new import or used name brand? Gage Blocks

[knifer-one]

My question concerning gage blocks or jo blocks.
In a home/hobby shop enviroment,which would be best? A used set of Mitutoyo,B&S,Starrett,etc. at around 200 bucks(if I am lucky), or a cheap import set new at around 75 bucks ?

 

[Tom Griffin]

I use a cheap, imported set in my shop. They get beat up quite a bit in the shop environment so it doesn't make much sense to spend a lot on them. If you do use a cheap set, I would recommend checking them before you rely on them by comparing them to each other using a dial test indicator and your surface plate...just to be sure they are what they say.

Unless you know their history, used gauge blocks are rarely a good idea.

Tom

 

[Sandro]

For the average home shop, cheap imports will probably be good enough. I agree with TomG, unless you can get a used set re-certified, they aren't of much use. Though having said that, even if they were worn by as much as half a thou, they would probably still be good enough. Unless you are doing a lot of high precision grinding, gage blocks with an accuracy of .0005 will likely work fine.

Sandro Di Filippo

 

[george wilson]

Be careful to not knock them about. Cheap sets may have very shallow case hardening. Otherwise,check their accuracy and squareness with decent squares and mikes.

 

[knifer-one]

Looks like the 75 dollar Shars set is what I will go with. Thanks for the help.