What wings are you using with your Freedom Plate?

[Murf-Diver]

Hacksaw. Its just a backplate, not the Sistine Chapel. If it doesn't work, just weld it back together. No harm done.

Trust me I know that, my company has a stainless metal shop, my current plate has two square lumps of 316 welded to the back of it.

 

[Bison Ravi]

The rail was welded to the plate, it was not removable.

There seems to have been a few different models of the plate. Mine is like this:




I have another one with just a small stand pushing the bottom of the tank off the plate also, but haven't used it yet. There was some aluminium models at some point too.

 

[maniago]

Trust me I know that, my company has a stainless metal shop, my current plate has two square lumps of 316 welded to the back of it.

If you have the solution at your disposal, and you're still whining, then you're just fishing for attention.

Fix your plate and post your mods - this thread is about posting solutions that everyone can learn from.

 

[ams511]

Sorry the Freedom plate didn't work out for you. I'm glad you're happy with your new plate.

Eric, how time-consuming is it to cut the slots in the plate? The reason I ask is maybe you can make plates without the slots and then add the slot to match the wing before shipping. Another thought I had is to make the top slot exactly 2" and the bottom slot longer, I am pretty sure that would work in holding the wing in the same place yet being able to accept all wings.

 

[maniago]

Eric, how time-consuming is it to cut the slots in the plate? The reason I ask is maybe you can make plates without the slots and then add the slot to match the wing before shipping. Another thought I had is to make the top slot exactly 2" and the bottom slot longer, I am pretty sure that would work in holding the wing in the same place yet being able to accept all wings.

(changed your mind about your post, eh?

My guess is that the slots are laser cut before he bends them. Either way the long slots make it versatile for any wing, since it seems the wing mfgs have their own ideas about where to put slots. Seems to me that the whole slot thing just starts to get stupid really quick if you limit options...dunno.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

To do it right it can be very time consuming. Depends on the tool selected. I have an 87 k psi waterjet with dynamic heads available. cutting new slots could take an hour to set up on a plate that is already bent. Then maybe half an hour of actual cutting. At $100.00 an hour.
Doing it "by hand" would be a real biatch. I don't know what Eric has available but I would want a cnc plasma cutter, mill, or some other precision tool. Doing each set of slots by hand on demand after the plate is formed would not be worth less than an additional hundred bucks. On a formed plate at least that. Then time to finish the slots on top of that.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ams511]

My guess is that the slots are laser cut before he bends them. Either way the long slots make it versatile for any wing, since it seems the wing mfgs have their own ideas about where to put slots. Seems to me that the whole slot thing just starts to get stupid really quick if you limit options...dunno.

Things become troublesome for Eric because he only sells a plate not a combo. Other plate manufacturers don't care if you cannot use their plate with another manufacturer's wing. I am trying to figure out a way that Murf's complaint can be addressed in a cost effective manner. Judging from Jim's response it is not cost effective to cut the plates to order.

For some wings the spacing doesn't matter because the slots are long and can accommodate any plate: Hog, Dive Rite, Oxycheq* and some others fall into this category. . For other wings spacing does not matter because they require and STA: Halcyon, DRIS, UTD, and some others fall into this category.

For others there are minor variations in spacing. I would need to survey my wings and plates but I think they fall into two categories as far as slot spacing goes. For example with a Hollis S25 wings a HOG and Storm plate didn't work, but an Apeks and Abyss did. I don't remember if I tried a DSS plate. The variations are small and in many cases you can "make it fit" by using a bit of force.

I think my second suggestion may work better. If the top slot is two inches then the cam band will hold the wing in place and it will not slip up or down. The bottom slot can be oversize to take up the difference in the slot spacing of the wing.

* There are some reports that Oxycheq no longer uses the long slots.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have the plates laser cut out of a 4' x 10' sheet of 10n GA. 316 s/s. I get 36 units out of a sheet evenly divided between large and small sizes. For every desing change, even with something as minor as a slot change I would have to submit another design template and have another full sheet of units cut with that design, otherwise they will charge me through the nose for a partial run. I have to pay for the whole sheet regardless if it's 316 because it's special order.
When I get them they are precision cut and the edges are rasor sharp. I have to do all the tooling to round over the edges, then I shape them, then flap disc grind any hammer marks - burrs, etc.
After they are where I want them I weld on the rails, then give them a final sand with an orbital, then line sand surface them with a grey scotch brite.
BTW, to keep that facory finish, all you have to do is scrub them with a grey scotch brite and they will look like the day you got them.
The slots need to remain where they are and the length they are. The reason for this is because there are so many different wings out there with different slot configurations. Some people may want the wing low and some people may want the same wing high. If I have a 2" slot on top then that same wing can only go in one spot which means somebody will not be able to use it. The way it is now both people can use the same wing two differnt ways.
The whole line up and adjustment thing to me is minor.
This is the first complaint I've had of this kind out of hundreds of plates.
Most people I know who use a Freedom plate would never complain about set up because something so trivial isn't even on their radar.
It becomes automatic to me to just know where I want the wing according to the plate according to the tank shoulder. I snap down the cam bands and I'm done. 30 seconds tops, it's not rocket surgery.
I use an Oxycheq 40# wing.

I have heard of people drilling a hole in the plate and attaching the wing to the plate to make set up easier. This is great once they learn where they like the wing. I could do it for them but it seems they have it covered. There are a lot of handy people out there who can do stuff and continue to grow the design with their own modifications to fit their style. This is what I love.
I can't drill holes in new plates because I have no idea what wing people are going to use, and I don't know at what height they want the wing. I would have to drill a dozen holes in the plate to accomodate everybody that can't figure out how to set up the plate with a loose wing. That would destroy the cleanliness of the design and the simplicity I'm after.

 

[ams511]

I have to do all the tooling to round over the edges, then I shape them, then flap disc grind any hammer marks - burrs, etc.
After they are where I want them I weld on the rails, then give them a final sand with an orbital, then line sand surface them with a grey scotch brite.
BTW, to keep that facory finish, all you have to do is scrub them with a grey scotch brite and they will look like the day you got them.

Off topic but how exactly do you get the shiny finish? The Abyss plate I mentioned above has a dull finish I would like to make shiny. Also does the grey scotch brite remove scratches?

 

[maniago]

That would destroy the cleanliness of the design and the simplicity I'm after.

Don't change a thing. IMHO once you go to a BPW, you've stepped into the tinkering stage of diving. A small step, but a significant one none the less.

As they (used to) say in another area of fun, "Buy a Harley, get a hobby". Same goes here.