Now this is a workbench top!

[SRX]

http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/tls/3314011843.html

That's a chunk of granite!

 

[Exceller8]

I would love to have that in my shop! I have a small piece and I use it all the time. Here it is with one of my Wilton vises sitting on top:

 

[daveroy]

Would make an awesome table for a smallish mill! Can you say vibration dampening!

 

[ndoran]

that looks like an inspection table that has had a CMM or similar mounted on it. Granite is a wonderful material - it is not the answer ofr everything

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I have a 36" X 48" X 6" slab sitting out in a shed. It was used on a prototype production machine. Granite was used because of it's mass, and in this case, because it's a surface plate and extremely flat. The one I have is upside down on a pallet because it's too freakin heavy to flip over.

 

[Exceller8]

I have a 36" X 48" X 6" slab sitting out in a shed. It was used on a prototype production machine. Granite was used because of it's mass, and in this case, because it's a surface plate and extremely flat. The one I have is upside down on a pallet because it's too freakin heavy to flip over.

Harvey, take a few pix if you get a chance.

 

[Primered Thunder]

Granite has very poor vibration dampening characteristics. That's why it is sitting on those air bags. Granite is used in precision measuring application because of it's thermal stability characteristics and ability to be ground flat over a large surface area ... judging by the large thru-holes in the center I'm guessing this was part of a precision profilometer.

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

Harvey, take a few pix if you get a chance.

Here is the beast, it's on the bottom. Two 18" X 24" X 3" surface plates are sitting on top. These were also used for a machine base, in this case due to their mass.We converted an old bench top drill press into a vacuum based liquid cooled core drill. The holes have a metal plug epoxied into them, then they are precision drilled for a threaded hole.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The label on the side of the table indicates that it was made by Magnetic Peripherals Inc, a subsidiary of Control Data Corporation.

It was probably owned by Magnetic Peripherals, but I doubt they made it. MPI was a division of Control Data that built computer hard drives, I used to work for a company that built some of the parts for their hard drives. It would be a good surface plate for measuring things or making inspections, I wouldn't use it as a workbench.

 

[Zebu Fellenz]

Looks like an old CMM table to me...