V Step Angle Plate

[Dada]

Seems as though most machinists (myself) are always looking for an easy way to hold something that has to be machined, ground, drilled, layout Etc. with out a lot of setup work, most of the time it takes longer to setup your work piece than it does to do the actual machining process, this is why we have so many different tools, 90% of what we do can be held in conventional tooling such as a vise a v-block or just clamped down on a machined surface, now on the other hand that remaining 10% can be quiet tricky sometimes due to a parts irregularity in shape size or whatever.

This V-Step Angle Plate I made has more to it than just a 90°right angle references with a bunch of tapped holes, I wanted it to have tapped holes of course but it also has a step and a vee and three custom made work holding clamps, the step in the Plate is for clamping something square or rectangular and held at right angles so you can work on two opposite sides at once, creating an exact 90° on your work piece, the Vee in the Plate is for holding something round up to 1” in diameter either vertical or horizontal and at 90°, the remaining tapped holes are for attaching your work to the face of the Angle Plate as one normally would.

This V-Step Angle Plate was constructed from two pieces of 1” thick 4140 steel instead of one solid piece, the plate measures 1”X 4” X 4” X 4”, there are two 3/8” X 1 ½” dowel pins that locate the two Plates together at 90° and keeps the two Plates from shifting and three custom made ½” Diameter 4140 hardened steel screws which further draws the two Plates together creating an invisible solid joint after there ground, both Plates were fully machined then hardened, tempered and ground, they were then reassembled with the dowel pins and screws then reground all over again to insure 90° accuracy in any set position, also to conceal the screw heads and the joinery of the two plates, this plate will be used to hold work for precision grinding.

There are three custom made steel clamps that will hold work in any position on the Angle Plate, those three clamps are known as an Edge Clamp, a Face Clamp and a Yoke Clamp, the Edge Clamp and Face clamp can be used in conjunction with one another, the edge clamp will hold your work down on the step of the Angle Plate and the Face Clamp will push your work up against the face of the step on the Angle Plate holding your work at 90°, the Yoke Clamp was made to hold round work in the v-part of the Angle Plate, there are a series of tapped holes in the face of the Angle Plate to position the three clamps wherever they may have to be to secure your work, there are tapped holes in the edges of the plate to attach a stop on either side, this Angle Plate is precision ground all over, it can be turned or flipped in any position and be at 90°, the angle Plate has been checked on a surface plate with a tenth indicator and a cylinder square and is within .0003” of being perfectly flat, square and parallel in 4” of height.

This tool sells for $797.00 without the clamps at a USA Tool Mfg. Co. that I want mention the name of; I built it for $275.00 and allot of hours
I have included multiple photos of the machining, assembly and grinding processes it took to manufacture this tool,

As always, thanks for looking and happy machining
Doug

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Awesome design and workmanship. If I were still in the trade shops I would certainly make one. Now I am retired and relegated to my home shop with lathe and drill press. I appreciate seeing folks produce wonderful tools like this. Keep up the good work.