Plate polishing

[Andy Stockton]

Thanks Irv. A simple, elegant test. Very helpful.

I have been working away on my silver polishing and am getting closer to being satisfied with what I can produce. My current barrier is what I can only describe as “haze”. Starting with one of Mike Robinson’s clad plates, I end up with a surface that seems a good mirror and free of any visible scratches. However I have a plate right now that is on loan to me that was polished by someone most would consider at the top of the profession. When I compare that one to mine, the “master” plate is clearly far more brilliant than mine. Mine displays a kind of haze. I have been working on various step timings, and also on lightening my pressure at final stages, and have a few other ideas to try, but nothing has worked yet.

Irv, I haven’t forgotten your thoughtful admonishment to stop worrying so much about perfect plates and to get busy on sensitizing and figuring out exposure, but I do want to get a consistent plate to base my next steps on.

I would be curious to hear any thoughts on “haze” from any practitioners.

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And to phuphuphnik – I too like photolytic would love to hear more about your plate manufacturing methods. Plates are a core challenge to all practitioners, I am always interested in hearing about alternatives.

Andy

[Pobboravsky]

Hi Andy,

How was the reference plate prepared? How did your plate preparation differ?

Irv

[Andy Stockton]

Hi Irv-

I don’t have any preparation info for the reference plate. It was produced by Jerry Spagnoli and given by him to Alan Bekhuis who loaned it to me as an exemplar. From the holes in the copper I would say it was electroplated, and the silver layer looks to be substantial. Beyond that I couldn’t say.

My prep at this point is as follows:

1 )Starting with a new Mike Robinson clad plate

2 ) Mount plate on acrylic sheet with double sided tape (There is a separate sheet for each step in the polishing process)

3 ) Spritz plate with 70% ethyly alcohol

4 ) Using ROS – sand for 2 minutes with 15 Micron 3M polishing paper

5 ) Detach and wipe plate front and back with a new cotton ball

6 ) Mount plate on next acrylic sheet

7 ) Dispense 25 cent size blob of 3 micron Aluminum Oxide slurry onto plate

8 ) ROS for 5 minutes (Bare foam polishing pad/”reserved” for each grit size. Pad is vacuumed clean and stored in a zip lock bag after use. It is also vacuumed prior to next use. Fresh paper towel is held over hose end to prevent cross contamination).

9 ) Rinse x2 with distilled H2O wipe with fresh cotton each time

10) repeat 6-9 with 0.3 micron aluminum oxide slurry

11) repeat 6-8 with 0.05 micron aluminum oxide slurry

12) Rinse x3 with distilled H2O wipe with fresh cotton each time

13) “Push” water off plate with blow dryer and blow till dry.

14) Pat Rouge powder onto freshly brushed ultrasuede buffing stick

15) Hold plate with suction tool and polish 100 strokes x4 – once in each direction ending so that direction is same as horizon of image.

16) Using rubber bulb blower clear rouge from front of plate

17) Using dry cotton ball remove rouge from back of plate

18) Repeat 14-17 using lampblack

I end up with a nice scratch-free surface with a “good” mirror look, but it is very slightly hazy and the difference is very noticeable when held next to my reference plate.

I welcome any and all comments. It seems that each practitioner has (different) favorite methods, but anything offered about what you think is right OR wrong about my approach will be gratefully received.

Andy

[photolytic]

Hi Andy,

The rubber bulb technique removes larger buffing residue but leaves some behind.

After step 18 have you tried buffing the plate with new clean buffing material?

Was there any discoloration on the buff?

I use a series of 3 clean buffs, the first two of which become quite dirty after a few plates.

After several plates, I replace the material on the first buff and shift it to last in the queue.

To conserve material, I use only ROB pads.

No need to change acrylic plastic mounting blocks between pads.

[Andy Stockton]

I am away from my “lab” for the next few days, but will give your suggestion a try when I get back. What are ROB pads? I wasn’t sure what the abbreviaton meant. Thanks much for the feedback.

[photolytic]

Random Orbital Buffer

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