Confessions of a surface plate abuser 

When I worked in the grind department at a company in Bad Axe, Michigan, we had one of these in each work area. They are very handy for cleaning up parts after they return from heat treat. We would rub the parts before measuring them on the plate and they thus saved wear on the plate (from the grit and residue which got stuck to the parts during heat treat, and which would have otherwise been rubbed on the plate and machine chuck) and made the parts stick much better to the chuck during the first cleanup. You could also easily see the locations of any burrs (and remove them) as well as the contact pattern which gave an indication of how the parts had warped in heat treat. They also put one at each work station in the mill department, where they could use them to knock off unseen burrs very rapidly. All of them were similar to yours, and used a full sized disk grinder pad, but had a 3/8" thick steel base which was Blanchard ground on both sides. They were heavy enough not to shift during vigorous scrubbing and yet light enough to pick up and move. At a cost of less than $300 in material, tooling, and time, I estimate that these would be cost justified in under a 40 hour work week for one person in a serious shop doing short production cnc machining and grind work. These were one of the most practical productivity-boosting hand tools in that shop.

Just a Tip from Africa, we do not have the facilities to have tools delivered to our door, so as a surface plate alternative we use a good piece of plate glass, fairly thick, I have mine set in a recessed block of wood, so it is safer, and I keep in in the corner of my shop. I have cleaned some motorcycle clutch covers that leaked because it was ever so slightly warped, some high grit on the glass and rub it in a circular motion managed to bring the mating surfaces in the same plane, and hey presto, the cover can be put back on and no oil leaks. Replace or turn the glass when you suspect low spots are developing. I check it by using a straight edge and feeler gauges. Obviously do not drop the work piece on the glass.

When a surface plate wears a hollow it can easily be filled up again with some sharpie! :D

"...and if we can't, we put a groove in the middle." Classic. 🤣🤣🤣

Robin and Tom, saving the world one surface plate at a time!

Really enjoyed this video Tom. I will probably never make this surface plate, but the little tips and tricks you through in almost as an aside are extremely helpful to me. Thank you

Tom spreading your knowledge to all of us is really greatly appreciated more than you know thank you very much

I love watching these kinds of projects... No blue print needed, just dig in and get it done... I'm learning a TON from seeing you and other machinists work. Thanks for bringing us along.

22:13 That's the kind of thing I love doing. Taking a look at the cast-offs and offcuts and imagining what you can use them for is more fun than doing that with a solid piece. There's just a hint of a challenge to it, but no real pressure other than the desire to not waste.

I really like the 4 jaw adjustment bolt setup for keeping the part parallel. I'm so envious of your wide variety of equipment and setup gadgets. I am living vicariously through your RU-vid videos thanks

Yeah, I have too confess too. I've done the same. I'm a maintenance machinest in a plastics factory. A couple months back I came into the shop, and the night shift mechanic had been working on some feed chains for a thermoforming machine and had used our 24x36 B Grade surface plate to set the chain on to swage the pins back into about 6 links. Needless to say, there are little pairs of chips that perfectly match #60 chain all over the plate. I lost my mind, chewed his ass for a while and post a sign on the plate stating "THIS IS NOT AN ANVIL KEEP YOUR GODDAMN HAMMERS AWAY FROM HERE" The sad part is we have two 4'x8'x 3/4" steel work tables one only 4 ft from where he did this. AAAAAAAAA!HHH!A!HG!HAHA!!!AAGAA!!!

When you were turning the OD, and counting down to the chuck jaws, I had visions of Captain Ramius, counting to the turn in the caves.

Always informative and interesting. Never stop Tom. It was great seeing you at the Bash.

Thanks for a really wonderful tutorial; this is how to make educational videos. Seeing you work on the lathe took me back to the 16 year old me, mid last century.

Nice new tool for the shop, good to see you again,,

Ahh sipping your coffee on a sunday morning while watching a new ox tools video is just great. Thanks for the great video Tom!

