Advice on buying safe steel D1-8 Faceplate/Driver

[Limy Sami]

If you're going to go the steel backplate and disc route, and want a 3'' hole in the middle, find yourself and old truck / tractor engine CI flywheel - they don't blow apart (SG Iron I believe) - lovely stuff to machine.

I've used them for specials etc etc for eons, my old mentor always had a dozen or more on the shelf.

 

[AlfaGTA]

So let me see if i have this right....Ya got that 17" gear head lathe....and you have an operator that can't read numbers or match colors...
But they are good to go to set up a face palate and accurately machine a part held thus.....

I have a 15" Colchester in the shop with the same gear change setup....Its the most direct, simplest and mistake proof gear selecting setup on the planet.....
If you have guys that can't get that right, you need to evaluate your training regiment...or your drug testing program.

Cheers Ross

 

[thermite]

Dear neighbor Thermite,
You missed your calling, you ought to be writing for Rush Limbaugh or something. Definitely ought to have your own podcast or blog, ‘cause I suspect much of your wit goes to waste here.

My "calling" was "Management". Responsible. Very, And teaching as well as practice.

What you mis-perceive as "wit" is ridicule, and not even polite, if you'd but grok that.

...Of your chronic inability - or unwilling posture - towards grasping so many of life's "basics", even with very expert help, at no effort nor cost, and right "in your face" - same day or soon after, freely donated by a very LARGE number of helpful PM contributors.

Anyway short answer is that we have others working in the shop, some with no prior machinery experience and a fair amount of my time is keeping them from getting hurt, at least 10 times a day I have to remind them to get PPE before starting a machine. And Mr. Murphy is a full-time employee, always poised to take out an eye or rip off an arm.

Simply put, there is no excuse for sustaining excuses, and the cost of tolerating "failure to repair" is open-ended "too DAMNED high".

Start terminating repeat unsalvageables. Night AMAZE you how fast the "salvageable" then "self identify" by cleaning up THEIR act.

Your flipant "Rush Limbaugh" remark confirms the rest of the evidence you have been supplying the whole time you have been posting on PM.

The neck of a bottle being generally located at the top? "Shortcomings" in your environment originate in the usual place - same as auto "so-called accidents".

All too often a failing of a single key component. The nut that holds the steering wheel.

JFDWT marginal judgment "blessing".

It, not I, is already dealing with you.

 

[Cannonmn]

So let me see if i have this right....Ya got that 17" gear head lathe....and you have an operator that can't read numbers or match colors...
But they are good to go to set up a face palate and accurately machine a part held thus.....

I have a 15" Colchester in the shop with the same gear change setup....Its the most direct, simplest and mistake proof gear selecting setup on the planet.....
If you have guys that can't get that right, you need to evaluate your training regiment...or your drug testing program.

Cheers Ross

Yeah, sounds logical. I think a lot of the bad things happen when folks do things I just would never have expected. Like Friday a normally very good worker decided to reinstall this 1/8” o.d. Lube oil line using needle-nose pliers to replicate what had been a perfectly-smooth 1” radius bend a while earlier. That bend could be done with fingers, or at at most, a wood dowel for the form. But needle-nose pliers?

 

[Cannonmn]

My "calling" was "Management". Responsible. Very, And teaching as well as practice.

What you mis-perceive as "wit" is ridicule, and not even polite, if you'd but grok that.

...Of your chronic inability - or unwilling posture - towards grasping so many of life's "basics", even with very expert help, at no effort nor cost, and right "in your face" - same day or soon after, freely donated by a very LARGE number of helpful PM contributors.



Simply put, there is no excuse for sustaining excuses, and the cost of tolerating "failure to repair" is open-ended "too DAMNED high".

Start terminating repeat unsalvageables. Night AMAZE you how fast the "salvageable" then "self identify" by cleaning up THEIR act.

Your flipant "Rush Limbaugh" remark confirms the rest of the evidence you have been supplying the whole time you have been posting on PM.

The neck of a bottle being generally located at the top? "Shortcomings" in your environment originate in the usual place - same as auto "so-called accidents".

All too often a failing of a single key component. The nut that holds the steering wheel.

JFDWT marginal judgment "blessing".

It, not I, is already dealing with you.

Thank You, neighbor Thermite!

