So, quite a few month back, before I ever bought materials to make some MP3DP v4 units, I had also bought a Voron2.4 kit, and I had never yet started on either it or the MP3DP v4’s.
Well, last night I started reading the Voron assembly manual and watching assembly videos. In the one about the frame, the video maker suggests several options for sourcing a flat surface to aid in getting the frame nice and square. He suggested either a granite or quartz remnant off-cut, or a glass sheet, or even a stove top of the smooth “quartz/glass top” variety.
I called two local granite countertop companies in our area, about a 2’ x 2’ (or bigger) offcut. One wanted $200, and I declined. I could buy new (custom order) at home improvement stores for $200. The other was willing to sell me a nice off-cut for $100, and I went ahead and bought it. Cash.
Another option, much cheaper is too watch for people doing kitchen remodeling.
They normally just throw away the old granite or quartz.
I have a nice piece of granite, on top of foam in my ikea lack enclosure.
And sandpaper 3M glued to a piece of granite is always good for truing up an old or cheap shoe for a wood plane.
I don’t recommend tooling the granite without water. If you choose that route, a respirator… well it should go without saying.
Nextdoor for my area, helped with finding “neighbors” remodeling. Notifying people of cabinets needing to either be removed, or just hauled off, instead of them putting them in a landfill. I haven’t tried my local “restore” / “ habitat for humanity”, for granite. But use them for plain, solid core doors for workbench tops.
There are several different levels of flat. But I would have guessed your table saw was pretty flat. They lapp those cast iron tops with giant machines.
If your table saw doesn’t have a cast iron top, you could probably find a craftsman 113 for about $100. Mine had some rust though. So maybe the granit is looking a bit better
This is probably a workable idea for a lot of guys, but my table saw is cheap, small, and something like sections of cast aluminum bolted together. I’m not trusting it for something like this. It’s like a “job site” type thing.
Used granite offcuts to build V0 and K3 frames and it was worth the effort. You can be confident in referencing your frame for squareness during the rest of the build.
If you can find a smaller shop that cuts granite they will basically give the stuff away if you don’t care about aesthetic defects. I got three 2’x2’ pieces for $10 about 15 min away from Cornell University. After the builds were done they now sit under my printers and like @pony1023 mentioned, the other I use to flatten the soles of hand planes. You can use it to grind bevels on chisels too.
We’ve had countertops replaced a few different times in various houses. I requested all the offcuts at the time we had them installed. I have quite a few rather large pieces of quartz sitting in my shop that use as pseudo reference plates. No certificate of flatness, but they’re good enough for what I’m doing.
If you know anyone having countertops replaced, you can ask them if you can have their offcuts.
The workshop for my local Countertop/Granite fab installers usually have dumpsters full of offcuts. Lots of sink cutouts and remnants not large enough to span countertop length.
Squarifed 3/4" porcelain paving tile? I know regular floor/wall tiles are cambered/warped.
