Tool clamping plate

Hi.

Made a tool/clamping plate for my drill press. 300x300x20mm tooling plate.

Main holes are M10 and a 26.3mm centre hole same size as the table underneath. 4 extra plain 7mm holes around the centre.

All the holes are dead straight am very pleased with it .

Dave.

Nice work. I have a few "Slave Plates" made from flash ground mild steel plate that I keep adding tapped holes to when making/holding parts.

Looks good!

Would like to put something like that on my pillar drill.

Is that steel or ally?

What is 'flash ground' mild steel plate and where from?

Peter

The simple things in life are so sweet when they work well and you reach your aim.

Well done Dave, it's a nice piece of kit and you have every right to be proud of your work.

* Danny M *

Hi Peter Spink,

I think u'll find flash ground is the finish after plate has been flame cut at a specialist profileing w/shop....

when I get plate cut to pattern I allways ask them to knock the lumps off on the grinder.....basicaly a 1m'ish grinding wheel horizontally mounted in a machine with a coolant spray, "not quite" but just lower the steel onto the wheel for a light touch.......reasonably accurate, the molton metal blobs are removed as well as the mill scale (blue color on new plate) don't expect the 2 surfaces to be parallel but good enough for the drill press job tho.......

Never seen lazer cut steel finish yet, is there anyone out there that has...?.......interesting to know......

Ta Clogs.......

Never seen lazer cut steel finish yet, is there anyone out there that has...?.......interesting to know......

Laser cut steel is very similar to flame cut but with a thinner cut line. in thick plate (3/8" or more there may be molten metal blobs but not as prominant as with flame cut. After all, it is exactly the same process but the laser is much finer than a flame.

Hi Peter, as Clogs says the "Flash Ground" plate comes from a flame cut profile cutter. After flame cutting to size it is then ground on a "Lumsden" type of grinder, usually flat enough for most work. It is a very cheap way of buying steel plate. If I need better finish/flatness or more controlled size I go into where I worked before retirement and surface grind the plate.

Thanks for the replies, glad you like it.

Got the plate from here.

**LINK**

Laser cut tends to be very hard along the cut line, much more so than flame cut. Water jet cutting leaves everything soft.

Neil

Thanks for the info chaps - I find it easy to buy rod and bar stock from the usual suppliers but thick plate material seems much harder to source!

Peter, where in the country are you ? Here in the Midlands we have a number of profile/flamecut suppliers.

I'm in Esher Chris so carriage could be expensive but happy to pay if needs must!

Grateful for any links/addresses.

Cheers

Peter