Hi Tom. A thought. After removing the material from one side (where the flat is), I’d flip it over, then make a very light pass with that X-acto blade to form a crease, then fold the sticky part of the abrasive disk over the other flat and trim the bottom. Now you can sand either one or both surfaces of a part that has an internal 90-degree angle (like an “L”-shaped piece.) 😎

Interesting to see rotary grinding. What did surprise me is that you didn't bother to bore the center hole when on the lathe to bring it truly concentric. Useful for other operations.

Cool video this is the 1st video of yours I’ve seen I like your work and personality you seem very easy to get along with so I’ll be checking out more of your videos.

When you peeled the backing off the paper, and then raised it up, it appeared to me that something had fallen off of the paper and was on the disc when you stuck the paper down.

Really cool. I have some surface ground 1inch plates, in 2 sizes in length. I use them for the same application. When they become compromised I regrind them and good to go. Also they serve as a good reference surface for flatness . good job tom!!!!

As ever, lovely work. Thank you Tom

Tom I like your idea with the Walmart bamboo drawer organizer...got one in my kitchen just like..! Good video...as always..!

Your demonstrate good quality control in your shop-good work!

The gloves being worn while at the bandsaw made everyone at OSHA quit

The first step is admitting you have a problem. Good on you for building a tool to help.

“Hi, I’m Tom.” “Hi Tom!” “I’m a surface plate abuser. I’ve been clean for 2 days.” (Applause)

Great video! Always a joy to watch! Guys out there don’t get to caught up on the size of the plate, they make all kinds of diameter sanding paper to fit what ever you find for a disc.

I absolutely love that wheel centering tool!

Heyyyy!!! I'm new to your channel. Nice work and I enjoyed the video. Down to earth, little humor and right to the point!!! I'll be here for awhile!!💪🏻👍🏻

When applying the paper, I would align the half that has the backing on it so it will slide and then stick it from the center outward.

Was anyone else going crazy as he stuck the sand paper down that there was a giant speck of dust that had settled on the plate and is now a class A scratchmaker?

Boy, Tom, it’s good to see some old fashioned lathe work on your show again.

Awesome video! I learned a boatload! Thank You!

Aloha Tom, I'm starting to worry about ME, I have a project set up in the mill that I left last night and here I set on a Saturday morning watching YOU work???? I do enjoy you talking through your thought process as I most always pickup on a tidbit of information here and there. Mahalo for your time and keep them coming.

Seriously, awesome video. Loved it!

Tom, I always marvel at your saw ! Cheers, Cliff

I do the exact same thing with my little 4x6 saw when cutting at an angle, pushing on the side of the blade until it catches. I’m not a pro so wasn’t sure if that was a pretty sketchy thing to do, but I feel a lot better seeing a pro like you do the same thing.

Turned out great, nice project....I've been using a pastry makers marble rolling plate with the same 12" sanding disks. It's surprisingly flat and water proof for wet sanding. Enjoyed...thanks Tom !

I like how Tom used the correct form of "jury rig." A lot of people say jerry rig, perhaps mixing jury rig and jerry built. The two terms have nearly opposite meanings. Good on you, Tom!

Oxtools: "That is as close as we will ever get" Abom: "Lets spend another 30 minutes centering this piece up so its dead on with no runout" AvE: "It runs about 2thou off.....Good enough for the girls I go out with." The Machinist world in 3 different takes.

Thanks for putting that blast shield up, I didn't have my eye protection at hand when I clicked on your vid!

I really enjoyed this video Many thanks

Thanks for the video Tom.

Nice shop addition!👍🏻

Tom, this turned out great! My inner voice is saying 3 points of contact for the feet but I wonder if that might cause tipping at the non-supported edges. Anyway, thanks for sharing!

You yanks seem to have every tool for every occasion. Here in the UK in my shop I dont have the room. When I was an apprentice, I would have scraped this to blue. Now that was skill!

