Tips on How to Clean and Straighten Up Bent Die Cutting Counter Plates
Unimaginable forces impact die cutting counter plates. Originally milled and fabricated so that they deliver an absolutely flat surface, the plates now exhibit an unappealing curve. More than unappealing, though, a steel rule die, loaded with expertly profiled cutting edges, can no longer evenly deliver impact force to the blanks passing through the equipment. That's headache number one. For a double head-pounder, the plates aren't just bent, they're also filthy.
Industrial Plate Straightening Services
If the equipment belongs to a hobbyist, the solution is simple. The disappointed die cutting enthusiast heads over to a kitchen sink, and then the hot water tap is turned ON. The hot water works on the hard plate plastic. With a little elbow grease backing up the hobbyist's plate straightening efforts, the enthusiasts-grade plastic die cutting base straightens. Obviously, that's not a viable solution here, not when the heavy-duty die cutting gear uses steel-reinforced counter plates. To straighten those metal hardened, rigid slabs of steel, a fabrication shop can help. Press brakes and plate compression tools straighten warped steel slabs, so they can certainly help roll out a bent die cutting counter plate.
Applying Tempering Heat
Heat treatment furnaces can also help save the day. A hammer won't straighten a rigid piece of alloy-strengthened metal, not in a month of Sundays, unless it's thin and malleable. However, if that were the case, the block wouldn't be of much use in an impact-heavy application. Anyway, thermal energy, held for hours at a time, will make a rigid metal workpiece workable. Softened and de-stressed in this manner, it's easier for a press brake or engineering mallet to eliminate a plate bend. Still, having said all that, replacement plates may still be the best option. The costs to a die cutting company are very real, and they're measured in profit. Weigh the pros and cons carefully, for a replacement plate may be the more logical option. If the equipment is unique, valued by the company, then straightening actions should adhere to the above fabricator-centric recommendations.
Back at the enthusiast die cutter's equipment, a toothbrush and soap work when hot water straightens the plate. Seriously, that's not going to help when we're cleaning industrial-grade counter plates. Handheld planishers and industrial cleaners should help, but it's the fabrication shop that suggests the best way forward. Using sandblasters and fine-media abrasive tools, counter plates can quickly be restored to their former condition, complete with the flattest possible surface, as made possible by a metal-flattening straightener press. Let the hobbyists stick to hot water and toothbrushes, and we'll deal with the steel unbending processes.
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