Crate Closure Plates or Bolt plates

[christopher]

I have a crating company and we have always purchased crate
closure plates or bolt plates from Masterpak. Does anyone know
who mass produces these so that I can order from them directly
with my companies logo stamp on them. Thanks for any help

[Admin]

Welcome to the forum Chris

I went to their site and looked at the plate but am not too clear on how it works.

I'd say that Hardy Fasteners has the standard for strong fastening plates. They meet various standards and are incorporated in the original PPP-B-601 spec so they're pretty common.

Good luck

[Marcel]

If you could give me some information on the Closure Plates and Bolt Plates I may be able to help...There are numerous types & you would need to be a bit more specific...

[T.Ashley]

The bolt plates sold at Masterpak are of a design that has been an industry standard in the Arts Services and Museum packing profession for twenty years or so.
I would estimate that for multi-venue crates they represent about 90 percent of the US market (totally different story in Europe were many different fasteners often company specific can be found).
In terms of sources many people do purchase from Masterpak. If you want to have your own made (to get them stamped etc) I know that when I worked for a major company back East we just put in an order with specs to have the two pieces manufactured (drilled, tapped, countersunk and plated) at a local machine shop. They are a relatively simple design after all.
At the first museum I worked at I had to make them in our little shop (minus the plating of course)!
In my experience the Hardy system is rarely used for fine art "object" crates. The number one requirement for a crate shell in that application is that it be very rigid.
In terms of related exhibitions materials (cases, mounts, some equipment) though they do offer the advantage of being fast to assemble as well as providing the option of breaking down the crate (if internal packing allows for it).