Cast iron versus granite surface plate

What about quartz?
We installed a kitchen counter top made of quartz which is synthetic granite I believe.
Seems pretty flat to me. Please tell my wife that there is around 20 sq. ft. of surface plate in the kitchen that I can use anytime.
 
Without some testing , you can't really tell exactly how flat the counter top is. But I can see a really major problem with using her brand new countertop for a surface plate! Unless you have a MUCH more amiable wife than I do, using her new counter top for anything other than a kitchen counter may lead to something less than marital bliss. Let me rephrase that. You might find out what a furious woman sounds like the hard way because it will be your own woman. And you might find that you are going to be spending more time in the shop than you had planned since that is where you might be sleeping, if not living. You might find it a whole lot better to buy a piece for your shop and keep her happy. They say that when Mama is unhappy, everybody is unhappy. You really do not want to find out if that is true or not. It is also said that there are some things you don't want to learn, and I'm quite certain that is one of them.
 
Go to the people that sold you the counter top and see if you can get the drop where the sink goes. You will not be able to use it as a scraping master but it would work fine for a lay out table using a height gauge and other lay out equipment.
If you need a true surface plate then go to Grizzly or Enco and buy one that is big enough for your needs. Look on the internet on how to set up a 3 point mount that insures that the plate is not distorted by the mount and away you go.

I have 2 one 18X24 and a 9X12 Keep your plate clean and protect the top when not using it. Don't lay lots of stuff on it like I do and should not do.

Dave
 
Tozguy said:
What about quartz?
We installed a kitchen counter top made of quartz which is synthetic granite I believe.
Seems pretty flat to me. Please tell my wife that there is around 20 sq. ft. of surface plate in the kitchen that I can use anytime.
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No, quartz is a mineral. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz What you have is probably a synthetic material consisting of quartz grains embedded in some sort of plastic.
 
Apologies to Jon if I am getting off topic but it might be possible that 'quartz' countertop material might be easy and cheap to come by for a hobby surface plate.
As John wrote it is a composite material. It can replace granite in many applications. Around here it is commonly referred to as quartz countertop.
My experience with it in the kitchen is very positive for stability and durability. It does not stain like granite does. If I have written this it is because I have not tried our kitchen counter as a surface plate and am still alive to wonder about it.
Nevertheless if a CI plate came up at a bargain price I would buy it.
 
I like the cast iron surface plates their very good value second hand, mine was a bit knocked about on the edge when i got it but they buffed out ok.

Interesting side note, when i first used it for seeing how flat somhing was the blue brought out a distinctive scrape patern that you can't even feal when you run your fingures over it.

Stuart
 
Tozguy said:
Apologies to Jon if I am getting off topic but it might be possible that 'quartz' countertop material might be easy and cheap to come by for a hobby surface plate.
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I doubt that any of the "engineered stone" materials are stiff enough or stable enough. I'm sure it would make a fine workbench though.
 
Anyone consider tombstone granite? I bet a some of those monument companies have a mistake or two laying around. Just curious.

I remember McDonnell-Douglas used granite and they had a inspection team that used a laser to check for flatness.
 
I only use my CI plate for bladesmithing. It's flat within a .001, and does the job when scribing center lines or checking the straightness of a blade. I do occasionally use it for a finish lap for flat surfaces and find that it is much easier to clip a sheet of abrasive to it than to a thick granite plate. Why, may I ask, is lapping with a sheet abrasive on a CI plate bad for it?
 
Jonathans said:
I only use my CI plate for bladesmithing. It's flat within a .001, and does the job when scribing center lines or checking the straightness of a blade. I do occasionally use it for a finish lap for flat surfaces and find that it is much easier to clip a sheet of abrasive to it than to a thick granite plate. Why, may I ask, is lapping with a sheet abrasive on a CI plate bad for it?
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It is about impossible to keep the debris from getting under the paper. It is bad for both CI and granite plates. Even if you think the paper is not moving, and therefore not abrading the plate, it is moving and abrading the plate. Even in a hobby environment, you will cut a dish into a granite plate pretty fast, and even faster in CI.
It is perfectly fine to use a spray adhesive to tack the entire sheet to a plate that is the same size or smaller. I use my little granite plate for this purpose as a rough "lapping" plate.
There is a video where the guy from Bar Z went to that surface plate maker in California that makes all the top end plates, and he discusses doing this exact thing, and even recommends this as a valid use of a surface plate. I figure if the guy that makes and services plates for the space program and the Navy says that a granite surface plate is an excellent lapping plate, then I guess they are not just for inspection after all :)
 
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