Measurement tools

Tom,

I know I need the arrow thread gauge thing, and I am going to look into the thread wires and other thread measurement things. As for the dies, I was saying to use the rethreading die, the solid dies, not the threading die with the slot cut in it. Would the solid die be acceptable?

Once I get my lathe and start making some things, I will start getting things worked out.
 
jonathan01 said:
Tom,

I know I need the arrow thread gauge thing, and I am going to look into the thread wires and other thread measurement things. As for the dies, I was saying to use the rethreading die, the solid dies, not the threading die with the slot cut in it. Would the solid die be acceptable?

Once I get my lathe and start making some things, I will start getting things worked out.
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Jonathan,

Can you cut a thread that will work using a re-threading die as a gauge? Absolutely. But what if you want to cut a thread and you don't have a re-threading die to check it? If you learn to measure threads correctly from the start, you'll be able to cut any size thread you like to any tolerance required. It may be an old adage but if it's worth doing at all, it's worth doing right. Get your self a set of thread wires and learn how to use them. If you need help, there are a lot of people around here who are more than willing to assist. After all, learning is what this whole hobby machinist thing is about isn't it?

Tom
 
Ok, I get what you are saying now, thread wire set will do all threads, and I would have to have a die for every thread that I cut.
 
I'd say use the cheapos til they break, your skill gets to the point where you need better, or you win he mega millions.

Honestly i think a set of 0-1, 1-2 and 2-3 mics once youre "into it" are a good investment. Calipers can be off as much as .005 just by bad technique, dirt, anything. these guys have a ton of info on indicator, mic and caliper brands (they love swiss stuff... go fig).

Also, forgive me if i sound like a cheap noob, but what else will you use a machinist level for besides leveling the lathe? a mill? a grinder? maybe some other machines? See if someone you know or a guy from one of many forums will bring one and help you level your new lathe. Make a friend, have a few cold ones, and get out of it cheap, cause thats alot of coin that could go into tooling, and alot of coin should go into tooling.

Machining is addictive. soon, you'll want a mill, a vertical. Then you'll want a horizontal (which are sick fun). Then a shaper... power hack saw... you start going to auctions and looking in the local classifieds... say things like "honey can i take 500 out of the kids college fund? theres a old brown and sharp no2 surface grinder at this hillbilly auction..." ask me how i know :thinking:
 
Plus 1 on what toag said about the levels. I still have three, two are Starrett, one is a high dollar French made one that reads .0005 in 12 inches. I used them on the job until I retired, now they sit in my tool chest. I don't know about the current Central tools, but I used Central micrometers about 20 years ago and they were American made and good ones. I had one of their digital calipers, it wasn't much.
 
As for the level, I was looking at the Starrett 98 8" level, which is about $140-$150. I would just be using it on my lathe, mill, etc and probably a pool table. I agree about getting one from a friend would be nice, or making a friend from a forum would be even better. The only thing is when i need to use a level, I want to be able to just take it out the case and use it, and not have to ask my friend when I can use his.

As for the caliper, I will probably use the cheapo I have for reloading, where gun powder could get in them and it wouldn't hurt my pocket if they broke. My set of mics are probably 20 years old. Also, I have the rods from the set of mics that I can use to check the accuarcy of my caliper.

I will probably just spend the extra money and get a decent mag base, DTI, caliper, and a starrett 98. I just feel better having good tools. Hopefully I will be able to get enough side jobs to pay for my tooling.

I can see myself getting hooked on machining, and have $100k-$200k in a shop. I am going try and get started doing some farm repair, some other small lathe jobs for the 12x36 lathe. Than get a 17x80 lathe, than a regular mill, than a horizontal mill, etc. I may get into making shafts and gears, so I would need to have the gear spin as it moves across the table, or maybe even get a cnc mill for it.

As long as I can make money off of something I don't made buying it.
 
This is kind of off topic, but one sort of good thing is that they have three phases of power ran down the hwy in front of my mississippi property, which is where I would start a machine shop, if I did. The shop would probably be for mostly farm repairs. I should be able to just get two more transformers put up on the pole, and I would have three phase power to my shop. They have one transformer on the pole already that only feeds my house. It is a small one though, so I have to make sure that it would be big enough to handle my three phase power, or I would have to get three new transformers instead of just two.
 
Policy varies, I'm sure, but when I built my shop, the utility company had to establish a new service for me. I had located the nearest pole up the road from me (I live in the country) that had three phase for an oil well pump about 400 yards from my location. When I requested service to my building, an engineer came out for the site survey and I let him know what I wanted and that I knew where it had to come from. There was no hassle, and no extra charges even though they had to run a third 7.2 KV line down to me, set a new pole on my place, a couple of new cross-arms to get the lines across the road to my pole. I built the meter loop myself, and installed it with a disconnect inside the building so I could work on the entire shop system.

