liam.mccaffrey
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| posted on 8/7/14 at 08:56 AM |
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Surface Plates
A old friend of mine once told me that he made himself a granite surface plate using a combination of lapping and scraping 3 pieces of broken granite
worktop. Apparently he was able to bring it to an “astounding level of flatness” (in his own words).
Whilst I don’t have the time or patience to do this I still think its very interesting and would like to know more.
Whilst I understand the principle, does anyone know anything about the process or is able to point me to a guide/book/website.
Cheers
Liam Mc
Build Blog
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hughpinder
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| posted on 8/7/14 at 09:50 AM |
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Have a look at this description, it is pretty simple if you already have a reference surface plate - it is basically what I've done in the past
(I've only done metal ones though).
http://gfish.livejournal.com/187606.html
Or I believe photocopier glass is flat enough to basically be a surface plate for most uses and can be had for next to nothing from a scrap
photocopier.
Regards
Hugh
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pewe
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| posted on 8/7/14 at 09:52 AM |
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Depends on how much you need to do but whenever I've needed to surface small items (bike carbs etc.) I've visited the local glass shop and
bought an off-cut of plate glass.
Combined with valve grinding compound - coarse and fine the results are pretty good.
HTH.
Cheers, Pewe10
PS No news on the Animal - sorry.
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designer
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| posted on 8/7/14 at 10:02 AM |
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Yes, standard plate glass is all that is required.
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liam.mccaffrey
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| posted on 8/7/14 at 02:49 PM |
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Thanks guys, interesting stuff.
Animal has gone @Pewe
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 8/7/14 at 07:32 PM |
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I believe that the point of using 3 plates is that you don't need a separate reference plate. You start with 3 plates, make them as flat as
possible with the resources available (mill, surface grinder, etc.) then use one against another across all of the plates. Plate A is used with blue
against plate B, then A against C, B against C, over and over until you end up with 3 good surface plates.
Found a description! linky - there's a vague description near the bottom of the
page.
I do know that scraping a surface is a skill I don't have - I tried it once, and found it much much harder than it looks when an expert does it
(like many skills!)
[Edited on 8/7/14 by David Jenkins]
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