Here you can see two pieces of heavy weight steel box section that I purchased to use as an assembly aid for when i mount the granite Y sides. Using the built in threaded height adjustment bolts I raised the height of the granite surface plate gradually until there was sufficient clearance underneath the granite bottom and the top of the stand framework. You can see in the following picture how this worked.

I was then able to lower the granite onto the newly added lengths of box section. This created two secure legs on each side of the granite plate for which to stand the granite sides on for marking up, cementing and bolting. Resting the sides on smaller sections on the steel box section also means that the contact surface area is reduced making it easier to position and move, and ofcourse to take the weight of the sides until they are fixed permanently on.

Now I just had to figure out how to lift these elements to a reasonable working height. There was absolutely no way I would be buying an engine hoist to do a couple of jobs like this and then sit gathering dust and taking up space until the day I die.

Walk like an egyptian was the approach used to ift the pieces of granite on to some workbenchs on wheels. There was no way on God's green earth that I was gonna lift them on my own. Inching them up a ramp seemed to do the job incredibly well, and having these mobile, very sturdy workbenches really helped out.

Yeah its upside down I know. But it is one hell of a task to flip it over on your own. To be very honest during these stages of movement and tipping over etc I was very worried about how the granite might react to a slight drop impact. I was highly concerned that it might cause a large edge chip or worse a nail in the coffin fracture.

Now we are the right way round andready to Rock & Roll!! Just a gentle lift of the granite side to transfer it onto the box sections arms we discussed earlier

Right, I believe it will be best to split this part of the build into multiple pages or the load times will become rubbish,..

Thats all for now Folks! Keep an eye out for Part 2 coming shortly...

Please take some time to leave us some comments and lets try and get some conversation going,

Continue to Part 2 of the Surface Plate Prep & Drill Blog

THIS BUILD DIARY IS ONLY HOSTED ONLINE BY EMG PRECISION LTD. IT IS A PRIVATE HOBBY PROJECT BY MYSELF, JONATHAN GEE. THIS PROJECT BLOG IS ONLY A DIARY OF EVENTS WITH SOME IDEAS FOR HOW I FELT THE PROCESS WENT WITH SOME TECHNIQUES I FOUND USEFUL. THIS IS NOT AT ALL AN OFFICIAL GUIDE OF HOW TO DO THINGS AND YOU SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL ADVICE FROM COMPETENT PERSONS AND CONDUCT RISK ASSESSMENTS BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANY OF THE TASKS SHOWN IN THIS PROJECT BLOG DIARY.