So, if you don't already have power to the building, you may not have to pay a lot after all. In all cases that I know of where there is already a service, they do charge handsomely to upgrade to three phase.
 
Tony Wells said:
Policy varies, I'm sure, but when I built my shop, the utility company had to establish a new service for me. I had located the nearest pole up the road from me (I live in the country) that had three phase for an oil well pump about 400 yards from my location. When I requested service to my building, an engineer came out for the site survey and I let him know what I wanted and that I knew where it had to come from. There was no hassle, and no extra charges even though they had to run a third 7.2 KV line down to me, set a new pole on my place, a couple of new cross-arms to get the lines across the road to my pole. I built the meter loop myself, and installed it with a disconnect inside the building so I could work on the entire shop system.

So, if you don't already have power to the building, you may not have to pay a lot after all. In all cases that I know of where there is already a service, they do charge handsomely to upgrade to three phase.
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My property is in the country too. It is basically the same thing by us, we put up a service pole with a meter box on our property, and they put and transformer on the main line across the hwy, ran the service across the hwy to their pole, that they put on our property, than to our service pole, and put the meter in the box.

The power company is a Co-op, that we had to pay like $20 to join, and a deposit of a amount based on the type of building. For the single phase power that we had put in, we had to pay for it, but it wasn't as much as expected. We had to pay the full costs, but that was because building was just being used as a camp. As for as normal single phase power, if you use more than 700 Kwh per month, the power company pays up to $2,300. The same thing for line extensions, reconstruction, etc, it is the total costs minus whatever that can salvage minus up to $2,300. Except if the farm, shop, etc usage it not high enouh than you have to pay all costs.

They have three hot wires ran on the cross-arms with a neutral attached to the side of the pole about 3 feet under the cross-arms, that runs down the entire hwy. They just have small single transformers, which only use one of the three phases, by each house.

Thanks
 
jonathan01 said:
Hello, I am going to order my lathe this week or next. What kind of measurement tools tools do yall recommend?

I have a 6" dial caliper and a dial indicator with magnetic base, but they are cheap ones. The dail indicator is a plunger type, and only reads to .001", I would like to have one that is more accurate. What is reasonable for a lathe, setup and normal work, 0.00050", 0.00010", 0.00005"? I am thinking either 0.00050" or 0.00010". What brand, plunger or hinged type, dial or digital? Is it worth spending $200-$300 for a indicator? Also, it would probably better to get a good magnetic mount and/or any other type of mount. The dial caliper is a 6" with 0.001" divisions and probably is only the $30 to $40 dollar one. Are the $100-$250 ones really worth the money? I don't have any inside calipers either.

Also, what about a machinist level for leveling my lathe (PM1236), would I get a Starrett #98 8" level, and what about a lathe tool center level/gauge?

Thanks for any help yall can give, I like to buy good quality products, but I could spend $50k if I got every tool that I wanted.
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There are a couple of things to consider in buying metrology equipment. First, what accuracy is needed for the job at hand? 0.001 inch is good enough for almost any job done by an amateur. And most professionals, too. When you start talking about 10ths, now you are getting into space age dimensions and all kinds of things pop up. One major consideration is temperature! When going to 10ths, you have to specify the temperature that you are making the measuring the item at. The heat from you hand when you pick it up will change the dimension! If you touch the part barehanded, you leave a trace of oil and salt which can cause corrosion.

Many derogatory comments have been made about Chinese equipment. The same used to be said for Japanese tooling, then they started working on their QC and have become the world standard. I have used Chinese from Harbor freight and the digital calipers I've picked up have universally worked very well. I check them periodically on some TC (Tungsten carbide) gage blocks and they always zero out. I might add that my respect for Chinese equipment is very great. The stuff I have bought has been accurate, durable and cheap. It is scary to see them make gage blocks about as good as Lufkin or Starret at a small fraction of the cost of the name brand.

I have several micrometers, but I haven't used them in many years. I have found that the dial and digital calipers serve the same purpose and are very much faster to use. I also have a vernier caliper which is destined for a shadow box. It will never be used again.

Before I bought a (very expensive) machinist level which would be used one time and put away, I would turn a test bar on the lathe. When you are set up and ready to rock and roll, turn a piece of metal between centers. Measure the diameter at the headstock and the tailstock. There are adjustment screws on the tailstock which moves it at right angles to the bed. Adjust them until your test bar has zero runout from end to end. Tighten the screws against the tailstock locking it in position and you are done. And you don't need to buy a once and done piece of equipment.

Hope this helps

FGD
 
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