Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

What do these specs mean? Gauge plate.

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John Hill:
So many of my projects are stalled because I have no way to mount 'accesories' on the lathe cross slide so the plan is to fix an accessory plate on the top of the slide, just a slab of metal with lots of tapped holes ('cause I cant make "T" slots).

Nothing on the junk pile so I will have to buy,  is 'gauge steel' the stuff to use?  The specs dont mean much to me..http://www.easysteel.co.nz/site/story_images/Special%20Steels_Gauge%20Plate9080208162650.pdf

 It will have parallel, flat faces but can I easily drill and tap it?  Can I cut it (saw) if necessary?  Will a file just bounce off it?   (Like I said, the figures mean nothing to me  :scratch:)  Though I assume it will look nice!  ::)

Thanks

Bernd:
John,

From what I read on that link it looks like that matel can be hardened. Meaning it's probably not to soft to begin with. A bright mild steel would work better for what you want. Don't know if they have something on the order of 1018 which is a very soft steel here in the US.

Not much help I know, but I'm sure you don't want to use gauge plate. Sounds costly too!

Regards,
Bernd

bogstandard:
John,

You would do just as well using cold rolled plate.

Gauge plate, although very finely ground, can soon end up like a banana if you don't machine it up correctly. It has a lot of internal stresses in it from the initial manufacturing process. It is also rather tough to cut, Ralph can attest to that when I said he could have a lump of 1" thick gauge plate, but he had to cut it off the large piece I gave him.
It is really designed for making accurate jigs and fixtures that are machined, then hardened, finally being ground to size and shape required. Also it is very expensive compared to normal steels.

I showed you my plate that bolts to the original topslide fitting. That is 1/2" ali plate, and to me is plenty strong enough for the jobs I envision for it.

Bogs

Each post I am doing tonight , Bernd is just in front of me, so I might be repeating some of what he is saying.

Darren:

--- Quote from: bogstandard on April 23, 2009, 06:17:18 PM ---

You would do just as well using cold rolled plate.



--- End quote ---

I think John means don't use cold rolled plate, well I think he does......cos I couldn't even drill a piece I have..... :bang:

John Hill:
Oh dear!  This is so difficult I think I will be going to play with my Lego! :bang:

Yea. Gauge plate would be expensive but I assume I can buy just as much as I need on the other hand I could go down to a couple of 'engineer' shops and someone might give me a slab of 12mm mild but it will have rusty surfaces and likely chopped off on a big shear so not really the size I need and curled like one or Mr Pringles potato chips, so then I would have to seek out someone who could mill/plane/grind it flat.

I was thinking the gauge plate would be one payment and one shop to get something immediately useable.

Bernd, I will see if I can find anyone who knows about 1018, maybe it is known by the same name around here.
[Later: I found it, we call it 'Bright commercial flat']


John, ali is not out of the question, at least I know I can drill and cut it but wont it have to be thicker than steel to get secure bolt fixings?

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