PSA! ARBOR PLATE DANGER

[MountainD]

I am sure many of you have seen the guy from Pirate that was sent to a hospital due to his cast iron Harbor Freight Arbor Plate exploding when he got hit by the shrapnel. My 20 ton press came with cast iron plates (harbor freight) and I have been using them for nearly a decade. But today on my A-Frame ball joint, I decided to take more precautions and I was damn lucky I did. When mine exploded, they hit the board (backed by 60lbs of fescue), bounced off it knocked back the grass, off the wall, off my truck onto the ground and another 1/2 was 15' away under the front of the truck. Not a clue on its path. Take proper precautions always, but get real steel arbor plates. I just opted for 9.75x9.75" plates that are 1.5" thick, 50-A572 steel.

 

[SARTech]

Damn!!! Glad you were cautious and thinking ahead.

 

[chris snell]

 

[pmatusov]

From this immortal article:
" Think of the convenience: You set up the lift in the morning, drop your car's subframe by noon, and be released from the hospital six weeks later, minus a foot."

 

[evilfij]

Oh well. Something is going to kill me. Do the new ones still have cast iron?

 

[JimC]

@evilfij i would like to point out that the aforementioned article includes an instance of the word “yeasty”

 

[FLY CUBS]

Well it looks like I'll be headed to the steel yard for some plate scraps. Time to get out the gas axle and make some copies!

 

[MountainD]

Problem sorted.

8.5” x 10” x 1.5”, solid plate, 50% thicker

 

[hackneyed1]

So tips on ID'ing cast iron vs other? Why wouldn't weights be cast?