Thread: turn plates

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I'm cheap...anybody have any ideas for building some good turnplates for doing front end setups...what to use for a bearing has me stumped...want some kind of setup that will turn freely, but stay centered so as to make using a degree wheel for measuring turn radius remains accurate,,,,Good one's cost about $800...and they're too big for my scale platforms, need them to be no bigger then 14" X 14"...

Any ideas, mostly for a good bearing. Plates could easily be made from 1/2" aluminum plate and hold up under normal use, I think?????

ball bearings will eat rite into the alum--did you think about putting them under the scales???
I did have i think 4 turn tables around here--probably Hunters--I ll take a look see

planning on taking the Hunter rack/alignment with me down south and my 24 foot I beams for chassis table--when we get away from here I plan on getting back onto the 33s and the Cobra

I've got a pair of the really old Hunter's Jerry, they're huge! I use them for just general setup and stuff...ok but getting a bit loose. Maybe you have the smaller one's? Think some of the newer style Hunters were a bit smaller.

I want to be able to use them either on the scales, or just on the scale platforms... and yeah, I like the aluminum idea, but the beaing has me thimkin'!!!!!

How about vinyl tiles with bearing grease between them....

Yeah, it works... But I'm after something fixed that will rotate and fit on my scale plates... I need the whole turnplate fairly rigid and minimal movement so I can have accuracy in the repeatablity when turning left or right of center to 20 degrees for alignment checks...

OK, consider this. If you could make the upper and lower plates round and make them just a tad bigger, at 14.323956" diameter, then each 0.125" around the outer perimeter would equal one degree. You could glue a cloth (actually, they're fiberglass, I keep one in my drag strip toolbag) seamstresses tape around the bottom plate perimeter and attach a pointer off the top plate.

So you have a top plate and a bottom plate. For a locating device, heavy wall aluminum tubing. Sleeve could be, for instance, 2 1/2" O.D. with 1/4" wall. Bore 2 1/2" hole in bottom plate to accept tubing. Glue vinyl tile to each plate and coat liberally with grease.

If you don't like Tech's vinyl tile idea, what about using his sketch as a starting point and putting a large tapered roller bearing in the center, like the carrier bearing from a Dana style rear end? Drop the outer down in the recessed hole in the bottom, then put your inner bearing in place and the plate riding on it. Should work as long as you keep the load centered.

Originally Posted by techinspector1

How about vinyl tiles with bearing grease between them....

My version - same thing but using masonite squares - I'm cheaper

Before you get too far with this, you may want to question why Hunter and Bear had the floating turntable to begin with. When you release the pens on those, they move a bunch. If they are fixed, any adjustments made will be loading the turning plates. Right?

Good ideas, thanks guys.. The floating part of the originals I believe is for the changes in tire position on the plate when turning as the caster and camber change... I think for my purposes, I want the plates fixed and let the tire surface walk on the plates a bit...

depends on how CHEAP you really are,, 480 a pair ain't bad,, except for the REALLY REALLY CHEAP croud

http://equiptool.com/i-365778-heavy-...et-of-two.html

Kewl, thanks for the links!!!!!