Meanwhile some stencil printers have been sold worldwide (the US is ahead), we looked for ways to simplify production (and lower prices).
A big step forward was the change to a laser-cut stainless steel base plate.
Fortunately a company around the corner has a huge Trump laser cutter. It amazing, the size of this machine is like a small house, but the laser head moves from one end of the machine to the other in less than a second.
The guy of the company told me it only takes about one minute to cut a complete base plate. One hour of the machine may be quite expensive, but under the line the costs for machining are lower and the costs of anodizing are eliminated.
Thus, this was a way to reduce the price for the stencil printer significantly.
But there is one minor disadvantage:
It's difficult to remove traces of fingerprints from the stainless steel surface. The (new) brushed surface looks a little bit better, but is difficult to clean too. On an anodized aluminum surface you cannot see anything. It always looks clean.
The picture shows the evolution of the base plate.
At the top left there is the original anodized aluminum plate.
Upper right, the new stainless steel plate with end to end slots to reduce the need to move the board holder from one slot to another like shown in the video (
https://www.youtube.com/embed/w_UzNvtd_6I at 0:46).
Bottom left, the new brushed base plate with protective film.
Bottom right, the new brushed (and carefully cleaned) base plate without protective film.