3-Plate Method, Surface Plates?

This was the fun gathering at my former shop, Randy Richard was there with his plate:
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Surface Plate Calibration Collaboration (or Plate Fest)

Four machinists got involved in this collaboration at my shop. It was time to get those plates flat and certified, and known quantities. Randy Richard (RR in the Shop--YouTube), Mike Walton (Ulma Doctor on H-M), Ray "Razor Ray" Goff, and I. Five plates total. We had Standridge Granite from...
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I would love to have one of those 24x36 plates, but I'll bet shipping would be astronomical! Great haul you got there!
 
So while trying to repair the engine hoist and dealing with the 90° weather we're having I remembered a few things from my Metrology days.
With the temp here bouncing between 90° during the day and the high 60's at night the plates can't normalize.
I'm going to have to install some sort of A/C in the shop, make some more room, and then wheel these granite slabs in and let them sit.
It'll more than likely have to be one or two at time and then let them soak and acclimate and then start to measure and check them out.
Not enough floor space and too many slabs. :grin:
I did asked my Better Half if I could move them into the living room... Since I do not have the new floor installed - yet. :cool 2:
 
I believe I do not regret NOT having the need or patience for this level of accuracy.....
If I have to acclimate my great huge chunks of granite to achieve the level of precision I need, it will feel more like a job than a hobby to me.
 
If you let the shop air easily get to all the surfaces of the plate, the plate will have equal temperatures from that aspect. Radiated heat coming from something like a hot tin roof above and a cold floor below can mess it up, so insulate or otherwise make the floor and the ceiling show the same temperatures to the plate top and bottom -- at least as good as possible with what you can cobble together...
 
Had a brainstorm of an idea this morning over coffee.
The 36' car hauler storage trailer we have has an RV type A/C unit on it.
So....
Went out to the trailer and of course it doesn't work. -hehe
 
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