 

[AlfaGTA]

Nobody in my shop does ANY machine repairs or maintenance but me unless i authorize the work period. If there is a problem, they report it. If i am unavailable, they tag the machine and leave a note on my tool box.

Cheers Ross

 

[Cannonmn]

Get you a slice of 80-55-06 ductile iron bar from Durabar and face it and whatever else you want to do to it. Then mount it to a standard cast iron back plate of a smaller diameter. They have it in diameters up to 26" diameter! We buy chunks in diameters up to 20" pretty often, machines nice, too. That way you don't have to worry what RPM to stay under. Plus, the DI will not break out as easy as CI will, using it as a fixture plate. Ken

Thx, I looked at their site and the shortest piece they advertise in the diameters I’d want is 72 inches. Did your company ever get it in single or few-slice quantities?

 

[lucky7]

I’ve done a fair amount of oddball faceplate work and find a steel plate burnout bolted to D1-whatever adaptor is cheap and very useful. Tap holes wherever you need. Weld on tabs. Throw out when too mangled and start again. Do have some cast iron faceplates which do get used, just not as often. If I was in the OP’s shoes, I wouldn’t bother with iron, just make yer own from steel to suit.

L7

 

[Cannonmn]

I’ve done a fair amount of oddball faceplate work and find a steel plate burnout bolted to D1-whatever adaptor is cheap and very useful. Tap holes wherever you need. Weld on tabs. Throw out when too mangled and start again. Do have some cast iron faceplates which do get used, just not as often. If I was in the OP’s shoes, I wouldn’t bother with iron, just make yer own from steel to suit.

L7

What thickness steel do you use for faceplate intended for average jobs?

 

[Limy Sami]

What thickness steel do you use for faceplate intended for average jobs?

Sorta whatever's lying around

Seriously with flat (unribbed) face plates I regard 3/4 about the minimum, much less flexes and vibes.

 

[thermite]

Thank You, neighbor Thermite!

LOL

No mercy! Usta live in Springfield meself - back before they converted so much of it to more short-term carpark disguised as highway.

Old habits. I had always tended to demand higher standards from Virginians!

Do the same. Find "the purple button motivator" and some of your distracting nuisance work sorts itself!

 

[thermite]

What thickness steel do you use for faceplate intended for average jobs?

Suggest mild steel round precuts already Blanchard-ground. Old Days, we used a lot of linen-bakelite, shiney-wood or even tree-woods.

All Depends on what yer doing, but thick enough for a good fastener grip, tapped hole, is the bare minimum even when mounted to a faceplate.

I have five or so D1-3 faceplates Monarch & Pratt-Burnerd, mostly. Whyso?

Well.. on average, they cost only about the same used, each, as a basic Shars Chinesium CI D1-3 blank backplate, brand-new.

So if I do a fixture clever enough, I can just leave it for another use and do the next one on a "new" platform D1-3 back already integral, and the cam studs even already pre-adjusted and/or replaced, as is my rule when D1 goods first come in the door. ALWAYS too short of time, later, to want "surprises", yah?

The other consideration is the usual:

- If you HAVE a tooled-up capability, jobs that need it will not appear to bug you.

- If you are NOT tooled up, jobs that need what you do NOT have tooling for WILL appear.

Lybarger's Corollary to Sod's Law applies, so tool-up for what you hate to do.

ELSE .. tool for EVERYTHING and not have to make chips at all.

"Dumb like a fox" apply?

You'd have to know retired Old Farts?

 

[Cannonmn]

Sorta whatever's lying around

Seriously with flat (unribbed) face plates I regard 3/4 about the minimum, much less flexes and vibes.

Thx, tomorrow I’ll wander around among our disused stuff, ought to be something, I recall some 1” steel plate but can’t recall if wide enough.

 

[thermite]

Thx, tomorrow I’ll wander around among our disused stuff, ought to be something, I recall some 1” steel plate but can’t recall if wide enough.

Don't overly force stuff like that. Steel is actually cheap. Ready-made D1 are worth the completed work to spec already IN them, too. Mass-produced on automated CNC to specs yah CANNOT cheat on?

How well are you set-up to do a onesie cheaper? May as well get what you NEED, not f**k around all week plotting and scheming Iron band-aid positioning.

Then failing at it.

