Towards a better looking angle plate

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

All the usual absolutely astonishing stuff, Jason !!

… I acknowledge and admire your mastery of such things.

As a mere mortal, however, may I just quote from the opening question ?

MichaelG.

.

I want to use this angle plate for bolting something to the cross-slide of my mini-lathe.

[Ian P]

On Ian P Said:

I have both 6″ and 8″ fully machined Eclipse angle plates. Their slots are really out of proportion for their size as they

Like Jason I prefer the fully machined type of angle plate and the 4″ angle plate I bought at a show about 10 years ago has not been used although several times I have been tempted to take a hacksaw to it and remove the webs. I cannot imagine a machining set up where the strength given by the webs would be essential or beneficial.

If Mike K has milling facilities then he could make a silk purse of of his cows ear.

Ian P

 

Hi, I do have a few angle plates without webs, but they can be bent with just a little to heavier cut, just like this one below, it’s only approximately 0.15mm at the top of the gap, and happened on my mini-mill, it didn’t break the cutter, and this was the face that was bolted to the table, and to add insult to injury, it was a brand new 2.5″ x 2″ x 3″long one.

Regards Nick.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Should not be too hard to bend it back then😁

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi JasonB, I keep thinking of a way to do it, but the bend is at the edge of the slot, that is next to the other face, so I may use a bit of heavy angle iron with a couple of threaded holes for set screws, and then clamp this onto the other face, with a bit of thick plate underneath, and then with a piece of 4 or 5mm plate between the set screws and the bent face, to force it back a bit at a time, and checking it with my square. Worst case it will snap, but it’s not really any good for its purpose as it is.

Regards Nick.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I suppose you could also just mill one side at 90deg to the other if you have another good plate to bolt it to.

[Anonymous]

I’ve got six ground all over angle plates and four with webs. The ground all over angle plates get used for marking out, or to provide a reference surface:

For general machining I prefer the angle plates with webs:

I normally use the four straight slots for holding the work and the set of short, perpendicular, slots for bolting to the machine table. None of my webbed angle plates are machined on the inside angles. They seem to bolt down fine with studs and clamps rather than washers, which are too flexible.

Andrew

[Nicholas Farr]

On Nicholas Farr Said:

Hi, I do have a few angle plates without webs, but they can be bent with just a little to heavier cut, just like this one below, it’s only approximately 0.15mm at the top of the gap, and happened on my mini-mill, it didn’t break the cutter, and this was the face that was bolted to the table, and to add insult to injury, it was a brand new 2.5″ x 2″ x 3″long one.

Regards Nick.

Did that really bend with just a ‘little to heavier’ cut?

Cast iron does not bend well so was it possibly made badly in the first place and reversing the bend is not likely to end well either. I would suggest following Jason’s advice and machine the faces.

Ian P

 

 

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Since the slots are so close to the webs, you could mill/ grind/file away one side of the head of bolts (or even a special shoildered nut designed to fit into the slot, and have the facility if using studs of any length that takes yoiur fancy)

This makes the fastener self locking so that only one spanner is needed for tightening.

Obviously a smaller size fastener makes life easier, without reducing clamp loads too much.

You can crack a casting quite easily with a M6 or 1/4 BSF fastener, so don’t be too afraid of one that is loose fitting in the slot (May accomodate the as cast slots, or face, more easily)

Howard

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi IanP, yes I’m aware that the angle plate may fracture, but I’m not that worried about it. So, I remembered that a big block of steel I have, has two 20mm threaded holes through it, which are close together, 20mm is probably OTT, but saves me making something, so this block and a piece of 20mm BMS and two pieces of 6mm aluminium plate, which are used as protection buffers between the block and two grub screws and the angle plate, plus a wide piece of pallet strapping, to stop the grub screws chewing into the aluminium plate, were gathered together.

These were set up along with two dial gauges set to zero at the top edge of the angle plate, as in the photos below.

Then the two grub screws were screwed in a little at a time, to keep the same pressure on each side. However, the gauges wouldn’t go any higher than 0.006″, although the screws would still screw in quite easily, and it then dawned on me that the block was moving under the clamps. So another set up was made to stop the block moving.

The screws could then force the angle plate further, and it reached 0.0115″, and to back off the screws slowly, to check if the angle plate had returned nearer to square. It hadn’t gone back to square, but it is now only 0.05mm between the top and the square, so that’s a movement of 0.1mm, I’ll give it another go, and push it another thou or so an check again, which I may have to do more than once.

Regards Nick.

[Author]

Posts