Metal Plate Sources?

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willbird
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by willbird »

From past experience with tooling plates I can say one might REALLY want it to be anodized. The professionally made plates may be hard anodized which makes a really nice product.

One place I worked decided to make their own tooling plates and those in charge of the project scoffed at the idea of any need for anodizing....once the prototypes were in use for less than a month they changed their tune :-). The ones I speak of were exposed to metal cutting coolant which always has either an acid or basic PH....the damage from galvanic corrosion within a month was pretty extreme.

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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by willbird »

Bruenor wrote:Out of curiosity I looked at several local metal distributors charging $60-$80 for a 0.25" x 12" x 24" aluminum plate.
You can get pretty much the same aluminum plate new on ebay for around $35.00 + s&h

I always wonder how some stuff on ebay is so comparatively inexpensive.
Typically when you quote a job you quote the price including the whole sheet of metal, if you cutout several 12" x 24" openings in the main plate the customer still buys that metal but does not get it. The same is true of "drops"...the end of a 12' or 20' bar of round stock used to cut a series of parts from....if you were cutting 18" lengths (cut at 18-1/8 to allow machining) you end up with a leftover portion, the customer buys that too, but the mfg keeps it :-). Selling stuff like that is "found money". Some shops carefully mark the leftover material and store it....but that costs money too. And I have seen many times when a drop was mis marked, a part was mfg from it, and failed in heat treat because it was the wrong material.

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Bruenor
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by Bruenor »

That makes total sense, probably where a lot of the steel plate at Hemlys comes from. Love that hardware store.
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deanimator
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by deanimator »

I just bought a cheap drill press from Harbor Freight, so my options have expanded quite a bit.
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Bruenor
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by Bruenor »

I'd grab a piece of peg board from home depot to use as a quick template for locating the grid holes. a #7 drill bit, a deburring countersink bit, and a 14/20 tap After drilling your holes with the #7, and deburring them I'd then tap by hand using the tap in the drill press unpowered spinning the chuck by hand.
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willbird
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by willbird »

Bruenor wrote:I'd grab a piece of peg board from home depot to use as a quick template for locating the grid holes. a #7 drill bit, a deburring countersink bit, and a 14/20 tap After drilling your holes with the #7, and deburring them I'd then tap by hand using the tap in the drill press unpowered spinning the chuck by hand.
For the intended purpose one could even use bigger than #7. I only buy TWO flute taps in the smaller sizes.

http://www.tapmatic.com/tapping_questio ... ength.ydev" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting link there....dropping to a 70% thread cuts the tapping torque in half.

These work pretty decent....the #1 cause of breaking taps when hand tapping is not keeping the tap straight.
https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/05041868" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Found this item while looking at pegboard....if this were glued to say 3/4" MDO the end result would be pretty stiff
http://a.co/jg4uFcG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.andersonplywood.com/395/mdo ... y-overlay/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have never tried tapping MDO....
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deanimator
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by deanimator »

I got the drill press set up last night.

I'd previously bought a about a 3/4" x 2 1/4' x 11 1/4" wooden board (apparently a remnant left sitting on the rack of longer boards), a 3 5/8" x 3 5/8" x 3" furniture foot, and some threaded inserts.

I drilled (on my second try) a hole for a 5/16" thread liner. I then screwed the foot into the board.

I drilled a hole for a 3/8" thread liner. I then screwed the tripod head into that.

The whole thing is fastened to my table top with C-clamps.

I'd still like to make it heavier, so I my add some sort of metal plate to the bottom of the board.

For mounting accessories, I'm considering mounting square section rails along the edges of the long sides into which I can mount 1/4" thread inserts, since so far I haven't been impressed with the stability of the "crab claws" that came with the "magic arms" onto which I've mounted my flashes.

This probably isn't the last version of this, but it's been a heck of a lot easier to do, even with a cheap drill press.

So now, I'm just probably looking for a plain plate which I can bolt to the bottom of the board.

I'll post some pictures when I get the chance.
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by AlanM »

Google or Amazon "T track".
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by deanimator »

AlanM wrote:Google or Amazon "T track".
How would you suggest mounting it? Surface or flush?
I don't have a router/table and don't know if anybody I know has one.
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by AlanM »

deanimator wrote:
AlanM wrote:Google or Amazon "T track".
How would you suggest mounting it? Surface or flush?
I don't have a router/table and don't know if anybody I know has one.
Then I guess, surface, along the long sides of the "plate". That would give you infinite positional adjustment for your lighting.
AlanM
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deanimator
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by deanimator »

AlanM wrote:
deanimator wrote:
AlanM wrote:Google or Amazon "T track".
How would you suggest mounting it? Surface or flush?
I don't have a router/table and don't know if anybody I know has one.
Then I guess, surface, along the long sides of the "plate". That would give you infinite positional adjustment for your lighting.
I'll definitely have to think about it.
It's certainly an affordable solution.

Thanks.
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by deanimator »

AlanM wrote:Then I guess, surface, along the long sides of the "plate". That would give you infinite positional adjustment for your lighting.
After looking at those and similar items, I actually will get at least a couple.

Thanks for the idea.
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by AlanM »

You're welcome. It's the engineer running around in my head that is always looking for inexpensive solutions to problems.

On an off topic subject. Would you happen to know what the color temperature is like for the "white" LED lights that are now so common?
AlanM
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by deanimator »

AlanM wrote:You're welcome. It's the engineer running around in my head that is always looking for inexpensive solutions to problems.

On an off topic subject. Would you happen to know what the color temperature is like for the "white" LED lights that are now so common?
Unfortunately, it's whatever THAT light is.

You'd actually have to cite a specific product... and LOT of that product.

Hell, I've heard that the color temperature of Ikea Jansjo lamps varies from lot to lot. That's why the serious macro people recommend buying as many as you need all at once, to enhance the chance of getting all of them with the same color temperature. That's why I jumped on the two pack of them from Amazon when USPS lost/stole the first two that were purchased [simultaneously] as two individual items.

As it was, I had to set a custom white balance with the Jansjos, as daylight was WAY off when I took my first test shots.

I just shot this with the Jansjos. It's the top of a 1/2" long 3/8" threaded rod:

Image
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Re: Metal Plate Sources?

Post by deanimator »

I just ordered three rails and accessories.
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