Sine Plates - Taft Pierce Vs. Suburban

I am looking at sine plates and I noticed that a 6X6 sine plate by Taft Pierce is double the cost of a 6X6 sine plate by Suburban. The main difference I could find is that the Suburban sine plates are heat treated steel (58-60 Rc) and the Taft Pierce sine plates are heat treated fine grain cast iron. The Taft Pierce plate is also about 10 pounds heavier. . The specified tolerances for both plates are the same. The Suburban sine plate has the locking rail on the side whereas the Taft Pierce sine plate doesn't appear to have any locking mechanism. I gathered this information on the Suburban tool website. Here are links to both pages:

Taft Pierce: Taft-Peirce SINE ANGLE PLATES & SINE ANGLE CHUCKS by Suburban Tool, Inc. Model 9123-1

Suburban: SINE PLATES by Suburban Tool, Inc. Model SP-66-s1

I am wondering what makes the Taft Pierce plate so much more expensive and if it is actually that much better. I will try to create a poll as well to vote on which plate is better (From a quality and functionality standpoint)

Thanks
John

My original post here was incorrectly attributed to Suburban. The content was not correct for Suburban, for which I apologize.
I revised the post:
SPI is a distributor, not a manufacturer. They put their name on stuff made by other companies.

They also sell products made by others and branded as such.

Buying a product that bears the SPI name tells you absolutely nothing about the product.
You could ask for more info at the SPI website.

If I were to buy one, it would be the Taft-Pierce without any hesitation. You get what you pay for, particularly in precision gear.

- Leigh

John
The Taft-Peirce Sine Plate is a better design and is more robust than the Suburban. The rolls are also different. While they are both great products, the Taft-Peirce is the best. You can call (248) 391-7800 Monday - Friday 8:30 -4:30 for any information you need. We also have a store on our website that you can purchase from or just call in your order and we will ship it out to you.

Leigh
We make both the Taft- Peirce and Suburban Tool as well as the Master Sine (FORMERLY BY EX-CELL-0 / ROBBINS) in our factory in Auburn Hills, Mi.
We make 99.9% of all of the products we sell here in our plant. We are also starting to make how to video's in our plant by Don Bailey, the owner of Suburban Tool.

I hope this helps.

Jim Kuriluk
Sales Manager
Suburban Tool

This sounds like words from the horse's mouth . . . Thanks!

Leigh,

I did notice sine plates by other companies (such as fowler and SPI) that looked identical to the Suburban sine plates and wondered about that. We have a Suburban 6X12 plate at work that works great and is very accurate.

Jim,

I would most likely be buying used as my budget isn't large enough for a new sine plate. Do you have any advice comparing a Taft Pierce plate to a Robbins Master Sine plate?

Thanks

John

Apparently the Suburban name DOES tell me something..........

Suburban Tool said:

Leigh
We make both the Taft- Peirce and Suburban Tool as well as the Master Sine (FORMERLY BY EX-CELL-0 / ROBBINS) in our factory in Auburn Hills, Mi.
We make 99.9% of all of the products we sell here in our plant. We are also starting to make how to video's in our plant by Don Bailey, the owner of Suburban Tool.
I hope this helps.
Jim Kuriluk
Sales Manager
Suburban Tool

Click to expand...

Hi Jim,

Thanks for posting that, and please accept my apology.

I got Suburban mixed up with SPI in my mind. My comments were about SPI, incorrectly attributed to Suburban.

I will correct that error.

- Leigh

John
The Taft Pierce plate and Robbins Master Sine plates are both top of the line Sine Plates. The Master Sine has opposing locking features with opposing threads to make setting the gage block easier. The rolls are of similar design. You will not go wrong with any of our Sine Plates. They are all made here and the Suburban Sine Plates also can be used with our other Sine Set series products.
Please see our video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqYLAYrG7nM



Leigh
Thank you for the correction.

