# Brown & Sharpe bore mic .600-.700"



## Mutt (Oct 30, 2019)

I bought this off eBay for a honing job because I need to hold tenths. Seller said it was in good shape. Well, maybe it's shape looks good, but the points don't act like they want to return easily using only the thimble and I can't "guess" if I'm it's actually measuring correctly.

I called around for someone who can disassemble it, clean it and calibrate it. Dig this, the company tells me it will basically cost half the price of a new gauge !!!! I asked how much a new one was and they told me right at $600 !!! Have these people lost their freakin' minds or what?

So any way, I'm hoping someone on this forum might know someone that can do this little job at a reasonable price. I need it ASAP. If I had the 2 tiny  pin wrenches, I'm sure I could do it myself. Any ideas?


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## francist (Oct 30, 2019)

You could always make the two tiny pin wrenches....

-frank


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## Mutt (Oct 30, 2019)

I'm not very good when it comes to drilling tiny holes for the 4 pins, but I may have to try my hand at it


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## projectnut (Oct 31, 2019)

The cost may seem high, but in the scheme of things it's pretty much inline with similar services.  Starrett charges about half the price of a new dial indicator to repair older ones.  In reality half the cost of a new one is more than I paid for it when it was new.  The cost to repair precision instruments isn't cheap.  That's why you see so many on eBay for what seem like reasonable prices.  The owners in many cases sell them off and purchase new.  

Look at the conditions of sale.  If it's advertised as anything other than "For Parts Only", or "Needs Repair" you should be able to return it regardless of whether or not the seller claims "No Returns".  Any items sold other than described as "For Parts Only", or "Needs Repair" are supposed to be fit for use.
As a point of reference the last time I had to take a car into the dealer for repair the cost was $149.00 per hour.  If the instrument repair businesses charge similar rates, that's only 2 hours labor


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## Mutt (Oct 31, 2019)

projectnut:    yeah, $149/hr. may be,  but I'm not paying for someone else's overhead and their million dollar house.
I have a little manual machine / welding shop . I charge $25 per hour.   That seems fair and affordable for others to me.   $150/hr. is NOT fair, it's greed but you can call it what ya want. If I tried to charge $150/hr. I'd be starving to death, because I would get NO business. 

Matter of fact, my buddy across the street decided to open a automotive shop on his land. We live out in the country in a small Texas town of about 3500, east of Dallas. He's a good mechanic. I asked him how much he planned to charge. He said he thought $65/hr. would be fair. I tried to explain to him that people out in the country don't make the kinda money people in North Dallas make. He lasted about 2 years and now he drives a truck for AutoZone. He didn't have a whole lot of customers in that 2 years either. Maybe enough just to get by.

Or maybe I'm going about it all wrong. What do I have to do to charge $150/hr?


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## projectnut (Oct 31, 2019)

A major part of the hourly charge goes to pay for the cost of the physical structure and the expenses to keep it running.  In our area light industrial or  commercial space leases for between $4.00 and $6.00 per square foot.  A relatively small (2,500 sq. ft.) shop space would rent for a minimum of $10,000.00 per month or $120,000.00 per year.

Basic utilities (heat, electricity, and water) run another $300.00 per month or $3,600.00 per year.  Basic commercial grade machinery ( vertical mill, horizontal mill, lathe, bandsaw, surface grinder, tool grinder, etc., etc.) even if purchased used would run a minimum of another $15,000.00 to $20,000.00.  Ad another $5000.00 to $10,000.00 for tooling and $2,000.00 or so to add furnishings and supplies.

Assuming the cost of machinery and tooling was spread over 5 years the fixed expenses would be nearly $130,000.00 per year.  Making the assumption that you would be able to charge for 40 hrs. of work 50 weeks per year you would need to charge $64.50 just to meet the fixed costs.  To generate enough income to be above the poverty level ($1005.00 for a single person , or $2050.00 for a family of 4) you would need to generate between $12,060.00 and $24,060 per year.  That would require an hourly rate of slightly under $71.00 per hour.

Not many people I know are willing to work for poverty level wages if they don't have to.  The average journeyman machinist here makes a little over $21.00 per hr.  Replacing the poverty level wage with the average employee's wage would require an hourly rate of $85.50 per hour, which is in the middle of the range of what machine shops charge per hour.


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## Mutt (Oct 31, 2019)

projectnut said:


> A major part of the hourly charge goes to pay for the cost of the physical structure and the expenses to keep it running.  In our area light industrial or  commercial space leases for between $4.00 and $6.00 per square foot.  A relatively small (2,500 sq. ft.) shop space would rent for a minimum of $10,000.00 per month or $120,000.00 per year.
> 
> Basic utilities (heat, electricity, and water) run another $300.00 per month or $3,600.00 per year.  Basic commercial grade machinery ( vertical mill, horizontal mill, lathe, bandsaw, surface grinder, tool grinder, etc., etc.) even if purchased used would run a minimum of another $15,000.00 to $20,000.00.  Ad another $5000.00 to $10,000.00 for tooling and $2,000.00 or so to add furnishings and supplies.
> 
> ...




So me charging $25 per hour (plus materials), 40 hours per week =$1000 a week for 50 weeks= $50g a year.   I'm pretty sure that's not poverty level. My electric bill is only about $1g a year, so that's $49g I'd be making.

So  the bigger my company is, the more I can charge per hour (and get it)? How much does your company have to spend per year to make, say, $3500 per hour? 

That's like Chick-Fil-A. They charge a exorbiant price for their chicken sandwiches, then give away money to charities for a tax write off  to balance their books and still make millions and millions a year. But let it be understood, it's ALWAYS about the mighty dollar these days. Screw people out off every single penny you can poissibly wring out of them. It's ok,
Their time is a coming......................


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