# A Shop Built Adjustable Angle Plate



## astroracer (Jan 11, 2016)

I had posted these pics in another thread but, rather then hijack that one I will make on of my own. 
Here are some screen shots of my version of Fred Giesler's design that was in the Dec. '95 PIM. I made it a bit bigger and went with 1/2" plate instead of his 3/8th's but it is essentially his design.
My plates are 6 x 8 and I designed the side guides to allow the table to go to 90* verticle also.








I have the plates cut to size and squared up but decided to put a DRo on the FrankenMill to make drilling the holes a little more fun rather then a chore...


Mark


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## astroracer (Jan 11, 2016)

After installing the TPAC Tools DRO I knocked out the holes in both plates. The top has 30 holes that will be tapped with a 3/8-16 tap and the base has 9 holes tapped the same and 9 holes drill ed and counterbored for 5/16th's mounting bolts.


The base plate all drilled and tapped. The three holes on the left are drilled and c'bored from the bottom for the hinge block bolts.


The top plate.


 Still have to notch the top plate and make the hinge block but those are easy after tapping all of those holes. 


Thanks for looking!
Mark


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## astroracer (Jan 11, 2016)

I didn't get back to this until a week or so ago. Summer had me doing other things.
I finally got all of those holes tapped and the top plate notched out for the hinge block.


I also made the hinge block and got that drilled and tapped for the mounting bolts. i could have made this out of some 1/2" key stock but I LOVE offhand cutting on the VBS. 


Marking the holes in the hinge block after fitting it to the notch in the top plate.


I used a .25 dia. transfer punch to mark the holes in the hinge block.


Mark


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## astroracer (Jan 11, 2016)

Finished up the hinge block tonight along with drilling the holes for the side plates, hinge pins in the top plate and the hinge centering holes in the hinge block.


Tapping the hinge pin holes in the top plate. The "hinge pins" are simply cone pt 1/4-20 set screws that lock into #3 centerdrilled holes on each end of the hinge block.


 Doing a trial fit. Everything looks pretty good.


It opens up just as planned! Now to get the side plates made.


 I hope to get the side plates done this weekend.
 How should I finish this? I would like to do a black oxide but have nevr done anything like that. Paint would work okay but I think a nice professional style finish would look better. i guess I'll hit up Caswell for a kit.
Mark


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## astroracer (Jan 11, 2016)

I got out in the shop this morning and knocked out the side plates. I used a piece of 1/8th in strapping I dug out of the scrab bin.
 Laying out the pattern on one of them.


 i cut the plate in half with my bench shear. Easy.


 With one laid out and two pieces in my hand i clamp them in the milling vice and drilled a BUNCH of holes. Drilling the holes first, like I did, works well with small parts that are only clamped on their edges.


 After drilling the holes I swapped the drill out for a 1/4" endmill and milled the slot. This method puts a lot less lateral force on the milled pieces which keeps from pushing them sideways in the vice. Also notice the two sticks of 1/8th inch aluminum rod. Those crush down in the vice and help in clamping the two plates in place.



Two slotted plates. 


 I trimmed these up on the bench shear and clamped them together for radiusing the corners.


 All done other then finishing.


 Bolted up and functional!


 Thanks for looking!
Mark


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## astroracer (Jan 11, 2016)

Using set up angles and parallels to set the angles will make for accurate milling.


 I set a piece of 1/4" plate under the angles to put them on center to the pivot point of the top plate. I will probably end up making a jig so i can clamp the angles in place during set up. I need to pick up a digital angle gauge. That would make setting angles a no brainer...


 It also clamps nicely into the milling vise. That will make for quick set ups when doing light cuts on aluminum.

 Another fun project! (except for tapping all those holes...). This will work well and will be aversatile addition to my shop.
 Now to get it finished so it doesn't rust all up on me. 
Mark


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## rgray (Jan 11, 2016)

Nice project. I've just in the last month tried "everbrite" for protecting bare steel. So far I like it but it's only been a month so time will tell. Lots of good reviews on it though.


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## astroracer (Jan 11, 2016)

Thanks Russ, it was fun other then tapping all of those holes! I am thinking I want to black oxide the plates. Has anyone used Caswells cold black oxide kit?
Mark


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## Fabrickator (Jan 11, 2016)

Nice job on the angle plate and I'm sure that you'll find a bunch of new projects to use it on.  I would suggest that if you have a rotary table you can combine them and you cut something as complex as a diamond, like my "Diamonds" are Forever" project on this site.

Rick


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## brino (Jan 11, 2016)

Great design and implementation.
What CAD package did you use for those drawings?

-brino


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## astroracer (Jan 11, 2016)

Thanks for the compliments guys, much appreciated.
Rick, I do have a rotary table and that was part of the reason for building this plate. I also have some smaller 3 jaw chucks i plan to make adapters for so they can be bolted on also.
Brino, I have an old version of Unigraphics that runs on my home computer. It is very capable... 
Mark


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## astroracer (Jan 15, 2016)

I just ordered this Black Oxide Kit from Caswell.
http://www.caswellplating.com/metal...lack-oxide-kits/black-oxide-kit-1-25-gal.html
 I'll post up results.


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## astroracer (Jan 21, 2016)

I got the Black Oxide kit last nite and put it to use tonite. The first thing I refinished was this big ole wrench. I had blasted it earlier and it took the stain quite well.
After hitting it with a sanding pad on my mini air sander.


This is what it looked like after the oxide. Once the sealer drys I'll get more pics.


I then cleaned up the angle plate parts and dunked those.


The top plate. NOW... you can see around the tapped holes where the stain didn't take... That's on me. When Caswell says the "parts should be clean. Oil and grease free. I think they mean "squeaky"... I cleaned the parts after sanding off the mill scale BUT I didn't clean out all of the threaded holes... What you see is tapping fluid contamination keeping the oxide from working correctly.


The small parts. They turned out pretty good.


All back together and it doesn't look half bad. I may run the parts thru the sandblaster and redo them. They don't look terrible but I know they could look better...






They said to scrub the parts with comet... I will do that next time. 
Mark


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## brino (Jan 21, 2016)

Thanks for sharing your process and results.
I have never tried that finish, but could see it being useful.
-brino


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## John Hasler (Jan 21, 2016)

Looks about like what I get with cold phosphoric acid and linseed oil.


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