Magnificent work!

Hi Tom, A job well done... Thank you for sharing... Take care Paul,,

Nice project and good advice Tom, however, early on, that off-center hole drives me nuts! LOL. Great video. Well played.

Thanks Tom...I really liked this video. The straight edges on the plate are money! I'm gonna head off to my local machine shop to see if they can 'doit toit' for me. I think it will be great for for my little hobby wood shop.sharpening...and save my granite surface plate. I guess a thick slab of float glass could work also if I was gonna only sharpen wood cutting tools...but I think the steel plate has more usefulness overall..

Lol I knew where you were going with this before you said it. Now I'll watch the rest of the video.

Before Tom even finished I knew he was going to mention Robin!

Nice project. On compressed air on machines. During my apprenticeship as a tool and die maker back in the 70‘s one thing we got hammered into our heads. Never ever use compressed air to clean precision machinery. During the year I worked in the mold shop we had the same rule.

Such a NICE bandsaw!

You should make a custom "Mr. Bozo" shop magnet that starts out completely bald and grows hair with steel chips.

While building my diy surface grinder I have already 150+ hours on it but I'm always watching your videos beside so it will take ages to finish the project 😂😂😂 I love your videos you are one of the best metal youtubers 👍👍🤪 With Rob, Adam,Toni,Joe and Stefan you're the creme de la creme 👍👍👍👏👏👏

I do emergency machine repair. When a plant full of workers are standing around waiting on me to get a bottleneck fixed, all tools are sacrificial. I am not proud of that. I'm proud of the reputation, respect and compensation I receive.

the best i have found on my cheap dedicated sanding reference plate is using 3m microfinishing film (or any mylar based sandpaper), wash the plate well, then put the paper down on the wet plate and squeege out the water from under the paper with a plastic card type squeege (very important) the paper is suctioned to the plate by surface tension, and not only does this keep the paper from moving and causing more wear on the plate, it keeps it quite flat to the plate so you dont have the leading edge of your part hit the paper wave and create a convex surface. work the part wet on the paper (not too much water or you will float the paper) the mylar based stuff dosent curl up like paper based sandpaper so you can re use it untill its dull. the 3m stuff is much more precision graded than regular sandpaper, and you can get it from 30 micron down to .1 micron.

nice touch with the flats. I got some sink drops from a granite counter top shop

Thanks Tom for sharing

You could make some magnetic feet that would be just a disk magnet with a steel post and self adhesive rubber pad. That would allow you to put a different grit of paper on the other side of the disk and just flip the feet to the other side when necessary.

McMaster-Carr is so awesome. They offer free CAD models that I use at my job all the time to plan assemblies. Great company.

Nice job Tom, looks very useful with the 2 straight edges. I'm wondering if a smaller 6" version might be useful the sandpaper for that size is readily available. Maybe even used like a bench stone that stays flat unlike regular stones?

Very well done as usual. Now I know what to do with all those 12" cast iron cutoffs that I don't have.

Thanks for sharing!!!

Always excited to see new oxtools vid

never get tired of chips flying sawdust production. or filings. call me crazy. for now, I live via youtube machinist I don't have a problem watching each and every operation from start to finish. i like every detail so that I can know for sure how the job is done.

very very good video..thanks for your time

Never knew about this. We always used a parallel bit of C250 Aluminium and double side sticky tape some emry tape to the back of it

Good tip with the brush handle.

Pretty nice plate, I live where cast Iron likes to turn into Iron Oxide in 3 nano seconds. Shars $30 looks like a good idea.

Nice video! A lot of woodchucks use sandpaper on glass as a flat surface for sharpening. You need a fairly thick piece of glass and many folks say you need "float glass" which is produced by flowing molten glass over a molten tin bath. I have used regular window pane glass and I think it is OK, but not surface plate accurate. Woodchuck stores also sell granite surface plates to use as sharpening platens with sandpaper. MDF from the big box hardware store is also remarkably flat and works OK, but does degrade over time.

