Home Made Star Plate

[hondo]

After purchasing a few star plates from skylighter, they worked fine for a while till the brass pins started falling out. The pins in SL star plates are only imbedded in the plate about 1/16 of an inch, which I thought was cheap but it was made in China. I repaired the ones I purchased by buying brass rod in approximately the same size and cutting new pins that were longer and drilling the holes deeper in the base material. I oversized the holes just a little in the base plate that held the pins, mixed up some JB weld, dipped the pin in the JB and stuck it in the hole, continued this till all the pins were in place, I then put the other side of the star plate over the pins and used a spacer to keep the 2 halves separated so as to not glue the 2 halves together, this also helped align the pins so they would slide out of the holes easily. If you get too much JB material, let the glue set up for about 5 hours and then get a knife and while the JB is still soft remove excess material, once dried and set I sanded the pins to uniform height. Star Plate done and ready for making more stars.

 

Making a new star plate----- after fixing the star plates I bought I figured I might try making my own. Seems to me Skylighters plates were made out of maybe bondo material for the bases, so I purchased some fiberglass resin for the blocks and balsa wood to make a mold and started. I made 2 moldes using the measurements of the ones from SL which are 7.5 inches long x 2 inch wide and 3/4 thick. Using balsa wood I made a form and hot glued the bottom, sides and ends together. I then mixed up fiberglass resin and poured it into the molds, tapped it to get the bubbles out and let it set up for 1 week, just because I went to the beach, be careful it gets really hot when it cures about 275 F, once cured I sanded each block smooth on all sides, I then clamped both pieces together and drilled the holes out, going completely thru the top and about 1/2 way thru the bottom block( the bottom block securs the pins in place. I drilled 2 holes on each end of the block first and pinned them together so they wouldnt move when I finished drilling the rest of the holes out. to make a hole template use a computer and type a row of dots spaced out for the size pin you are using then copy the line and paste on the next line and off set them, I was making a 1/4 inch star plate. when you get the spacing correct cut the template out and glue on to the block then you will have dots that help you drill the holes in a nice spaced manner, and start drilling, you need a drill press to get the hole straight up or plumb, Cut your pins to length and glue them in the bottom block the same way as described above. Dont forget to use a spacer so the 2 blocks dont get glued together. When the pins are set sand them to a uniform height, when the blocks are together I left 1/8 of the pin sticking thru the top bloce as to eject the stars.

 

 

cutting the pins, figure out how long the pins need to be, get a piece of wood and drill a hole in the wood the same depth, clamp the block in a vise, then insert the brass rods and cut the pin as close to the wood block as you can it makes it quicker to cut the pins and they come out pretty much identical in length.

 

 

I will try to post some pics soon

[andyboy]

Smart with the computer print-out. I'm way to old to figure out the simplest things about computers so it's nice when someone does it for me, thanks.

[hondo]

here are the pics

[hondo]

pic 2

[gordohigh]

Hey, nice turtorial, I'm surprised noone has commented in all this time.

 

I just constructed a 20 pin alu star plate and it was a job. I do have a mini mill and lathe so I was able to use them somewhat, however it is still a real challenge without cnc.

I never thought of a body putty as a block to cut for the male and female, I might give this a go being as I have all the drill sizes and tools already. I'll probably use aluminum for the pins as nobody carries brass stock around here.

 

Another thing, what is the standard proceedure for making stars in a star plate? I don't have a press, so I am using the vice which does the job, but it's quite awkward. Loading the material is time consuming too, packing it down in between presses. I could sure use some tips if anyone has any, or beetter yet, a tutorial. I looked on youtube and didn't see any.

 

The best part about pressing starss in a star plate is, they look perfect and are all the same size.

[Ventsi]

I was actually thinking of making one[video that is] though I need to speak to the person I bought mine from to see if they would like me to do it for them. If I do make one I'll post it here.

[gordohigh]

That would be great if you did an all out video showing the proceedure. I have finally gotten myself a nice 12 ton press from harbour freight, nice set up for a little over a hundred bucks! Since this last post, I have constructed a 1/4 by 20 hole star plate out of some alu plate/strap that was given, and used some alu round stock from lowes. It turned out really nice and since I also made a crossette pump, (3/4), i am itching to make something to light. Tonight I mixed a hundred grams of stronium nitrate based mag/alu red star comp and am planning on wetting it tomorrow morning and pressing a few stars and crossettes to see how my new tooling works, and to see some nice colorful stars burning, (to me, stronium is an awesome color with the added magnalium, (also home made). Look forward to seeing a video!! Edited March 7, 2010 by gordohigh

[TheWorkingsOfFire]

Hi, I've been trying to figure out how to make a star plate at the lowest cost possible and you my friend are a friggin genius. I am currently waiting on my resin blocks to cure so I can continue to build this press plate. I just purchased a brand new drill press ,but it's not laser guided and I don't have a printer anymore. Anybody got any ideas how I can get a perfect pattern? I was thinking of drawing a grid and going that route,but that takes forever. And also forgive me for asking ,but is there a reason you staggered the holes in yours? Did you do it for lack of strength in the resin block or is it purely aesthetic?

 

Thank You to all you original pyros for helping us fire breathing fledglings keep the fire burning

[Carbon796]

Clamp a fence to the drill press table, to establish your Y axis. Use a stop and multiple identical spacers to shift on the X axis.

 

An offset pin pattern can allow a greater pin density for a given size.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Carbon796

[TheWorkingsOfFire]

Thank you very much. As soon as I seen your post I went out to the shop and did just as you said. It took me all night to figure it all out ,but it worked.

I clamped both plates together and drilled all the way through the first and halfway through the other. Every hole is exact, precise and 100% identical.

Now I just got to figure out if I'm going to use epoxy, superglue, superglue or JB Weld to secure the pins with and I'll be all set on this project.

Again thank you so much for the advice. I hope I can return the favor sometime.

 

The fence and stop made this build possible and the staggered pin pattern looks great

Edited November 25, 2020 by TheWorkingsOfFire

[TheWorkingsOfFire]

OK so my new plate is completely cured now. Before I use it are there any comps,chems or metals that I should not use or put under that much pressure?

First and foremost Safety Safety Safety. And also what is the proper way to use a star plate?

[Zmuro]

Hey, nice turtorial, I'm surprised noone has commented in all this time.

 

I just constructed a 20 pin alu star plate and it was a job. I do have a mini mill and lathe so I was able to use them somewhat, however it is still a real challenge without cnc.

I never thought of a body putty as a block to cut for the male and female, I might give this a go being as I have all the drill sizes and tools already. I'll probably use aluminum for the pins as nobody carries brass stock around here.

 

Another thing, what is the standard proceedure for making stars in a star plate? I don't have a press, so I am using the vice which does the job, but it's quite awkward. Loading the material is time consuming too, packing it down in between presses. I could sure use some tips if anyone has any, or beetter yet, a tutorial. I looked on youtube and didn't see any.

 

The best part about pressing starss in a star plate is, they look perfect and are all the same size.

 

Making star plates on manual mill with DRO is simple, but time consuming. I have best results using removable pins from POM (derlin). If they get damaged they can be easily replaced and they are also lighter then brass pins. Aluminum pins can easily gall if not used right. Also just drilling holes in female plate is not good, since drill will leave marks on the walls and hole is larger on the side where drill enters the material. All holes have to be reamed.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Zmuro