Thread: Source of granite surface plate, squares etc

Hi all,
I am looking to get a large granite surface plate in the near future. I want to be able to fit the shapers ram on it diagonal which means i need about 1400mm diagonal. So a 1000x1000 or 1200x900 etc is needed. I would also like to get a precision square, be it cast or granite. The problem with a cast one is scraping it square with no access to a master.
There is a 1000x1000x150 A grade plate in Sydney at a machinery dealer for $1100, but i'm guessing being a dealer this would be an inflated price?
I was wondering if anyone had bought one or more in direct from China, many of the manufacturers state they will sell in volumes of 1.
There is a mob in the US that sell squares on ebay, a 10"x6"x1" would be $200 or so delivered. GRAITE SQUARE 10X6X1 | eBay
I know the odd surface plate comes up on grays, but never close.....

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hope you all have a Happy New Year

I know that Phil (Machtool) has a plate about that size for sale, with a stand. It is in current grade A calibration too, as assured by the cal tag.

Greg

Thanks Greg,
Phil has indeed got a few spare plates ATM, the biggest problem for me is transport. At 450 odd kg a 1000x1000x150 is not light and therefore not so cheap to transport!

I disagree Ewan. If you have found a big plate in good nick for a reasonable price you have already solved your biggest problem.
Your second biggest problem can be solved with a 6x4 trailer and a day trip.
How you handle it after that is challenge #3.

PS: Can/Mel is a bit further than I thought. Maybe a 2 day trip.

I agree, since Phil's are the only 1M sq plates I have ever seen, and they are in great shape. So 390 odd kg for the stone and 60? For the stand. You could have the stone set on a pallet with a lifting sling under it then borrow or hire an engine crane to lift it onto the stand.

Not to gild the lily too much here, but if I didn't have so much sweat equity in my current stand and stone I'd trade up for one of Phil's

Greg Q

Ewan.

Given a standard pallet is 1200 square, a 1000mm square plate will fit nicely, with enough room to wrap it it styrene and ply wood. With enough timber on top, the stand could be strapped to it. So you only need one pallet space on a truck.

Lots of general freight gets charged by the pallet space.

Come the new year, I'd call a mob called Abletts transport, their depot is in Queanbeyan. Melbourne branch is in Sunshine. I can take it there to keep the cost down.

Let them know your just a private citizen and this is like an Ebay deal. And its a non priority load, just an any time they have a spare space back loading to home. If you can do it in cash, you might get a good rate. I'd expect around $200.

G.Q used a similar tactic to drag his new surface grinder back from Wagga Wagga for $250.

Regards Phil.

I just had another thought. Albury is 3 hours each way for both of us. Easy run in my van. If you could rustle up a ute or a trailer. I have customers in Albury with forklifts. It wouldn't be a problem to transfer it, say on a Saturday morning.

That would almost be quicker for me, than to pack it up and make it transport safe.

Phil.

Thank you Phil that is a very generous offer, and thank you to handlebar Phil for his offer too. Owning a van as well the vehicle is not the problem, but if i was to do as Bryan said it would be a VERY long day (Edit: or as your edit says Bryan 2 days, missed that one) and cost me $150 or so in diesel. My phone says its about 670km each way.
Greg, the weight was without stand, black granite is about 3ton per m3, so 450kg is what i worked out.

As for the squares, would there be interest in bringing a buy in from china? I have emailed a few manufacturers to get an idea of pricing, sizes range from 160x100x25 right up to 1000x630x100. For one or two it probably would be fine to ship door to door (a 400x250x50 is only 8kg) but if there is enough interest i would consider a pallet.

PM me if you are interested and if there is enough interest i will get some more info. (And yes mods, i'll make sure i follow the GB rules)

Apologies for thread jacking, but I am on the hunt for one that is 50cm max. Any sources for smaller granite surface plates?

http://www.mcjing.com.au/categorybro...ategoryid=1098

Originally Posted by Bryan

McJING Tools Online

Hi Bryan,

I looked at these plates a while back. The are quite well priced but I was put off by their rated surface error (Grade 0) of 0.007mm. I was under the impression that a grade 00 or 0.0025/0.0001" was really required if to be used for hand scraping ways of machine tools?

Cheers,

Simon

Grade 00 is lab grade, Grade 0 is inspection, Grade 1 is workshop...

US specs are AA, A, B respectively.... I scraped my 18" camel back on my small Chinese grade b plate that now resides in Stuart's shed after a bought a bigger one that is grade 00....

Upon putting the 18" camel back on the bigger supposedly flatter plate the camel back was still flat...

I can say you will have bigger issues with heat changing the work then the difference between using a grade 00 and grade 1.

There is a hell of a lot of discussion on surface plates on the Home Shop machinist forum that attracts the odd expert on the matter if you really want to get confused and waste some time... (those in the know, know what I mean)

Thanks RC.

It sounds like a grade 0 would be fine for me then. It's nice to have precision tools but one needs to be realistic with such purchases as well.

Simon

Originally Posted by Bryan

McJING Tools Online

Thanks Bryan. Just what I needed. I am all ears if there are any other suppliers.

Originally Posted by variant22

I am all ears if there are any other suppliers.

Much smaller than you asked about at 300 x 230. But you cant beat the price.
Granite Surface Plate : CARBA-TEC
At $62 dollars, I'm thinking about getting one as a cheese board.

Hare & Forbes do a 600mm square at $700

Granite Surface Plates | machineryhouse.com.au

Regards Phil