New Purchase

[CPeter]

Over the weekend, I had a chance to pick up this surface plate and stand. It is 18"x24". I had a 12"x18" that sat on a work bench. This one is twice the size. I sold the old one and now I have my bench space back. Paid $100, not super deal, but fair.
Peter

[LKeithR]

...Paid $100, not super deal, but fair...

Say what? The cheapest of the import surface plates in that size will probably cost at least 150 bucks
and the stand would set you back 200 or more so you paid about one third of that. Never mind that the
plate in the pic is not a Chinese import and it's sitting on a very nice stand--I think you did pretty well...

[Toolguy]

Yeah - You Suck! That would be a killer deal around here.

[Dan Dubeau]

Nice plate. I've got one the same size, and at that size they actually become usable for layout and inspection. The small ones get too crowded to quickly imo. $100 on a stand is a pretty good deal too.

[tom_d]

Ummm......$100 with a support stand IS a supper deal. Good going, and yeah, "you suck"

[Commander_Chaos]

I paid 100 for my rock of ages plate that was smaller with no stand. I think you did really well

[metalmagpie]

I've been living with an 18x24" Starrett plate for a few years now and I'm looking for a 24x36" now. But the 18x24" was very usable for many tasks. I just had to lay out some holes on sheet metal and used the height gage on the plate and the layout was effortless and accurate.

Mostly, though, mine gets used for scraping smaller workpieces.

metalmagpie

[Arcane]

That is definitely a heck of a great deal!

[Bob Engelhardt]

I know nothing about surface plates, so I'm curious: when buying a used SP, what are the gotchas? I.e., what could be wrong with it that is hard or impossible to know?

[old mart]

Sounds like a super deal to me, definitely in the " you suck " category.

[rjs44032]

Very nice. Good for you.

Oh I don't want to tell anyone what I paid for my plates. I had to wait a long time to get a stand for my 36 x 48 though.

Best Regards,
Bob

[Bob Engelhardt]

... I had to wait a long time to get a stand for my 36 x 48 though.

What's so special about the stand? It looks like something one could weld up in an afternoon.

[rjs44032]

What's so special about the stand? It looks like something one could weld up in an afternoon.

Nothing really. I was going to purchase an old industrial table, stand, or machine base from HGR that I could re-purpose. I went to look at several and they never looked as good in person as in the pics. Just when I was about to give up and buy some angle and build it from scratch an actual surface plate stand came up for sale. I got it for less than it would have cost for the stock.

But this is CPeter's gloat thread. Don't want to highjack it further.

Best Regards,
Bob

[CPeter]

Well, the best thing about the stand is that it was all built and level and square!! I have other things on my plate now and no time to build a stand. It is square tube and very ridgid.
Peter

[754]

It's not just that. First you have to put the SF somewhere, till you build the table, then you have to get materials and built it.
so yeah , have a proper stand already made, huge plus. If its got wheels ...even sweeter...