46 replies to this topic

[Rick]

I have heard so much about the original Champion slate block but never actually seen one. Does anyone have one they can shoot a pic of and post here?

[MSwiss]

You're in luck. I happen to have a pic handy.

[Rick]

Thank you, Mike, for the quick reply. So that is the famous or infamous item? I see a couple of holes in it. Did you drill those? I have often wondered if it could be drilled accurately or not like we do Corian?

[MSwiss]

Can't say for sure.

It was a "used" spare Stu gave me probably 15-20 years ago.

[MSwiss]

PS: The problem is it's not really slate. It's some sort of composite that I'm told, IIRC, by Stu, has asbestos in it.

I'm pretty sure you won't find the same thing and if you did, I don't think you should risk your health machining it.

[idare2bdul]

Revtech used drilled slate blocks as jigs for their Iso chassis. Not sure if they started out as Champion blocks but I miss mine.

[Old pink can guy]

I think PdL still has an original. I am sure it had a lot more holes in it!

[dc-65x]

Hi Rick,

Here's a virgin for your pleasure:

[tonyp]

I thought it was a blend of concrete and asbestos. Also was told it was laboratory table top. Best I ever used, I built thousand of chassis before they would wear out...

[One27ray]

Rick,

Here is a pic of the two I have, vintage '70s, one with jig holes and without holes.



i-ray

[tonyp]

These things would also eat drill bits when drilling the holes for the pins...

[Guy Spaulding]

I got these in the early '80s, and have built literally hundreds of chassis on them. They still get used almost daily and one even travels with me.

[TSR]

I have to say that the Champion slate block is unequaled for building chassis. I have two, a brand-new unused one, and the same one that as Tony, I used to build the thousands of chassis I produced in the early 1970s. Mine was given to me in mid-1970 by Bob Rule, and the "kit" had all the little steel pins that went into the pre-drilled holes that were set pretty much exactly where one would need them to build the standard 4" and 4.5" wheelbase chassis.

Irreplaceable, even today...

The competition to Champion were blocks made of Formica-covered pressed chipboard marketed by Cobra, Phaze III... terrible stuff that could only be used a few times before throwing away.

The Champion block is pure compressed roofing slate material and does not contain asbestos.

[Pat McGee]

Still have mine, most of the pins, too! Looks darn near new like Rick's. Kept it after leaving slots as a soldering block for doing electronic repairs, etc. I set my R-Geo HO jig on it now to raise it off the workbench a bit. Tony's right, it eats drill bits if you need new holes in it...

[Bill from NH]

I've never had any problems drilling the Champion blocks with HSS twist drill bits. I've deepened the holes when I changed the piano wire pins to SS wire. I have another with a custom-drilled pattern. If someone wants slate material, check out your local pool table repair shop. What they have will be very flat, although some from South America is apt to be very hard.

[Mopar Rob]

I thought it was a blend of concrete and asbestos. Also was told it was laboratory table top. Best I ever used, I built thousand of chassis before they would wear out...

Old laboratory tops used to be made out of soapstone. I'm probably sure they use something different now?

[TSR]

Warmack D3 chassis on my old, tired, 41-year old Champion block:

[Steve Deiters]

I don't remember the retail price on those jigs, but for the time they were quite pricey. They provided not only a good jig, but also a truly flat surface for setting your car up.

I think they were sold two ways - pre-drilled and with the pins and jig wheels and just a block with a guide slot cut in it. Next to the White and the Blue dot magnets it had to be the best-selling item that Champion offered at the time.

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

If memory serves they were around $8.00 undrilled.

Bob Rule told me way long ago that they were some type of synthetic slate for school lab benches. I was able to find some locally but is was only milled flat on one side.

[Ron Hershman]

If they sold for $8.00 retail today... it would cost you that much or more to have them shipped.

I remember paying about 9 bucks for mine in 1983 and it only had the guide slot cut in it.

[tonyp]

I'll give you $16.00 for it, cash money...

[Ron Hershman]

I think you forgot to add a couple more "zeros" to your offer. LOL.

[John Streisguth]

I have one in a box somewhere...

As others have said, this is a composite material, not just a slab of natural slate. You would not be able to drill a hole with a normal drill bit if was natural.

Where I live is surrounded by old slate mines. There are piles of the tailings (unusable scrap material) 50 to 100 feet high all around. If you wrote on a blackboard in school in the US, it probably came out of one of these mines.

[Guy Spaulding]

When I bought mine, I was under the impression it was stone, not something that was manufactured. Any work done to it would require masonry tools.

[Cheater]

I don't own a Champion slate block, but the ones I have seen looked to be real slate or some similar stone.

I wonder if Champion didn't use two different materials for this product.

The blocks shown by Swiss, Spaulding, and Fellows look like slate or some other natural stone product.

The blocks shown by PdL and Thigpen seem to my eye to be something different and possibly a man-made material.