Free 186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook:  
Get 2,000+ tool plans, full site access, and more.

User Tag List

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 12

Thread: Shop made lapping plates

  1. #1
    Supporting Member EclecticNeophyte's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    TriCities, WA.
    Posts
    82
    Thanks
    34
    Thanked 113 Times in 35 Posts

    EclecticNeophyte's Tools

    Shop made lapping plates

    Some time back, I was inspired to make a set of (3) lapping blocks, using 6" diameter cast iron rounds purchased from McMaster-Carr. I first faced them off on the lathe, then cut grooves using my sliding miter saw and a diamond blade. Following that came hours and hours of lapping each of the three blocks (labeled A, B and C) against each other. I didn't reach total optical flatness, but the results were good enough to use for general purposes. I now have three lapping plates that I can re-cut and re-surface whenever needed, just by rubbing them together in the proper sequence.

    Shop made lapping plates-20171207_155336_small.jpg

    Shop made lapping plates-20171127_141710_small.jpg

    Shop made lapping plates-20171128_125637_001_small.jpg

    Shop made lapping plates-20171221_171135_small.jpg

    It wasn't difficult, just a bit tedious with a lot of repetition during the lapping process.

    -EN

    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook

  2. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to EclecticNeophyte For This Useful Post:

    bigtrev8xl (Feb 9, 2021), bruce.desertrat (Feb 15, 2021), davidschutt (Feb 9, 2021), Home-PC (Feb 10, 2021), Jon (Feb 7, 2021), journeyman61 (Feb 9, 2021), mwmkravchenko (Feb 8, 2021), nova_robotics (Feb 8, 2021), rossbotics (Feb 15, 2021), Scotsman Hosie (Feb 9, 2021), tooly (Feb 27, 2021)

  3. #2
    Content Editor
    Supporting Member
    DIYer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    3,056
    Thanks
    772
    Thanked 1,850 Times in 1,652 Posts


    Thanks EclecticNeophyte! We've added your Lapping Plates to our Sharpening category,
    as well as to your builder page: EclecticNeophyte's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:




    2000 Tool Plans

  4. #3
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Posts
    173
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 35 Times in 28 Posts
    I have a antique small square lapping plate that was made to sharpen hair clipper blades.

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to tlnixon For This Useful Post:

    Toolmaker51 (Feb 14, 2021)

  6. #4

    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    39
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 56 Times in 20 Posts

    N4NV's Tools
    I made mine out of the same McMasterCarr drops as well:



    Vince

  7. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to N4NV For This Useful Post:

    Jon (Feb 10, 2021), mwmkravchenko (Feb 11, 2021), nova_robotics (Feb 10, 2021)

  8. #5
    Supporting Member EclecticNeophyte's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    TriCities, WA.
    Posts
    82
    Thanks
    34
    Thanked 113 Times in 35 Posts

    EclecticNeophyte's Tools
    Starting in the mid 1970's, my first real 'career' was as a factory trained diesel fuel injection repair tech. The shop owner had a square one about the same surface area as the 6" dia plates. We used it to lap internal sections as well as the nozzle tip, when rebuilding unit injectors for Detroit Diesel engines (which were two stroke in those days). Anything that required a metal to metal seal would be hand lapped on that little cast iron block. Muscle memory still allows me to do the figure eight pattern, without hesitation...I sometimes wondered if I did it in my sleep!

    -EN

  9. #6
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    7
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
    Quote Originally Posted by EclecticNeophyte View Post
    Some time back, I was inspired to make a set of (3) lapping blocks, using 6" diameter cast iron rounds purchased from McMaster-Carr. I first faced them off on the lathe, then cut grooves using my sliding miter saw and a diamond blade. Following that came hours and hours of lapping each of the three blocks (labeled A, B and C) against each other. I didn't reach total optical flatness, but the results were good enough to use for general purposes. I now have three lapping plates that I can re-cut and re-surface whenever needed, just by rubbing them together in the proper sequence.


    It wasn't difficult, just a bit tedious with a lot of repetition during the lapping process.

    -EN
    I saw youtube where the person lapped an iron flat against surface stone, using diamond grit powder

    did you use any grit?

  10. #7
    Supporting Member EclecticNeophyte's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    TriCities, WA.
    Posts
    82
    Thanks
    34
    Thanked 113 Times in 35 Posts

    EclecticNeophyte's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by satx View Post
    I saw youtube where the person lapped an iron flat against surface stone, using diamond grit powder

    did you use any grit?
    Sounds to me like the method used to flatten a granite surface plate, but yes I did (more than one actually). You can use common valve grinding compound to start, and then move to finer grits once the plates show good flatness. I think I started with Timesaver #111 (green can), then moved to finer grits from there. Tom Lipton has a good set of videos on YouTube. He's also the one who encouraged me to make a set. The idea of using a sliding miter saw to cut the grooves was my small contribution to the effort...

    Hope this helps.

    -EN

  11. The Following User Says Thank You to EclecticNeophyte For This Useful Post:

    Moldyjim (Feb 9, 2021)

  12. #8

    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    158
    Thanks
    100
    Thanked 28 Times in 22 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by tlnixon View Post
    I have a antique small square lapping plate that was made to sharpen hair clipper blades.
    I have one too! It was a flea market find.
    The seller had a bunch of new/old stock kits.
    Mine is about 6" and round.
    Came with a bottle of liquid lapping compound.
    Works well for flattening small perts.

  13. #9

    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    158
    Thanks
    100
    Thanked 28 Times in 22 Posts
    Small PARTS!

  14. #10
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2020
    Posts
    48
    Thanks
    3
    Thanked 41 Times in 20 Posts
    Generating a flat surface cast iron surface plate, actually three, is done in the same manner, marking one with another then hand scraping the high spots repeatedly until the high spots are all the same height as the lowest. Then parallels, angle plates and other shapes are hand scraped to the surface plate, generating shapes to use as marking standards to hand scrape machine tool ways for accuracy. Prussian blue is used on the marking tools or surface plates then rubbed against the part being scraped. Tolerances scraping the masters can be held to .0001 inches using this method. At some point even the extremely thin layer of the prussian blue is too thick and alcohol is wiped on and dried to a haze, the marking tool leaving tiny shiny spots to scrape. Hand scraping is quite an art, taking a long time to master but that is how all machine tools were made to such accuracy, even to creating the grinding machines used to grind the precision modern ground ways on machines made today.

    I've done some of this over the decades but don't consider myself any sort of an expert at it. For one thing I don't have the patience.

    Most all of my ancient lathes, mills, even a surface grinder, being 100 years old or more were hand scraped new and in rebuilds in later years. I took much of my early machinist training was in line shaft driven shops, even one small lathe I first learned on was originally powered with "velocipede pedals". I have no CNC experience and very little NC in earlier punched tape equipment.

  15. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to the harmonious blacksmith For This Useful Post:

    Philip Davies (Feb 14, 2021), Toolmaker51 (Feb 14, 2021)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •