# Custom Mounting, Backing & Gland Plates

https://kdisplay.com/products/brackets-plates/mounting-backing-plates

K-Display in Chicago cuts mounting, backing, gland, and cable entry plates from sheet metal to your hole pattern and mating drawings. Plates ship loose, with hardware installed, kitted with an enclosure or bracket set, or powder coated with bare faces masked.

## Overview
We cut mounting plates that carry components at a hole pattern, backing plates that sit behind a thin panel at a fastener location, and gland plates that bolt over an enclosure opening, from aluminum, carbon steel, stainless steel, galvanized steel, or galvannealed steel, and weld joined features in carbon steel, stainless steel, or aluminum. Plates ship loose, with hardware installed, kitted with an enclosure or bracket set, or powder coated with the mounting face masked bare. Brackets with bent flanges that hold a component off a frame are Mounting Brackets.

## Process
- Cut the pattern: We laser cut or punch the plate, its holes, and its cutouts, and form any return edge.
- Weld and install hardware: We weld any joined features, then install the nuts and studs from the face the hardware needs.
- Mask and coat: We mask the faces and threads that stay bare, powder coat, unmask, and ship the plate loose, with hardware installed, or kitted with an enclosure or bracket set.

## Typical parts
- Mounting plates: Flat plates, or plates with a stiffening return edge, cut to the hole pattern, slots, and cutouts the components need.
- Backing plates: Plates that sit behind a thin panel, cut to its fastener positions, with captive hardware where the fastener needs thread engagement.
- Gland and cable entry plates: Bolt-on plates that close an enclosure opening: round holes for glands and conduit, rectangular or D-shaped cutouts for connectors and entry frames, and a bare pad for a bonding lug.
- Adapter and cover plates: Plates that convert one hole pattern to another, and blank-off or access plates.

## Design considerations
- Hole pattern and hardware: The mating component's mounting drawing sets the pattern, and a pattern that differs from that drawing leaves the component unable to seat. Self-clinching hardware needs the right sheet hardness, thickness, and edge distance to lock in, and a nut set outside them can turn or pull out.
- Cutouts and entries: Gland, conduit, and connector holes are sized to the accessory that goes in them, and plate thickness sets how much thread the accessory engages.
- Datum face and flatness: The face that mounts or seals is the datum, and a thin plate can move when it is cut, formed, or welded. A plate that bows leaves a gap at a gasket land or a bonding pad.
- Hole sizes after coating: Powder coat adds film inside every hole and over every unmasked face, which cuts thread engagement and can spoil a press fit. A mounting face or gasket land that takes coat no longer seats flat.

## Related pages
- [Laser Cutting](https://kdisplay.com/capabilities/cutting-forming/laser-cutting)
- [CNC Punching](https://kdisplay.com/capabilities/cutting-forming/cnc-punching)
- [Hardware Installation](https://kdisplay.com/capabilities/finishing/hardware-installation)
- [Powder Coating](https://kdisplay.com/capabilities/finishing/powder-coating)
- [Electrical Enclosures](https://kdisplay.com/products/electrical-enclosures)