Worse, forcing what should not BE "forced" off the lie you are "saving money". Or actually stealing it from your own missed-opportunity revenue stream?

It is TIME as is dear.

Who does YOUR "prime directive" job while you are f**king around?

 

[Rob F.]

Thx, it is a nice item and for another $150. I’m sure I can get a D1-8 backplate that I can fit to it. Big enuf hole too. Gotta pick up, 9-hr r/t is a bit of a letdown, no time for that, would have to use some kinda pickup service. Now I’m thinking I should just buy a D1-8 backplate plus a steel disc, and machine out the slots I want, but then I know I’d be tied up with that over a day, so maybe that scenic trip on I-70/US 30 isn’t so bad! At least now I have many options.

See if that guy will pack it and deliver to fastenal for you, then it just needs to picked up local.

 

[4GSR]

Thx, I looked at their site and the shortest piece they advertise in the diameters I’d want is 72 inches. Did your company ever get it in single or few-slice quantities?

Yeah, they want you to buy a full 72" bar.... If you deal with their service center nearest to you, they will sell it to you by the inch. Most of the time, you don't have to pay for a saw cut, at least I don't have to. The service center I use is in Fort Worth Texas.

Oh, don't put tee slots in the plate, they are never in the right place where you need them! Just drill and tap holes as needed.
Ken

BTW- If you were a little closer to me, you could come pickup this 21" steel body 4-jaw chuck I have here taking up space in my garage. It has a D1-8 back to it. At the moment, I'm not in a position to ship it due to a upcoming surgery I'm fixing to have. Ken

 

[swatkins]

See if that guy will pack it and deliver to fastenal for you, then it just needs to picked up local.

Last I checked Fastenal was not shipping stuff because of Covid... MIght be different now though....

 

[Cannonmn]

I do appreciate all the info based on decades of experience, hope when I grow up I’ll know a tiny fraction of that. Two good developments during my search today, one’s a bit embarrassing, got the Maier 12” 4J+ from another building. I remembered it as only a 4JC but as you can see it has 4 T-slots too. Looks like I could remove the jaws and have 8 T-slots. Has 3” hole, what I need. Also found some 15 x 30 x 1” steel plates I can use for faceplates. Think I’ll cut a 15” circle on the Do All Vertical bandsaw to get the neatest cut. Don’t yet know what type of steel it is, has full prime plus orange paint, better check hardness before risking a saw blade. I’ll keep looking for a D1-8 backplate but the Maier will suffice for a while.

 

[Limy Sami]

That's a result then Cannonmn and just because its a chuck, doesn't mean you can't drill and tap holes in it as well if needed (well it's never stopped me )

 

[thermite]

I do appreciate all the info based on decades of experience, hope when I grow up I’ll know a tiny fraction of that. Two good developments during my search today, one’s a bit embarrassing, got the Maier 12” 4J+ from another building. I remembered it as only a 4JC but as you can see it has 4 T-slots too. Looks like I could remove the jaws and have 8 T-slots. Has 3” hole, what I need. Also found some 15 x 30 x 1” steel plates I can use for faceplates. Think I’ll cut a 15” circle on the Do All Vertical bandsaw to get the neatest cut. Don’t yet know what type of steel it is, has full prime plus orange paint, better check hardness before risking a saw blade. I’ll keep looking for a D1-8 backplate but the Maier will suffice for a while.View attachment 293449

LOL! Might wanna take a drink. Confuse yer detractors.

Y'know.. when they point out that God preserves drunks and fools! Gotta keep 'em GUESSING!



If you had somehow missed it? Maier made some right-decent workholding goods.

And.... near-as-dammit any 4-J above 10", if-not-also 10".. WILL have those extra Tee-slots. No friggin' self OFF centering scroll plate, y'see.

Pee ESS! Do not, repeat NOT use precision-finished Jaw guideways for ANY form of "Tee Slot"!!!

As the genteel, mannerly, eloquent, and ever so diplomatic accursed-race French might put it:

"That SERIOUSLY FUCKS UP a good chuck."

And it IS a "good chuck".


"We now return you to your regular programming."

Pursuit of an extra-size same as a 16 yr old Mark Twain.

Classing his Old Man a blithering idiot as-of the Son's sixteenth year.. and surprised at how much the old boy had been able to learn in the five short years by the time the Son had reached age twenty one!