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New Surface Plate Day

Pete Deal

Stainless
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Location
Morgantown, WV
I found this on Craigslist within driving distance. It has just sat under its cover (which it came with) since the 80's. Seems in very good shape. This one is 36" x 48" x 8" Grade A. Hope I can find enough to use it for to justify the space it takes up. I'm not real impressed with the stand. I may make a replacement with storage under. Also came with the Starrett 254 Height Gage shown with box and scriber.

SurfacePlate.jpg
 
Congrats on the find! Just out of curiosity, what are your concerns of the stand? I have the same plate and stand and I find it beyond adequate, and well beyond the standards of most other stands I see. Just curious
 
Congrats on the find! Just out of curiosity, what are your concerns of the stand? I have the same plate and stand and I find it beyond adequate, and well beyond the standards of most other stands I see. Just curious

You're right it is does appear to do it's job fine. My biggest complaint is the wasted space underneath. I'd really like to make a stand that has storage under the plate. And with some cross bars that are pallet jack height above the floor for easier moving.
 
I haven't done any scraping yet but would like to do some. Do you roll out the spotting ink right onto the surface plate? Seems like it would stain the heck out of it. Maybe doesn't matter?
 
I haven't done any scraping yet but would like to do some. Do you roll out the spotting ink right onto the surface plate? Seems like it would stain the heck out of it. Maybe doesn't matter?

Yes you will stain the stone. I also have a very nice Starrett pink granite stone which is now mostly blue. It’s still accurate but it doesn’t look as nice.
 
The Dykem Hi Spot definitely stains the plate. Mine is black/gray so it doesn't really show, but I put a solid and permanent enough blue oval in the middle of a pink one a few years ago. No impact to function, but it never went away. Honestly it was a rather pleasing shade, I offered to do the rest of the block in blue as well, but the tool room guy preferred just the oval.

Not sure if Canode also stains. It certainly washes off of things like hands easier, but I don't know how well it soaks into granite.
 
Sometimes the stain can be removed, sometimes not. It helps to be proactive if you're worried about it. In other words, clean it up immediately after you're done and don't let it sit and soak in. A puddle of acetone allowed to soak a few seconds then absorbed with paper towel can do wonders with pulling bluing out. Use white paper towel so you can see when it's not pulling any more out. Repeat until the paper towel doesn't soak up any more blue and it will usually get most of it out. Not always though. And obviously (I hope) don't try to use the plate right after you cover it with acetone and the temperature of the top surface has dropped...
 
I have a nice 18" x 24 Collins Microflat surface plate that's black. I was going to sell it but it might be smart to keep it since it's not worth much. Maybe if I get to any marking I'll just use that.

I'm generally more of a function over form sort but still the Starrett is really nice.
 








 
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