Best Place to Get Micro Plates?

[DPMuller]

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The attached picture shows the 1.25 lb plates I had laser cut for myself (see edge quality for a laser cut surface). The laser programmer has my prints for the whole set (1/4, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 1, and 1.25), so we'll be getting those cut soon. I have extra sets being cut above what people have already spoken for, so anyone else who's interested can PM me.

One user brought it to my attention that 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 lb plates give uniform jumps from 0.5 to 5.0 lbs. Another requested .625 lb plates to go with 1.25, to split the 5lb increment up into 4 even parts (1.25, 2.5, 3.75, 5). I'm having everything made, and will either include everything (if it fits in a small Flat Rate box) or whatever you request.

Darn - I wish I would have seen this before I bought the Rogue micro plates and realized how crappy (but colorful) they are.

[Dan Miller]

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The attached picture shows one each of the 1/4, 1/2, 5/8, and 3/4 lb weights that I just picked up from the laser cutter. These are made from 3/16" thickness plate. I'm making the 1 and 1-1/4 lb plates from 1/4" plate, slightly thicker so the OD is smaller (so it fits in a cheaper postage box). The 1/4" program will be cutting shortly, upon which I'll start mailing the sets of plates out. I've sold about 5-6 sets of plates so far, but I had 10 sets made so anybody else who's interested can just PM me for details.

[Dan Miller]

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These will start mailing out tomorrow morning via USPS. The entire set just barely fits inside a small flat rate box. I decided to raise the price to $25 going forward (now that I've done a few and figured out all the costs better), but everybody who's already contacted me or sent money will have the original $20 price honored.

I lightly blasted these parts with glass beads to remove any surface rust, mill scale, and splatter from the cutting process, then sprayed them with a thin coating of WD-40 to protect the metal. If you decide to paint them you'll need to wash the WD-40 off first so the paint sticks.

[devnull]

[QUOTE=Dan Miller]These will start mailing out tomorrow morning via USPS. The entire set just barely fits inside a small flat rate box. I decided to raise the price to $25 going forward (now that I've done a few and figured out all the costs better), but everybody who's already contacted me or sent money will have the original $20 price honored.
[QUOTE]

Dude, I'll be more than happy to send you the difference. It is retarded what a set like this goes for.

[Dan Miller]

Don't bother - I was making a few bucks at the original price when I was cutting these from drops and paying shipping. A drop would be created (for example) if a part we were selling to a customer had an oddly shaped 6"x8" cutout in it. The 6"x8" piece would go in the scrap bin and be sold for 10-20 cents per pound, but I had 1-2 microplates cut from it. I was costing (and paying) the company only that price for scrap metal. Now that I'm making more of these, it's only right to pay my company more of a full price for the material, hence the change to $25 starting with the second production run of 5.

Also, Google "Charlie Wenzel" to see the perils of raising your prices in the middle of a deal. Don't need a bunch of angry powerlifters posting my address, phone number, fiance's place of work, life history, bank account number, and embarrassing childhood pictures on every forum in the world. The Pirate 4x4 thread is an interesting read if you have a few days to kill.

[devnull]

You mean they are used?!

Just kidding

I didn't mean that you should raise your prices in the middle, I meant to say that you may be underpricing by quite a bit, and offered to send the difference to prove my point.

There is a very limited market for these, and the people willing to buy them are willing to pay more.

[rumblefish]

Got mine today and they are awesome, thanks. Very accurate by weight, I think the 1.25s were off by less than .04 of the marked weight and those were the most off of all the pairs everything else was within .02 lb. The pairs weren't off against each other at all (or in the thousands of a pound range of difference). Good job!

FYI, you might want to re-enforce the flat rate box on the perforations. Mine opened there, probably from the weights bouncing around during shipping. Fortunately, none came out.ImageUploadedByTapatalk1340946384.875711.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1340946499.657707.jpg

[devnull]

Same here, outstanding value.

Dan, for me the perfect set would be as follows:

2.5 (2 1/2)
1.25 (1 1/4)
.675 (5/8)
.375 (3/8)

In my opinion the 1, .75, .5, and .25 are redundant. Shit, the 3/8 is super tiny but it would make more sense than the .25

Could you cut me two sets of 1.25# but with the thinner plate material? I plan on spot welding them together to form a 2.5# that is larger than the 1.25#. I would also like to buy a 3/8# (.375). I don't really need it, but I want it

Let me know how much and I'll send the money right away.

Also, I'm magnetizing mine so they don't move around as much.

[backtrack9]

I got my set of micro-plates in from Dan earlier in the week. The packaging just barely made it intact to my house. The USPS guys had secured it by putting about 20 rubber bands around it to keep the contents in. They are great!!!! As rumblefish stated, they are very accurate weights. The laser etched plate weight designation is a great touch. I plan on painting my set with Krylon Appliance Epoxy spray paint to prevent rust so the laser etching might get filled in with paint. Thank you Dan for making these available to the Starting Strength community!

[Dan Miller]

1) Glad they made it there intact. I tried to wrap the box with packing tape in multiple directions where I thought it would most likely fail. I'll do more/better in the future.

2) I haven't received the 2nd set of 5 from the "LASER" yet, but to the last 2 guys who've paid - I haven't forgotten about you.

I can make any custom thickness/diameter combination you're looking for, in common (3/16", 1/4", 3/8", or 1/2") thicknesses. I use this formula:

Weight = 0.284 (Thickness) (pi (OD/2)^2 - pi) (because the ID is a constant of 2, radius is 1, the term goes to pi)

So if you want a 2.5lb plate, instead of welding together 2 pieces of 3/16", I'd suggest a piece of 1/2" / 5.140" OD. I need to keep the OD under 5-3/8" to fit inside the small box - otherwise you'll pay extra for shipping. (2) 2.5# and (2) 3/8#, $25. Weights will be etched on like before. If you want the "perfect set" as you defined it above, that will be $35 because it would take up a larger shipping box and contain more pounds of material.