# Surface plate stand.



## DavidR8 (Apr 5, 2021)

@MrWhoopee thread about his surface plate stand resurfaced a project for me. 
I have a shop grade 12x18 plate. 
It’s currently sitting on my bench. 
I’d like to make a stand for it so I can level it to use as a reference surface to balance my grinding wheels. 

Planning to use some 2” angle iron to make the frame, weld on three 3/8” ready rod couplers vertically, two at one and and one at the other. I’ll make some long adjuster screws out of ready rod. 

I was reading about Bessel points and was wondering if this is something I should concern myself with for the design.


----------



## benmychree (Apr 5, 2021)

Bessey points???


----------



## francist (Apr 5, 2021)

I suspect “Bessel”


----------



## DavidR8 (Apr 5, 2021)

Indeed. Bessel. 
Autocorrect got me. 
Original post corrected.


----------



## benmychree (Apr 5, 2021)

Granite surface plates are generally supported at the perimeter, two at one end and one on the other end in the center.  The plates are finish lapped with this support, so they should be flat supported thusly.


----------



## DavidR8 (Apr 5, 2021)

benmychree said:


> Granite surface plates are generally supported at the perimeter, two at one end and one on the other end in the center. The plates are finish lapped with this support, so they should be flat supported thusly.



Thank you sir!


----------



## Cadillac (Apr 5, 2021)

Here’s what I did acouple years back. It’s along the same principle but I didn’t like the fact that on one end it could teater. So what I did to have the plate on four adjustment feet was have one end pivot. The whole Assy. Is on top a shop cart.


----------



## DavidR8 (Apr 5, 2021)

Cadillac said:


> Here’s what I did acouple years back. It’s along the same principle but I didn’t like the fact that on one end it could teater. So what I did to have the plate on four adjustment feet was have one end pivot. The whole Assy. Is on top a shop cart.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Interesting design. 
How big is your plate?


----------



## Cadillac (Apr 5, 2021)

It’s a 18x24 plate and once nice thing is I keep all my gauge blocks underneath. Here’s a shot currently checking some parallels I just got done with. Disappointed in the bluing.


----------



## SLK001 (Apr 5, 2021)

Isn't your plate riding on a plastic cart?  If so, that means that it is never level!


----------



## Cadillac (Apr 5, 2021)

Level No stabile Yes. I leveled it when I installed it. Other than something rolling off I don’t need it to be level I need it to be flat.


----------



## aliva (Apr 6, 2021)

A granite plate is to be flat, level is an option. Unless your plate is in permanent location there's no point leveling it. I see a lot of people worried about leveling the plate, but they have it on a stand that has wheels, which they move around the shop. Every time time you move , there goes your level..Abomb79 has a video on modifying his plate stand, his on wheels.


----------



## DavidR8 (Apr 6, 2021)

I'd like to level it so that I can use it to balance my surface grinder wheels.
Jeff (@Janderso) turned me onto this idea and I have since watched a video by Stan of Bar-Z Ranch where he puts a shop-made arbor and a set of 2-4-6 blocks on his surface plate to balance his wheels.


----------



## rjs44032 (Apr 6, 2021)

See federal spec here: FedSpecGGG-P-463c

Support specifications are clearly defined in section 3. Plates need to be supported on 3 points. They are not Bessel or Airy points. Hope this helps. 

Best Regards,
Bob


----------

