alignment plate, and what about mic6?

[EricKeller]

go read up on mic6. the whole point is its flatness and hardness from the start.

The hardness part of this statement does not match my experience. As I understand it, its advantages are flatness and stability when machined. I'm pretty sure the stuff I have is real mic6, not one of the many copies, and it isn't particularly hard. Although I generally have to drop something on it to cause a problem. The stability part would be good for an alignment table. I think it would work fine for what you are proposing to use it for.

[crumpton]

its brittle, like most hard things.

[Doug Fattic]

Thanks Doug, real work experience kicks ass. but im not picturing the pad or how the webbing is attached. can you provide a pic of that entire 32x48 setup?

I’m completely incompetent to post pictures on VS and I'm too busy to try and figure it out. So I'll try and describe it. There are some pictures on flikr somewhere. Look under Doug Fattic’s students in the groups section or Helm Cycles. The aluminum table I use is cast as a single piece with webbing and pads. They are not attached. I just remeasured the top and it is actually 3/4" thick. The webbing is composed of a rectangle about 2" in around the outside edge with 3 Xs inside their own rectangle. Below the webbing are other smaller square surfaces like the top which I call pads. On the corners they are 5 1/2" square. In the middle of the web crosses they are 3" square. There are also 2 more on the outside web in the middle of the long side. That makes 9 of them instead of the 7 I said in the last post. These provide enough bottom flat surface to grind the top flat.

Everything comes from the factory ready to set up as your alignment table. The steel legs bolt directly to the corner pads. They have adjustable bolts on their bottom to level the table. You can also buy corner braces that can support a lower shelf. I’m not sure what the current price of the top with legs is but I think the total is around $1500.

[Jonathan]

Doug, what is the name of this casting shop and how does one contact them?

Jonathan Greene

[anthonymaietta]

The 2000 pound granite plate thing has to do with the fact that they are usually really cheap or free, lots of granite around. The people that really need granite don't want to go used.

...sometimes free has a funny way of showing up...like if the shipping company goes over a railroad track too fast and your table sways enough to rip the stand apart...



...you get your purchase cost and shipping cost refunded, so your table is free...and it takes two hours to drill and tap the posts to a bigger size...

[crumpton]

i'm a little confused, this doesn't sound like a flat mic6 plate but rather some 3d cast thing? thanks anyway.

I’m completely incompetent to post pictures on VS and I'm too busy to try and figure it out. So I'll try and describe it. There are some pictures on flikr somewhere. Look under Doug Fattic’s students in the groups section or Helm Cycles. The aluminum table I use is cast as a single piece with webbing and pads. They are not attached. I just remeasured the top and it is actually 3/4" thick. The webbing is composed of a rectangle about 2" in around the outside edge with 3 Xs inside their own rectangle. Below the webbing are other smaller square surfaces like the top which I call pads. On the corners they are 5 1/2" square. In the middle of the web crosses they are 3" square. There are also 2 more on the outside web in the middle of the long side. That makes 9 of them instead of the 7 I said in the last post. These provide enough bottom flat surface to grind the top flat.

Everything comes from the factory ready to set up as your alignment table. The steel legs bolt directly to the corner pads. They have adjustable bolts on their bottom to level the table. You can also buy corner braces that can support a lower shelf. I’m not sure what the current price of the top with legs is but I think the total is around $1500.

[steve garro]

One would think flat is flat. what are you going to do to warp a 2" piece of Al. enough to throw off building? as long as it's on a stable bed I'd think you are all good. Isn't this close to what say, an Anvil or Sputnik jig is constructed of? The only downside I can think of would be wear & tear from sliding height gages around or nicks from tooling - Garro.