Plaque plates question

[David Arana]

Hi all, I need somebody with experience with these to give me an opinion.
Im about to make an order with JDS for some plaques and I was wondering what would you recommend for me to be able to replicate this.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s39/Bardman2007/plaquequestion.jpg

My problem is, what metal is this? Is this some kind of layered metal? Or
do I take black and gold metal, use my metal shear to cut the squares and just tape the black to the gold? :confused:

thanks for any help!

[Mike Null]

The gold metal behind the black is JDS #ALUM320; (if the gold is brushed then it's #321)the black metal is BST601 brass plated steel.

You'll need H120 tape (that's their best 1/2"). I'd stick with that size until you determine you need wider tape. This is really strong stuff.

The gold/aluminum backer plates on your examples have been made 1/2" wider and taller than the black plate.

If you were doing a full plate the norms are a 1" margin of wood all the way around. (neither of your examples is real wood by the way)

[David Arana]

Thanks for the help!

[Tim Bateson]

Wow, there is a man that has obviously done a few of these awards. :p

I like to use the IPI plastic - self stick brushed gold. I don't have the metal cutting tools and so far no complaints from the customers.

[Stephen Beckham]

David,

Concur with Mike's numbers - what I now offer to my customers is to burn the edge (1/32" up to 1/8") all the way around. Gives the same look without the stacked effect. It saves them the cost of two pieces of metal.

It saves you the hassle of aligning and taping two items to one plaque. Take a sample plaque and make three plates up, two like Mike's (gold and brushed gold) and a third with just the black metal with the burnt edge. Price them accordingly, but when the customer askes what's the difference, there's no explaining, simply point.

Two other notes, I've gotten away from the Black coated Steel - steel dulls my metal cutter faster than the Black coated Aluminum. Cost difference pennies for metal, $$$ for sharpening.

Watch your edges on your black, some times the sheer pressure will cause the black to release from the coated metal. Hence it's always good to sear the edges anyway on some of the coated metals. If you can run your finger against the edge and see the paint lifting, you've got a cutter problem or poor finish on the metal.

[David Arana]

Thanks for the info. Thats a good idea with burning the edges. That would work perfectly.

[Garrett Nors]

Just realize that your engraver will have to sweep the entire plaque since the border is there. This may increase the time that your plaque takes to burn by 2x or even 3x. We use gold aluminum as our backing most of the time. It just saves time, plus the customers usually like the stacked, more textural effect.

[Mike Null]

I concur with Garrett. Time consumed is just too much.

[Dan Hintz]

Or you could only do the top/bottom, flip 90 degrees, then burn top/bottom (sides) again.

[Garrett Nors]

Or you could only do the top/bottom, flip 90 degrees, then burn top/bottom (sides) again.

You can, but I've experienced banding or bad transitions. Depends on the substrate, I guess.

[Stephen Beckham]

Good point - my fix for that was to do single black part at the top of my plates. I can control and have exact size band doing one side at a time. Yea - I have to make four 3 second burns to get all four edges, but it does pretty good.

One other note - I stepped my power down by 5% and run the plate twice - it makes a much cleaner brass look rather than just depending on shining the brass after a single etching. It allows for 100% of the black to be burned off without any haze. Less work with the shining process afterwards.

Yea - I know extra burn time. But if you guys are going to quibble with me over an extra 3 minutes versus a better look - you'll win the argument because I won't even get into it. A better looking product versus my laser time never comes up for discussion. Remember $$ per laser minutes is a guide to go by. You can't sell products by explaining to a customer what the guides says, but if you have superior looking product and you have returning customers because how good it looks Vs. loosing a few laser minutes.... I'll take that sell anytime. And I'm not saying give it away or sell yourself short, but in these times, when your competitor is counting minutes and charging dollars. You can run your business better by counting the customers not the minutes - the dollars will follow the customers not the minutes.

[Hilton Lister]

To Mike,
I note you advise 1'' margin around the metal on a full size plaque. Does this include the routed edge material or just the top face?

[Mike Null]

Hilton

On a 9 x 12 plaque you would use a 7 x 10 plate. I usually make the backer 7 x 10 then the engraved black or colored piece 6.5 x 9.5. Just personal preference.

If I'm doing a laser sublimated plate I may incorporate the border in the drawing and use just the brushed or bright gold plate without a backer.

A benefit to using the one inch margin besides appearance is being able to accurately eyeball the placement on the wood without use of a template.