Bells of Steel Fractional Iron Plates
Cast iron fractionals accurate to 16 grams with a 5-year warranty — the smallest honest jump you can put on a bar.
Specs
| Material | Cast iron |
|---|---|
| Coating | E-coat or hammertone powder coat |
| Finish | Glossy or semi-gloss |
| Weight tolerance | 16 grams |
| Warranty | 5 years |
These figures are copied from Bells of Steel’s own published specs and were last checked on 2026-08-31. Manufacturers revise products without notice, and variants differ. Confirm anything your decision depends on with Bells of Steel before you buy.
Choose this one if
- You have stalled on a press and 2.5 lb per side is still too big a jump
- You want accuracy stated in grams rather than as a percentage
- You want plates thin enough to add to an already-full sleeve
The detail
Sixteen grams is the specification, and on a 0.5 lb plate it is the only one that matters. A fractional plate that is not accurate is not a fractional plate — you are adding a rounding error rather than a known increment. Sixteen grams is about 7% of a half-pound plate stated in absolute terms, which is far more useful than a percentage that sounds tight and means nothing at this scale.
Fractionals solve a problem that appears above the level change plates fix. Change plates take a press from 5 lb jumps to 2.5. Fractionals take it to 1 lb on the bar, or less. On an overhead press that has stalled twice, that is the difference between progressing and deloading.
Bare cast iron with an E-coat or powder coat is the right construction here. Rubber coating adds bulk, and bulk is exactly what you cannot afford on a plate you are adding to a sleeve that is already loaded. Iron is thinner for the same weight, and at half a pound the drop risk is negligible.
A 5-year warranty on a solid iron disc is generous and is really about the coating rather than the metal — the same term Bells of Steel puts on its machined iron plates.
What Bells of Steel does not publish here is the diameter or thickness per size. On a plate you are adding to a full sleeve, thickness is the practical question. Ask before ordering if your bar is already at capacity.
Pair them with a rack-mounted change plate holder — fractionals you have to walk across the room for do not get used, and a progression scheme you do not follow is not a progression scheme.