A Shop Built Adjustable Angle Plate

[astroracer]

I had posted these pics in another thread but, rather then hijack that one I will make on of my own.
Here are some screen shots of my version of Fred Giesler's design that was in the Dec. '95 PIM. I made it a bit bigger and went with 1/2" plate instead of his 3/8th's but it is essentially his design.
My plates are 6 x 8 and I designed the side guides to allow the table to go to 90* verticle also.





I have the plates cut to size and squared up but decided to put a DRo on the FrankenMill to make drilling the holes a little more fun rather then a chore...

Mark

 

[astroracer]

After installing the TPAC Tools DRO I knocked out the holes in both plates. The top has 30 holes that will be tapped with a 3/8-16 tap and the base has 9 holes tapped the same and 9 holes drill ed and counterbored for 5/16th's mounting bolts.

The base plate all drilled and tapped. The three holes on the left are drilled and c'bored from the bottom for the hinge block bolts.

The top plate.

Still have to notch the top plate and make the hinge block but those are easy after tapping all of those holes.

Thanks for looking!
Mark

 

[astroracer]

I didn't get back to this until a week or so ago. Summer had me doing other things.
I finally got all of those holes tapped and the top plate notched out for the hinge block.

I also made the hinge block and got that drilled and tapped for the mounting bolts. i could have made this out of some 1/2" key stock but I LOVE offhand cutting on the VBS.

Marking the holes in the hinge block after fitting it to the notch in the top plate.

I used a .25 dia. transfer punch to mark the holes in the hinge block.

Mark

 

[astroracer]

Finished up the hinge block tonight along with drilling the holes for the side plates, hinge pins in the top plate and the hinge centering holes in the hinge block.

Tapping the hinge pin holes in the top plate. The "hinge pins" are simply cone pt 1/4-20 set screws that lock into #3 centerdrilled holes on each end of the hinge block.

Doing a trial fit. Everything looks pretty good.

It opens up just as planned! Now to get the side plates made.

I hope to get the side plates done this weekend.
How should I finish this? I would like to do a black oxide but have nevr done anything like that. Paint would work okay but I think a nice professional style finish would look better. i guess I'll hit up Caswell for a kit.
Mark

 

[astroracer]

I got out in the shop this morning and knocked out the side plates. I used a piece of 1/8th in strapping I dug out of the scrab bin.
Laying out the pattern on one of them.

i cut the plate in half with my bench shear. Easy.

With one laid out and two pieces in my hand i clamp them in the milling vice and drilled a BUNCH of holes. Drilling the holes first, like I did, works well with small parts that are only clamped on their edges.

After drilling the holes I swapped the drill out for a 1/4" endmill and milled the slot. This method puts a lot less lateral force on the milled pieces which keeps from pushing them sideways in the vice. Also notice the two sticks of 1/8th inch aluminum rod. Those crush down in the vice and help in clamping the two plates in place.


Two slotted plates.

I trimmed these up on the bench shear and clamped them together for radiusing the corners.

All done other then finishing.

Bolted up and functional!

Thanks for looking!
Mark

 

[astroracer]

Using set up angles and parallels to set the angles will make for accurate milling.

I set a piece of 1/4" plate under the angles to put them on center to the pivot point of the top plate. I will probably end up making a jig so i can clamp the angles in place during set up. I need to pick up a digital angle gauge. That would make setting angles a no brainer...

It also clamps nicely into the milling vise. That will make for quick set ups when doing light cuts on aluminum.

Another fun project! (except for tapping all those holes...). This will work well and will be aversatile addition to my shop.
Now to get it finished so it doesn't rust all up on me.
Mark

 

[rgray]

Nice project. I've just in the last month tried "everbrite" for protecting bare steel. So far I like it but it's only been a month so time will tell. Lots of good reviews on it though.

 

[astroracer]

Thanks Russ, it was fun other then tapping all of those holes! I am thinking I want to black oxide the plates. Has anyone used Caswells cold black oxide kit?
Mark

 

[Fabrickator]

Nice job on the angle plate and I'm sure that you'll find a bunch of new projects to use it on. I would suggest that if you have a rotary table you can combine them and you cut something as complex as a diamond, like my "Diamonds" are Forever" project on this site.

Rick

 

[brino]

Great design and implementation.
What CAD package did you use for those drawings?

-brino