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Granite surface plate

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Joules:
Spent some more of my hard earned....  Since I have the mill conversion on the go I thought I would treat myself to a new granite surface plate.   Boy have prices come down at the low end of the market.  I got a 12" x 9" for well under £50 from ROTAGRIP.   Just given it a clean and added 3 cork pads under the stone where marked.  I know it should be sat on points but its sat on my flexable wooden desk.



OK Chinese granite 3" thick, some other outfits are selling 2" thick plates for more...   It's a nice slab of rock and should takes ages to suck  :lol:

My old granite tile can now be used as a lapping plate.  On a side note, since I have been doing a lot of blueing and using the computer, my keyboard started to turn oily blue.   After a quick clean the solution was to wrap cling film over it.  Easy to wipe clean or swap when its all gone Yuck, but clean keyboard underneath with no dross working its way under the keys.  Just got the streaky blue old iPad to sort out now.

DavidA:
I also have been thinking of getting a surface plate. I do have a carefully milled cast iron plate that I use for the purpose, but it obviously isn't near enough flat to be called a surface plate.

I have been looking at some granite plates, but will probably finish up getting a traditional (but new) cast iron plate as I need something a bit bigger than the one you depict.

It's a hard choice these days.

And how do you ensure that the plate (either kind) is actually plane to within a few microns ?

Dave.

Joules:
Dave they do bigger granite surfaces, this was about as heavy as my desk would take.  They have an 18" x 12" that took my fancy.  The thing about the granite is none marking and more importantly, none rusting surface.  I may add the 18" x 12" to the workshop bench at a later date, and replace the pink granite worktop that sits there now.

http://www.rotagriponline.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=201&Itemid=29

Not sure how long they are on offer for.  It comes with a report but I don't really have a way of testing it, 1.3 microns rise in the middle of this plate apparently.

DavidA:
1.3 Micron.  I could live with that.

The idea of a granite plate is very appealing. 12" X 18" would be about right.

I'll have a look at the site.

Thanks,

Dave.

DavidA:
Well, I did it.  For the price it is hard to resist.

And the carriage isn't too bad considering the weight.

And so begins the endless quest for better precision.

Dave. :thumbup:

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