How Did This Machinist Make This Surface Gauge?

[benmychree]

The bodies on the Starrett surface gages are not stamped, only the staff is stamped.

 

[plunger]

This was a standard project that all apprentice toolmakers did in their first year of training here in S Africa.I have to think back thirty years. . We had to do the block on the shaper and blend the transition in with file work. The radius on the sides was done on a horizontal mill with a shell type radius cutter supported in an outrigger so it was very sturdy ,running on an arbor. It did the groove in one cut.

Then there was filing of the piece that has curves. This was made of gauge plate . It fitted into a slot done with a slot cutter. The block was then case hardened to teach us how to pack it with a carbon filled blend of bone meal and other stuff Ive forgotten. It was then surface ground and polished. The slot was reground and the gauge plate ground to suit the slot. It was then polished because the case hardening made it look terrible and distorted it quite badly. My name was put in with a pantograph to teach you how to use a deckel pantagraph machine. The lathework involved taught us how to knurl and thread .The arm and bits was made of silver steel.
We also made a toolmakers vice and sinebar to teach us cylindridal grinding. I had my vice stolen.To this day Im still ****** off about it being stolen. To this day it was the most beautiful vise ever saw . It was very different to the toolmakers vices you see as the jaw had alot of fancy curves machined and blended in.It was ground perfectly true in every orientation. I wish I looked after all my homemade tools. They have been neglected and have rusted quite bad. I think to be successful in this job it needs to be hardened and ground tovbe of the quality like starret would produce.

 

[woodchucker]

Starretts , at least all I've ever owned , had the cool looking HT colors left intact . Definately nice looking tools .

I destroyed the colors on a couple of my machinists clamps. I put them in vinegar or something to derust them and the color went away... I was not a happy camper.

 

[vtcnc]

Used for checking parallelism on different applications . The pins are the contact points .

the pins are used on the edge of a project, and can run down the length, to measure lets say an offset of another cut.. either for scribing, or for measuring

If you drop two pins, you can run the pins along the edge of a surface plate and use that as your straight line reference.

 

[Janderso]

I have to agree that this was not shop made, it reeks of factory made in all the small details.

How was it made John?
How would you cut the sides? Where your fingers would pick it up?

 

[Janderso]

The radius on the sides was done on a horizontal mill with a shell type radius cutter supported in an outrigger so it was very sturdy ,running on an arbor. It did the groove in one cut.

Thanks Mate!

 

[Janderso]

made of silver steel

? Stainless?

 

[Janderso]

I think to be successful in this job it needs to be hardened and ground tovbe of the quality like starret would produce.

If I decide to make one and it comes out well, I will send it out for heat treatment.

That's the next question, what material to use?

 

[Alcap]

Went out to the garage and rummaged through the scrap box to find my quite unfinished ones . VoTech project that started 45 years ago . Maybe this will light a fire under my a** lol . If I remember they are tool steel that we would have heat treated and ground.

 

[Bob Korves]

I have a number of old tools that are beautifully made and have no maker's marks at all on them. I just enjoy the great deals I got on them and get on with life, not really caring who made them. But then, I have never been a sucker for buying top rated tools at top pricing with a "best" reputation due to the name on it, when there are equal quality vintage tools available at MUCH lower pricing...