I bought two used sine plates over the weekend. The first is a 6X6 Robbins Engineering sine plate. It has the same locking mechanism as the Master Sine sine plates currently sold by Suburban. I cleaned it and indicated the entire top and bottom surfaces with a .0001 indicator, the top surface is within .0002 for about 80 percent in the middle area but drops to about .0005 towards the corners opposite the hinge. The hinge is still smooth acting with no noticeable play. The second one is a 6.5 X 7.75 compound sine plate made by the Omer E Robbins company. I have not checked this one yet, but its clamping mechanism is different from the other. I tried researching the history of the company but couldn't find much information. based on what I did find and also on the design change in the clamping mechanism, I think it went something like this: Omer E Robbins company -> Robbins Engineering -> Ex Cell O / Robbins -> Master Sine by Suburban. If anyone has any knowledge of the history I would be very interested , I'd really like to find out what years the plates may have been made.

Both plates have serial numbers but not dates. I will post pictures of both later.

I got good deals on both plates, and plan to donate one to the manufacturing technology dept. where I went to high school (that's why I got two).

This is a video showing the differences between the Suburban / Robbins- EX-CELLO /Taft Peirce Sine Plates.
The Robbins- EX-CELLO are now called the Master and Magna Sine plates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crcGylCdzTY

Post 3# is correct . I have used both and they are both very good. Personally I like the Surburban models for light grinders perhaps 6-18 or so, and the tafts for larger grinders and mill work.

Yes for doing smaller work on larger grinder the Surburban product is fine I have used them on 12 x 36 B&S micromasters.

My first grinding job was grinding carbide single point and carbide form tools using the Taft 6 x 6.. At that time ii think Surburban was not yet making them.

Good to remember with any device that has hold-down threaded holes is that you should count the turns when using them.
5/16-18 or 1/4 -20 you should turn in 10 to 12 turns (or more is OK) to not have a stress on the bolt or thread.
(from an engineering stand point 8 to12 is Ok but 10 to 12 is better.)

I might add that regrinding an old out of square or flat sine table the top and bottom should be square to the the pin or hinge, not simply parallel top to bottom. Often the jo-block pad can be checked for square but that is perhaps over 1 1/2 width so not perfect but better than not checking.. if shimming for square and on a magnetic chuck a 1/2 error shim should be placed mid part.. then the other side can be ground to parallel.

Suppose you have .004 error. Then .oo4 shim under low edge and a .002 shim is place with the shim edge just touching center line of the part (not the whole shim at part center)

amtooljmd said:

I am looking at sine plates and I noticed that a 6X6 sine plate by Taft Pierce is double the cost of a 6X6 sine plate by Suburban. The main difference I could find is that the Suburban sine plates are heat treated steel (58-60 Rc) and the Taft Pierce sine plates are heat treated fine grain cast iron. The Taft Pierce plate is also about 10 pounds heavier. . The specified tolerances for both plates are the same. The Suburban sine plate has the locking rail on the side whereas the Taft Pierce sine plate doesn't appear to have any locking mechanism. I gathered this information on the Suburban tool website. Here are links to both pages:

Taft Pierce: Taft-Peirce SINE ANGLE PLATES & SINE ANGLE CHUCKS by Suburban Tool, Inc. Model 9123-1

Suburban: SINE PLATES by Suburban Tool, Inc. Model SP-66-s1

I am wondering what makes the Taft Pierce plate so much more expensive and if it is actually that much better. I will try to create a poll as well to vote on which plate is better (From a quality and functionality standpoint)

Thanks
John

Click to expand...

Get a Herman Schmidt and never worry about sine plate issues again. Im an Engineer now, but I'm also a third generation Plastic Injection Mold Maker. I got sick of being a worker be and took up management. I created the grinding room at JK Mold back in the early 2000s. Im completely proficient with any sort of Surface grinding... Paralell, Form and Squareness to .0002 all day long. I'm also very competent with a Jig Grinder, and IDOD. There, that is some history on me... A Herman Schmidt is dead parellel, out of the box, and it will never move out of calibration. from the incredible finish and low profile magnets, to the light weight, a very positive mechanism to lock it in place once you have your set up. This is true with every tool they make... all amazing. I dont have a hard time with Suburban and have never even seen a Taft and Pierce. If I were to but a nice plate I wouldn't buy anything else.

T.