Morris Minor Owners Club

Bit of a setback on the NMP plate front. I took the blanks along to the hydraulic press with the mould set and due to the galvanising (which we didn't ask for) the thickness of the plate is about 0.65 mm as opposed to our test plates which were 0.5mm. The results were simply not good and certainly not good enough to put on my car, or indeed anyone else's.

We are looking at 0.5mm aluminium, which if painted and insulated with adhesive or similar from the steel of the tie plate / bulkhead, should not cause any problems. Early pressings with aluminium have proved very positive in the past, especially as regards definition which has been better than steel and should prolong the life if the mould too..

I am sorry to delay this process but the sheet metal supplier cannot get us mild steel or tin plate in the quantities which will justify laser cutting and the blanks we did get, although disappointing in terms of definition are absolutely spot on for size. It should only be a week or ten days before we have the aluminium plates. Ali is dearer but we will absorb that cost.

Top two plates are today's and the bottom is a previous hand cut test plate. I am sure you will agree the difference is worth waiting for.

What a shame that the company decided to galvanise the steel you supplied, there's certainly no criticism from me over this setback, especially considering time spent. However if the plates are not going to be 0-5 mm steel, please reduce my order to the one plain unstamped plate please. Thanks Jon.

Will do. I have some modellers 0.5 mm tin plate but not enough to do the quantity. I can do a one off hand produced one as an alternative.

Will do

That would be first class, and a kind offer!

Thanks for the update firedrake. A shame the company decided to do a bit extra and galvanise the plates. There's always a setback somewhere along the line !

If there is an additional cost from using aluminium, I don't mind paying a bit extra to cover the cost of the new material as it does look a much better finish than those from the galvanised metal.

Thanks again for all your efforts and hard work with these.

Philip

Les, Firedrake. Today I measured the number heights on my 1970 pickup and can confirm the Z numbers are 3mm and the R/H numbers are 5mm, none of the numbers are reverse stamped. What I have discovered is the thin bulkhead strip and NMP plate numbers were stamped with the same press which explains the large gap between the numbers on the bulkhead strip. So the numbers are exactly the same including any slight defects.
May be useful info for owners of late LCV's.
Regards John.

That is fascinating (Oh God listen to me, I have become an NMP plate geek - Therapy quick!).

I am also looking at 0.4 / 0.5 mm tinplate which the laser cutter said wasn't available, but I have found a firm in S. Wales who may be able to help. I would prefer steel whether tin plated or not, Early trials with modelling tin gave a good letter definition.

Will keep people updated. Thanks for the patience!

JM

no worries my end just tell me when you want some dosh

Firedrake

Might not be any use to you now but I still have a good quantity of 0.4 mm tinplate which I used to make made about 40 plates before my home made press tool started getting a bit worn and loosing some definition. Pm me if interested..

Taupe

Hi Taupe

Its great to see you on here again. Your restoration work on your Traveller makes you my hero.

Don

Taupe, that is most kind, however as an update, some good news this morning, I have sourced the tinplate and the cutters have agreed to produce 250 blanks (anyone need some 4" x 2" galvanised mild steel ???) so we are back in business.... hopefully! We have made several moulds but even through the test pressings have not seen any deterioration (yet).

Watch this space ....

JM