Die Plates and Press Plates

Bolster Plates

Amongst presses, there are plates which strengthen, aid, reinforce or fortify these machines. Originally defined and applied to "bolstering" or to supporting the top or the lower plate of a press, the term Bolster plate has gained a much broader definition in recent years. Many sub-plates, machine bases, and adapter plates are now recognized as Bolster plates.

Precision Grinding custom flame cuts thick machine plates to engineered specifications from either a medium carbon AISI 1045 or AISI 4140 or from a mild carbon ASTM A36 plate. We anneal the medium grade steels and stress relieve A36 plate in our own on-site gas furnace before Blanchard Grinding them to a normal, precision range of ± 0.005 thickness tolerances. The next step is to set these plates upon one of our bar mills or CNC Machines whereby a 3D-Modeling program outputs, among others, the correct drilling, tapping, reaming, cutting, and chamfering tools and patterns. We routinely cut, grind & machine the largest of bolsters and machine bases.

Die Sets and Metal Molds

In general, a die set is built to punch, cut, shear, form or stretch materials such as metals, ceramics, and plastics to be used in manufactured parts. Whereas, steel molds are used for die-casting and for molding plastic, ceramic and composite materials.

QDC - Quick Die Change Plates

Often times, stamping companies struggle with the downtime it takes to change dies to run a different product or part. In order to minimize downtime, we suggest using a quick change die system for presses that manufacture multiple patterns of parts. A Quick Die Change plate (QDC) can be attached to the bottom of each die set, allowing your maintenance department to change dies much faster than without. By adding locator pins on your bolster and locator notches on your QDC Plates, machinists can position the die set quickly. The QDC plate can be made a standard size, while accommodating die sets of various sizes. Reconfigurations and updates such as these may also allow you to take advantage of automatic clamping.

Stripper Plates and Adaptor Plates

Precision Grinding also manufactures stripper plates. These similarly patterned plates are slightly oversized to the part being cut, stamped or molded, while also being under thickness. As the name suggests, these strip away the parts during the press cycle.

Various adaptor parts are used to adjust the shut height to adjust the stroke of a press. Whether you need precisely paired riser blocks or you need press plates with simple or complex holes or intricately scribed t-slotted lines, count on Precision Grinding to manufacture die shoes, sub-plates, parallels, risers, press side frames, and quick change plates for your operation.

Precision Grinding cuts, stress relieves, grinds, and machines complete specialty steel parts in our steel processing complex.

From flame cutting to Blanchard and Surface Grinding to manual milling and precision CNC machining to special fabrications:

We are your "One-Stop-Shop" for Custom Steel Plate.

Allow us the opportunity to offer a quote on your next steel parts. Please, call us at

1-888-We-Grind (1-888-934-7463)