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Thread: surface plate Brisbane
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28th Apr 2010, 09:54 AM #1.
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surface plate Brisbane
gday.
I'm looking to borrow some time on a surface plate, a biggish one, around 600mm long if possible. I want to scrape a #7 plane flat and my plate's not big enough.
Alternatively does someone know where I could get three cast iron blanks to generate my own standards? Perhaps you know of a dead jointer or a machinery graveyard where I could obtain a cast iron plate to flatten?
cheers
Michael
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28th Apr 2010, 07:22 PM #2Senior Member
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- Queensland
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far out you would have your work cut out for you lol you must be keen if you want to scrape 3 huge plates lol
can you find some scrap glass? i think that long it would flex a lot oh it was mentioned over on HMEM that someone went to a cabinet makers shop and got an off cut of granite from in the sinks and stuff that maybe a better optionhappy turning
Patrick
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28th Apr 2010, 07:57 PM #3.
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- Brisbane
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Yeah maybe I am crazy, but they only need to be 600mm long by about 100mm wide.
I already use 12mm float glass for a stand in surface plate. It is not flat enough for anything over about 250mm long. Lol the granite bench tops, don't know why people think that it's flat. The offcut I have has variations in the many many thousandths of an inch, far worse than the float glass.
cheers
Michael
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29th Apr 2010, 07:36 PM #4Senior Member
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really? that makes sense i mean why would it need to be ground to such a high tolerance
have you looked in Carba Tec? they sell a surface plate really cheap maybe a bit small but i think if you can cover 60-80% of the work to be scraped then you can over lap them and still make it very flathappy turning
Patrick
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29th Apr 2010, 07:45 PM #5.
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Thanks Patrick, you're right I was hoping for one a bit bigger, probably the big McJing one. Just a bit short on money and space to get it atm.
The polished side of the granite is far worse than the other, don't know if it's good enough because the texture is just wrong for a transfer plate I think..
Cheers
Michael
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30th Apr 2010, 09:08 AM #6Most Valued Member
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I hope this isn't a dumb question, but I'm not a precision woodworker so please bear with me.
Does the plane need that level of accuracy? or do you want to scrape it to learn how to scrape.
Just curious
regards
bollie7
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30th Apr 2010, 11:20 AM #7.
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Hi Bollie, I wanted to learn to scrape for one. A plane may need to be that flat over particular regions, toe, heel and front of mouth. If you think of a plane as just a blade holder, and the sole keeps it registered correctly on the wood, and if I tell you at times in the last steps of using the plane to smooth some wood that you might be taking sub 0.001" shavings, if the sole runs out by even half that much you'll get results that make you want to sit down and have a cup of tea. Also, if the area in front of the blade is higher than the heel and toe you get reduced performance due to tearout.
Cheers
Michael
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30th Apr 2010, 07:26 PM #8Most Valued Member
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Well, there you go. I didn't realise you could get those levels of accuracy with wood. Learn something new everyday.
bollie7
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30th Apr 2010, 10:14 PM #9Senior Member
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sounds like a good project my grandfather collects tools and gave this guy a call from the paper who said he had some precision levels and what sounded to me like a surface plate but he wanted about $250 for each thing and he hasn't called back i sure would have liked to have seen them
happy turning
Patrick
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2nd May 2010, 03:00 PM #10
Mic...I did a #7 quite a while back.....it was fresh stock and .... bluntly it was like a banana.
Ih you want to scrape it....go a head, knock yourself out.
I did mine on the top of my saw bench with looong strips of sand paper.
I tell you it built up my sholders....there is a lot of material to get flat in a #7.....I decided that once it was mostly flat.. that was good enough.
now where the scraping realy come in is where the frog meets the sole....never seen a plane that didn't need some work there...I used a standard file with the end ground as a scraper.
.....there is no point going super accurate at the sole will move a bit with age (particularly if it is a young casting) and it will flex a little with the tension of the frog & blade....Not that I've ever seen much flex in this area.
If you end up deciding to lap it with abrasive......don't be timid with the grit and get your self a good long "flat thing" to work on.....with a #7 anything shorter than 1200mm is too short.
I'm not sure how flat the bed is on a Sawstop machine
cheersAny thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
Most powertools have sharp teeth.
People are made of meat.
Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.
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2nd May 2010, 04:34 PM #11.
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- Brisbane
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2nd May 2010, 05:01 PM #12
After I got it close I went up a few grits.......when I was finished it may not have been completly flat like my smaller planes but it was smooth and workable.
But first time you run it on some hardwood you'll get scratces in the sole anyway....then you do some nice clean pine or meranti and the polish out again.
with my first few and the smaller planes I was pretty fusy... (my fathers #3c sweet haart I got keen with)....when you start on 6's & 7's..particulary ones that arent flat to start with....the novelty soon wears off.
cheersAny thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
Most powertools have sharp teeth.
People are made of meat.
Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.
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2nd May 2010, 05:18 PM #13.
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- Aug 2004
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- Brisbane
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- 184
You're wasting your breath mate. Lapped plenty of planes, always substandard results. I only scrape now. Easier, cleaner, faster. Plently of literature out there to tell you you'll almost always end up with a convex sole if you lap. Not up to me to convince you otherwise.
#4 restoration - Woodwork Forums
http://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/m...planes-116963/
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2nd May 2010, 11:58 PM #14Senior Member
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- Newcastle NSW
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My two bobs worth.
I probably know less about woodworking than I do about metalworking (which is not much) but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the base of a plane should be concave. Could this be to allow for wear?
Russell
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3rd May 2010, 10:15 AM #15Senior Member
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- Queensland
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sounds like a good point i suppose none of the cast iron plane soles are hardened how much do they wear? has anyone measured it? i would think if it is convex of about 0.05 then that would be fine or does having it dead flat work the best
happy turning
Patrick
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