How To Choose Whiteboard Steel For Magnetic Boards

The five decisions that turn a board specification into a coil order.

Start from the finished board, not from the coil

Board width decides coil width. Writing steel is supplied from 600mm to 1500mm wide, so a board face of 1200mm can come from a 1220mm coil with trim, while two 600mm planner boards can share a 1220mm coil. Working backwards from the board avoids paying to slit material you have already bought.

Decide what people will write with

White faces are supplied for markers in high glossy or matt. Green and black faces are supplied for chalk. The coating is matched to the writing tool, so this decision comes before colour matching or gloss.

Decide painted or ceramic

Painted writing steel covers 0.2mm to 0.6mm and suits a standard board programme. Ceramic writing steel covers 0.4mm to 0.6mm and is a vitreous enamel surface that neither scratches nor corrodes, refuses stains and stays colourfast. Ceramic costs more per square metre and returns it over the service life of the board.

Check ghosting the way a school will

Write on a sample with the marker or chalk your customer actually uses, leave it overnight, then erase. Painted and ceramic writing steel from Senko are both specified to erase without ghosting, and a sample is the only way to prove it to your own customer.

Match the coil format to your decoiler

Writing steel is supplied on a 508mm inner diameter with coil weight between 2 and 4 tons. Confirm both against your line before you order, since a mismatch is discovered on the day the container is opened.