Everything You Need To Know To Find The Best Webbed Angle Plate

I don't have any and have had a need on occassion. I picked up a hollow block that was on sale and found it very handy. So now I'm going to get 1 or 2 slotted angle plates and wonder which ones are better, or the pros and cons of each style. I'm kind of leaning towards the open end ones, thinking that will give me more room to use clamps but the webbed end ones look stronger (and they're cheaper). Your thoughts please.
https://www.kbctools.ca/products/WORK HOLDING/ANGLE PLATES/SLOTTED ANGLE PLATES/.aspx
https://www.kbctools.ca/products/WORK HOLDING/ANGLE PLATES/SLOTTED ANGLE PLATES/.aspx No matter what, the slots are seldom in the right place, same goes for tapped holes; I like the webbed ends, but, yes, they do limit clamping; I think perhaps best are plates that are made thicker than the webbed type for increased stability and ridgidity. What offends my eye are angle plates that are Swiss cheesed with holes in random locations for specific jobs, that are unlikely to be repeated; better to make a sub plate that bolts or clamps to the angle plate. It's great to have webbed and drilled/slotted angle plates. The angle plates with slots can be clamped with washers in a variety of angles.
6" wide being ideal for most Kurt style vises. I use the web type when making precise, straight sided boxes. ( I also have plans for a mini sub plate;
1" thick aluminum, 6x6, 10-32 tapped holes., like the one OxTools made. Fits nicely in a Kurt vise and can be easily re surfaced.)

The AP slots and hole spacing vary with models/brands. I'd like to find one that square, L x W x H with slots one side, holes on the other. 6 x6.


All of the angle plates I've seen are either import or Suburban Tool. All on the pricey side.

I use a slotted AP, in a vise, set with a protractor for cutting angles
on small parts. I have no need just yet for a sine plate or bar. The AP's are very handy. Holding parts firm when using a height gage., on a mill table
with bolts, etc... The small Suburban tool plates are reasonably priced and can be found on Ebay for less sometimes. I have a non webbbed 6 X 8 for general setups and layout. I am looking to buy a 4 X 5 or smaller webbed one for machining on my shaper. There a a lot of uses for both. It all depends on if you need to clamp on the inner surface (which I do -a lot)

I want to use this angle plate for bolting something to the cross-slide of my mini-lathe.  Purchased many years ago, but finally found a use for it…after finding it in the bottom of a drawer.

Hengfeng supply professional and honest service.

The backside where all the nuts and washers will go is quite rough and I’d like to neaten things up so that fixings don’t work loose.  (And to keep up appearances with Mrs. Bucket.)

I seek advice for doing this without destroying my tooling.  I can’t tell if the roughness is cast, or sand that’s been painted over.  Am I going to ruin my Dremel stones on this?

Mike

On MikeK Said:

Thanks for the replies, gents.

I can’t get a finger sander just yet (I do want one, though).

What I just noticed is that the four slots aren’t evenly spaced.  It probably should have been one for the reject pile.  I’ll make some simple T-nuts and ruin a couple Dremel stones today.

Mike

Maybe not. Angle plates, like many lathe faceplates,  usually have cast-in slots, so they are not precision machined and may not necessarily be in exact positions. Patterns move around in the casting process, moulds distort, and castings distort.

Hence, T-nuts are usually not recommended. T-nuts are designed to fit in a machined T slot. Faceplates and angle plates with rough cast slots and uneven back surfaces work better with plain flat washers and nuts to grip on to the uneven surfaces and cock at an angle if one side is higher than the other. Plus you get to use the very ends of the slots which T nuts will not access.

A Dremel grinder seems rather small for such clean up work. Those expensive little grinding tips don’t last very long on a relatively larger job. If you don’t have a regular size die grinder (which most of us don’t) you can buy the regular size die grinder tips with the 1/4″ /6mm shanks and a stone from half to one inch diamater,  cheap enough and spin it in an electric drill. Most corded drills will spin fast enough for it to work ok for this type of clean up work.

There is a lot can be done too with abrasive flap wheels in the pistol drill, and others in fitted to 4″ angle grinder etc, although they wont get into sharp corners. For knocking out/off that congealed casting sand and iron dust, lot can be done too with a cold chisel or even a welder’s chipping hammer, or even just then end of a handy bit of steel bar ground to a bit of a point.

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Don’t feel too bad about the poor quality of the finish on your angle plate. My mate bought a not-cheap mid-sized Chinese milling machine from a reputable supplier to industry and hobbyists that had the same: painted over casting sand and iron dust still stuck to the castings. Including INSIDE the gearbox. Now, that took some fettling — in the original sense of the word, as it happens.

While you are at it, run a try-square over your angle plates and make sure they are actually square. Not all are created equal and some could use a touch up with a fly cutter to make them truly square. That matters more than the state of the cast surfaces.

I have both 6″ and 8″ fully machined Eclipse angle plates. Their slots are really out of proportion for their size as they are about 17mm wide at the machined face although casting draft reduces this to about 15mm. The slots are also extend too close to the fillet between the faces so large, say M12 or M14 bolts would not be able to get to the inner end of the long slots.

I use mostly 6, 8 and 10mm fixings and have accrued an assortment of washers and wide T nuts so the plates are used frequently, but the out of proportion aspect of the plates is mildly annoying. I am not averse to making modifications to manufactured/branded tooling even if newly purchased although on this angle plate I have just added two tapped holes on one edge but I cannot remember why now.

Like Jason I prefer the fully machined type of angle plate and the 4″ angle plate I bought at a show about 10 years ago has not been used although several times I have been tempted to take a hacksaw to it and remove the webs. I cannot imagine a machining set up where the strength given by the webs would be essential or beneficial.

If Mike K has milling facilities then he could make a silk purse of of his cows ear.

Ian P

You wil see my angle plates in use in just about every built thread I post and the vive comes on and off many times in a build but just to expand what I said last night

Two plates bolted together and to the table with M10 fixings as that is what fits the 12mm slot width of the mill’s table but M6 used to hold work to the plate. Bolted together in a U shape and the upper one angled to suit the job, the U shape is often more compact than the only option of “Z” with webbed plates so ideal for smaller hobby machines

Same job different setup again M10 to table and M6 to work. Note that the flat back without webs allows me to place G clamps anywhere I want if there is no may to use the slots.

Not sure I would have wanted to use just M6 fixings on a job like this . The M10 clamp sets also make good machinists jacks

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