Gauge Plate

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Please excuse the apparently ignorant question, but if you are somewhat of a novice and you don’t know the answer…………………

 

What exactly is gauge plate?  Is it just mild steel plate ground to a specific thickness or is it something more special than that?  I presume it is available in a variety of thicknesses, but is it available in a variety of anything else, like hardness for example?

 

ChrisH 

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

[Anonymous]

Chris – Quite so, never be afraid to ask questions.

 

Gauge plate is a high carbon steel ground to thickness and sometimes, but not always, to height. Tolerance on thickness is generally around +/-0.001″. The composition, taken from some I happen to have on my desk next to the computer is:

 

Carbon: 0.85-1.05%

Manganese: 1.00-1.40%

Silicon: 0.15-0.4%

Chromium: 0.4-0.6%

Tungsten:0.4-0.6%

Vanadium: 0.15-0.3%

Iron: the remainder

 

The important feature of gauge plate, indicated by the high carbon content, is that it can be hardened and tempered by relatively simple means (compared to HSS). Hence it can be machined soft, and then hardened and tempered to produce cutting tools, springs etc.

 

So, it definitely isn’t mild steel (!), and it’s a bit tougher to machine too, even when soft.

Regards,

 

Andrew

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Simply put and 95% accurate is that gauge plate is the flat version of Silver Steel or drill rod.

 

John S.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Andrew, John, 

 

Many thanks to you both for your replies

 

Chris 

[Dinosaur EngineerParticipant @dinosaurengineer]

“Gauge plate” is a much more refined alloy than Silver steel. Gauge plate is a lower carbon steel than Silver Steel and has the additions of Tungsten & Vanadium with a greater amount of Manganese to give a steel which can be oil hardened with much lower distortion and cracking and is much tougher in the hardened state. 

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

However not all gauge plate is oil hardening hence the quote 95% accurate as all i wanted to point out that these two are from a very close family.

 

John S.

[Dinosaur EngineerParticipant @dinosaurengineer]

John ,

All the “quality” Gauge Plate I’ve ever used has been oil hardening. I wouldn’t want to spend quite a few hours making thin section gauges that cracked in water/brine hardening .

I wasn’t trying to be a “smart arse” but was trying to inform forum members that  quality gauge plate is quite a bit better than fairly plain high carbon steel  for critical applications. 

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