Finally found one…

[RobinHood]

Been looking for one of these used for 4 - 5 years now. Happen to browse for sale items in/around Calgary on the weekend and there it was: 24x36x5, Grade A, granite surface plate. Contacted seller, had a look this morning, and took it home with me.

Couple of pictures of the haul:

Frame has “Canada” stamped on the HSS tubing

Yes, I like my straps… Two holding the plate to the pallet & two holding the pallet to the trailer.


Back on the stand in its provisional location in the shop.


It appears to be in excellent condition. No dings or scratches. All the edges are like factory new. I’ll clean the surface carefully and start using it.

 

[Tom O]

Nice find! Did you buy a lottery ticket too?

 

[RobinHood]

Thanks Tom. Bought one for last Friday’s draw - won a free play… can’t complain.

 

[Beez12]

Very nice! Was that the Mitutoyo granite plate on kijiji?

 

[YYCHM]

What did that monster set you back?

 

[6.5 Fan]

Nice find.

 

[Everett]

Awesome! I have a small 12x18 workshop grade plate but yours is the real deal! Nice score!

 

[RobinHood]

Yes, the add was on Kijiji. The place selling it is 15 min away from me - was lucky in that respect.

What did that monster set you back?

Less than $3/#.

I have a small 12x18 workshop grade plate but yours is the real deal!

I have one of those from BB as well. I will most likely cut it up on the wet saw for an upcoming project unless I can find / make a suitable (camel back) straight edge.

 

[PeterT]

Sweet! I'll swing by on the weekend with my diamond dust & scrape it in for you HaHa

 

[RobinHood]

I'll swing by on the weekend with my diamond dust & scrape it in for you

I know, more projects; like I don’t have enough on the go…

If you want to stop by to check something on the plate, let me know.

 

[Proxule]

Sweet! I'll swing by on the weekend with my diamond dust & scrape it in for you HaHa

Funny I was taught by the old timers to collect the dust made by dressing the SG wheels. We would use them on a cast iron platon to clean and dress our bench stones.

 

[Tom O]

I belive Abom has a video on using the diamond dust with a cast iron surface plate to true it up.

 

[PeterT]

Go to Rob Renzetti's YouTube channel for a complete tutorial on granite plate resurfacing to mind numbing flatness. Very interesting. Its not for the faint of heart & requires some very specialized measurement tooling and of course skill- hence my crude joke.

 

[RobinHood]

Yup, have seen that video. As usual, Robin takes things to levels beyond what us mere mortals need. He really is in a league of his own.

I am not planning on doing any surface reconditioning on the plate (other than cleaning it properly). For now I am trusting the Mitutoyo quality. I will see if I can get a copy of the original inspection report from Mitutoyo.

A project in the near future is to make a Repeat-O-Meter. I already have the super precise Mahr Supratest indicator. Just need to make the body with a flexure foot and the fine adjust.




This will allow me to check the local flatness of the plate and will help me determine if the plate needs to be reconditioned - I am hoping not.

The flatness standard of a Grade A plate = 2 x [(40 + diagonal squared / 25) x 0.000001]; in my case that comes out to 2.2976 ten thousands of an inch from highest to lowest point anywhere on the surface. That is good enough for me.