At 5 minutes: putting the needle at 3 o'clock gets its movement inline with reality. Just a little something to help anyone wrapping their head around the variables.

Learn something new every time I watch your videos. @ 8:00 I didn't know avocado pits were magnetic

A little piece of tape can make removing an adhesive backing much easier. Enjoyed watching your work, thank you.

Amazing Job

i used to cut a lot of brake drums and rotors on various drum and rotor lathes.. i always tried to have some inch and a half disposable natural bristle wooden handle brushes next to the lathe.. i would rest the side of the bristles on the cutting tip.. so it deflected the chips downward.. nylon bristles just melted as did plastic handles sometimes. it does block the view.. but i would rather not have chips everywhere .

Great job! As a suggestion, I would have J.B. Welded a slightly undersize pin either before turning or roto-grinding. This would help prevent snagging on smaller parts or parts with sharp corners.

Some granite floor tiles at big box stores are extremely flat- I use one of those for most sanding if I don’t need greater precision

In my old Canberra sharehouse, my cohabitant had a big ol piece of stainless propping open the door with "That's Mr Doorstop to you" written on it

Does this plate come in a set of 16 or just 8. Very nice.

Thanks for the video and the tip about Shars. I just ordered a 9X12 Grade A surface plate from them on your recommendation. It was cheap enough but the shipping made my butt sore. Lol!

I need about 3 of those....lol. Great job. Thanks.

0:40 The OXO squeeze bottles are really good, worth every penny.

BEAUTIMUS -- VIDEO !!!

A starter guide bearing project for your bandsaw. One that pops out the way...or a brush handle bearing...

two things. could you use standard steel plate, 1" thick to build one of these? also, the lathe standoffs.. are there plans or a build video one could review.. i like those..

An incredible amount of work to make something you could have just purchased.

Most excellent.

I am curious what goes on in the minds of people who give this a thumbs down 😳. You make great videos! 👍👍

How much does leaving the stone dust on surfaces affect the longevity when not cleaned off after a quick stoning?

That's minor Tom, I worked in an aluminum castings shop in the straightening department. We had two sections the small parts section worker on castings that for the most part could be easily held in one hand. They had six work stations each had a surface plate typically 24 x 36. And a beating plate the same size. The beating plate was two inch thick semi polished steel. I was promoted to the large castings side where each work station consisted of just a 48 x 72 surface plate which was used to base qc and straighten parts. Chips and pocks where the norm. If they got to bad we would fill them with epoxy. Needless to say it felt pretty sacrilegious to beat on the plates like we did but corporate didn't seem to care

Or, to piss off as many machinists as possible, but be fine for almost every other use.... go buy a 8 or 12 inch granite flooring tile from the local big box store.

Is that powder-coating masking tape that you've got on the face of that indicator dial? Sort of an interesting idea.

if you make yourself some little copper covers that wrap around the chuck jaws (ie just use a longer strip of copper and bend it around the jaw) you can slip them over the jaws and not have to worry about having copper shims slip out when you back the jaws off too much while dialing in the part

You can clean the chuck by sucking with Your shop vac from the back of the lathe and then using a bottle brush to clean the jaw threads. Cleans the jaws and their threads really well unless You let go the bottle brush into the shop vac.

Honestly, I was expecting a pressfit pin for the center of that plate before finishing.

Hi Tom, first I want to say I admire your skills and love your enthousiasm showing how things are done. My question is (and I have to admit I know less than nothing about designing, machining etc.) , with all that precision you are working with, does temperature play a role? I mean, when you measure metal, according to my physic teachers, metal usually changes volume when tempreture changes . Does this influence your mesurements, and if so, how do you correct that? Again, I have absolutely no experience with this, I never even met a CNC machine. Finally, I am fascinated by what you show on your channels. You got a new subscriber.

great thing to wake up to and watch while i have my coffee