Cast Aluminum Build Plate

Hey all, I finally found a company that sells cast aluminum tool and jig plate. They are surplus bought from tooling companies. They are round. I ordered the thinnest piece that is 5/16" x 16.75" diameter. It was $16.00. It;s big enough to get my 8 1/2" x 9 1/2" build plate out of. I'm going to have a local machine shop flycut one side down to 3/16" in the middle of the disk and then have a shop laser cut the middle rectangle out. The guy said that they come almost perfectly flat unlike mill plate. He said that he hones the surface with emery cloth to get it flatter yet. Per DD's reccomendation on build plates and the realization that mill plate is not very flat I think that this might be the answer.
[www.sandsmachine.com]

Both midwest and mcmaster sell the stuff as well. Midwest has very low pricing and will cut to size. They also frequently send out discount emails.

[www.mcmaster.com]

[www.midweststeelsupply.com]

Got my plate today. 2 days from California. It's a beautiful thing and looks very flat.

That was a good, cheap deal! Looks nice- you could always use it as is- there are a lot of round heaters available.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

dang, i want one thats 12 inches. seems like its hard to find unless its real thick :-/

You can have the 5/16" laser or water jet cut but they need a PDF drawing file for their machines. I exported my drawing files as a DXF and coverted it to PDF using an online conversion company for free.