Surface plates

[KemppiFrog]

The surface plate in the for sale section reminded me of dismantling a big biplane for road transport. We stopped for a bite and ate our sarnies sitting inside a helicopter hanger to get out of the cold wind.
Noticed that the convenient seating was a surface plate. It must have been 10x8 FEET. Never seen anything so big. Can't imaging how long it took to scrape flat, by a whole team of apprentices .
KF

 

[cumbriasteve]

My first task as an apprentice was to hacksaw through some 4"x4" mild steel bar, scrape one surface perfect then file the cut ends to exactly 90 degrees, if you upset the instructor he would hit the scraped side with a ball pein hammer and make you start again, I hated that guy with a vengeance.

 

[Shox Dr]

Are they not Blanchard ground. Mines 8'x3' and looks to be machine scraped

 

[Pete.]

Probably planed first then scraped or ground I'd say. Planing is a fairly quick process, grinding is slow in comparison.

 

[Bill Edwards]

My first task as an apprentice was to hacksaw through some 4"x4" mild steel bar, scrape one surface perfect then file the cut ends to exactly 90 degrees, if you upset the instructor he would hit the scraped side with a ball pein hammer and make you start again, I hated that guy with a vengeance.

No wonder, sounds like a charming guy...

 

[Wedg1e]

When I first started this job (23 years ago come Tuesday!!) we had a serface table that was easily 6x 4 feet. It had screw jacks under each corner between the table and support frame. We never used it as a surface; it was bought cheaply at auction with a job lot of other stuff and as it had a wooden cover we just used it as a bench for rebuilding x-ray heads.
When we moved premises in 2000 it was tossed in a skip - or rather, the local itinerants turned up with a skip truck and used the chains to hoist the thing aboard...