This article provides a comprehensive guide for depositing high-quality plasmonic films of aluminum, copper, gold, and silver using a thermal evaporator. The authors highlight the importance of optimizing deposition conditions to achieve optimal optical properties and microstructure. Key rules and recipes are presented to help researchers avoid common pitfalls, such as poor vacuum conditions and inappropriate deposition rates. The rules emphasize the need for low base pressures, fast deposition rates for reactive metals, and balanced grain growth for less reactive metals. The article also discusses the impact of substrate temperature and the benefits of fast deposition rates in mitigating dewetting and contamination. Experimental data and figures illustrate the improved optical performance of films deposited under these optimized conditions, demonstrating significant enhancements in quality factors and surface plasmon propagation lengths compared to standard references. The recipes provided offer specific deposition parameters for each metal, ensuring that researchers can easily achieve high-quality plasmonic films without additional experimental effort.This article provides a comprehensive guide for depositing high-quality plasmonic films of aluminum, copper, gold, and silver using a thermal evaporator. The authors highlight the importance of optimizing deposition conditions to achieve optimal optical properties and microstructure. Key rules and recipes are presented to help researchers avoid common pitfalls, such as poor vacuum conditions and inappropriate deposition rates. The rules emphasize the need for low base pressures, fast deposition rates for reactive metals, and balanced grain growth for less reactive metals. The article also discusses the impact of substrate temperature and the benefits of fast deposition rates in mitigating dewetting and contamination. Experimental data and figures illustrate the improved optical performance of films deposited under these optimized conditions, demonstrating significant enhancements in quality factors and surface plasmon propagation lengths compared to standard references. The recipes provided offer specific deposition parameters for each metal, ensuring that researchers can easily achieve high-quality plasmonic films without additional experimental effort.