Thread: Beginner Scraping Equipment

Hi

I'm reading this thread with interest .

I would like to get into scraping but , those Carbatec surface plates seem rather small in size . Are they suitable for a learner ? Or is a larger plate a better option ?

I've seen larger granite plates , but the cost is prohibitive . As with most hobbies, the cost of tools eventually catches up with you . MIKE

Hi Mike,
I think the carbatec granite plates are great for us learners. Cheap enough to be affordable but big enough to get the feel for spotting and scraping

As for stones Phil suggests the orange/black norton stones, not sure what they are actually called.
As for blue I have some canode blue that Phil sent me, and some of what he calls Marko blue. The Marko is Prussian blue powder mixed with a pale grease. The powder can be had from an eBay supplier, (someone who had bought some may provide a link?) And the grease was shell alvania (spelling?) But shell has changed there product names. I think someone posted the new name in the 2nd Melbourne scraping class thread.

I bought mine direct from Andersons in the US

A&W Precision Inc. Manufacturers of Anderson Brothers Hand Scrapers and Static Balancing Ways in Rockford, IL

I'll get around to using them one day

(got all this ubeaut stuff I have never used)

but if i didnt have it I'd only want it...as somelese says on here ...ya cant have too much

Originally Posted by morrisman

Hi

I'm reading this thread with interest .

I would like to get into scraping but , those Carbatec surface plates seem rather small in size . Are they suitable for a learner ? Or is a larger plate a better option ?

I've seen larger granite plates , but the cost is prohibitive . As with most hobbies, the cost of tools eventually catches up with you . MIKE

Hi there,

I have one of the Carbatec plates too. They are small but I saw this as a feature not a fault as it comes in handy having a small plate from time to time and at $65 it's cheap as chips.

If you want a slightly larger plate then theres a 400x400 plate available for about $242 (incl GST) from here:

Granite Surface Plate

Still quite reasonable. Once you get up to 600 - 900mm the price becomes quite depressing

Simon

Here's the prussian blue powder:

Ferric Ferrocyanide Iron Blue Oxide Prussian Cosmetic Grade Pigment Powder 20g | eBay

Simon

Ok thanks re: plate info and the Prussian blue .

I've been watching the U tube video ( at library ) our Gernan friend ( sorry forgot name ) posted . His IPAD device and the software with the high medium low spotting chart and the squeezing effect of the blue dye . It's all gobbldie gook to me right now but I will get the brain around it Mike

Originally Posted by simonl

Here's the prussian blue powder:

Ferric Ferrocyanide Iron Blue Oxide Prussian Cosmetic Grade Pigment Powder 20g | eBay

Simon

Thanks Simon, I have just placed an order for the powder.
Last week I finished scraping 2 cast iron Surface Plates.
It took quite a while.
The blue I was using was the "Power Plus" stuff in a tube. Its a bit pale in colour,& as a result it lengthens the scraping process, because its hard to "read" the high spots.
I hope I can mix this blue to come somewhere near the beaut stuff we used at the last Scraping Course in Melb.earlier this year.
regards
Bruce

Originally Posted by Abratool

Thanks Simon, I have just placed an order for the powder.
Last week I finished scraping 2 cast iron Surface Plates.
It took quite a while.
The blue I was using was the "Power Plus" stuff in a tube. Its a bit pale in colour,& as a result it lengthens the scraping process, because its hard to "read" the high spots.
I hope I can mix this blue to come somewhere near the beaut stuff we used at the last Scraping Course in Melb.earlier this year.
regards
Bruce

No worries Bruce,

I have a batched mixed waiting to be used but it's a bit lean, I think I need to add some more blue to it. I can't remember how much Phil used in his trials. 20g per 100 grams of the Alvania rings a bell but not sure. I'll do a search later.

Cheers,

Simon

Yep memory serves me correct. 20g of powder to 100g of the grease. Also apparently Alvania has a new name according to Cgroves:

Gadus RL2 V100 2.

Cheers,

Simon

It's all gobbldie gook to me right now ...

Haha! Without having actually scraped, that explanation is quite useless. You will remember it, when you see those patterns after having spotted.


Granite plate:
They are never too big, but always too small.
Think about how large your work will be and buy at least one size bigger. I prefer granite over CI. Granite is more porous and retains the blue better. It also doesn't wear as fast as CI does.

Deburring:
Arkansas is only good for very fine work. I use those 10 * 10 * 100 "files", brown colored (the color is an indication for grit, but I don't know what grit it is). Some use files, but I have no clue how that should work.

Blue:
I highly recommend Dykem spotting blue. It's a bit expensive, but still works best. For roughing, I use a cheaper one. I don't suggest mixing your own until you did understand spotting and having tried Dykem.

Scrapers:
You can silver solder carbide blades to a flat (20 * 4, 'bout 400 long). Imho, Sandvik makes really good blades.

Sharpening:
You forgot about that. Diamond wheels are best, but a fine SiC wheel and a diamond file (grit 600 + 1200) does the job in the beginning.

Metrology:
There's never an end to what you need. Camelbacks, straights, small surface plates, DIs, ...Get it when you need it.

Last but not least:
You need an extra dose of patience! Intuition to understand what you see after spotting will slowly develop. You can save a lot of time when you can properly read the blue. But that takes ... GOTO 1
Do not forget, that you can rough-cut. When roughing, you can get off 0.01 mm per pass, when spotting, you go below 1 µm. Thus, if you spot right from the start, it will take more than 10 times longer to finish.


Happy scraping!
Nick

Thanks Nick, and others, this is all exactly the sort of info I need.

looks good Bruce I just wish I had the time to practice scraping but we are doing it Tafe soon so I can hopefully finish off my block then I need an angle plate to finish it at home.

That look like a good size granite plate how big is it ?

Originally Posted by welder

looks good Bruce I just wish I had the time to practice scraping but we are doing it Tafe soon so I can hopefully finish off my block then I need an angle plate to finish it at home.

That look like a good size granite plate how big is it ?

Andre
I will talk Metric because I know you like that measurement & its meaningful to you.
The Granite Plate is 600mm by 400mm wide by 100mm thick. It took 2 of us to carry it into the workshop.
The larger Cast Iron plate is 300mm by 250mm
The smaller Cast Iron plate with our "Students" block sitting on it is 240mm by 170mm. This particular plate I made the wooden pattern for, had it cast & then machined it on a Shaper & then hand scraped. I made it when I was your age.So that was long ago.
The scary part is that only seems like yesterday.
Old blokes like BT Bob & myself are discovering time moves fast
It was only a few minutes ago that I did a bit more scraping on it after refining my grinding & diamond lapping technique on the scraper.
All is going well
regards
Bruce
ps Practice helps.

thanks for that Bruce that granite plate sounds like a perfect size I wish had one that size but dont want to get one till I have a place of my oen to put it
I have two old cast iron plates I would love to scrap or at least spot to see if their flat.