well. I cover the lead edge of these tapes with “Scotch” tape, for minimal “Catching” of the lead edge on the gripper.

We always used white.030 embossing board across the top of the platen, and some 2” packing tape to hold it in place. It was usually about 2” wide by whatever length. Worked great. I also used the thin counters.

Good Morning guys, thanks for all the feedback. We used the .030 counter and held it to the platten with duplofelx and it worked great. I like the ramp idea and need to expand on that. We are going to try .015 counter also. We have a die for us that needs a need .030 and I am going to make a .015 as well and do a side be side test.

We ended using the .030 counters and create a true rail. For the rail we use a poly glass board covered with box tape held together with dulofex between the layers We used a .015 - 9 inch long on the bottom with .015 - 8 inch long and a .030 6inch long. We sandwiched the .030 in the middle and it created sort of a hill that started at .015 then another part of .015 (.030total ) then it rises up another.030 (.060 total all 3 pieces) dropped back down to .030 (2 peices) then .015 and then .015 then nothing but bed. We set it up 1/2 inch above where our sheet was feeding and 1/4 in from the end edge of the bed.