The invention relates to a method for producing plate arrangements and to a use of the plate arrangements for cooling gaseous blow-off in electric installation devices. A method is proposed for producing a plate stack 2, which is formed in a cuboidal shape, with a stack length 4 and a stack width 5. The plate stack 2 is made of shaped rectangular sheets which are produced by means of a shaping process and which consist of sheet-metal strips 30 of a uniform thickness 16. First shaped sheets with a uniform length 6 which corresponds to the stack length 4 and second shaped sheets with a width 8, 8' which corresponds maximally to the stack width 5 are used. The shaped sheets are stacked one on top of the other after being shaped such that multiple continuous cavities, henceforth referred to as slots 17, are formed in the longitudinal direction 4 of the stack 2 parallel to the uniform length 6, and the shaped sheets are connected to one another in a captive manner so as to form a self-supporting structure of a plate stack 2. The invention further relates to the use of the plate stack, which can be used in cooling devices for cooling gaseous blow-off from electric switching devices, in particular low-voltage switching devices.