# Some More Of My Car Boot & Flea Collection. (long Post / Pic Heavy)



## upahill (Sep 19, 2016)

I'm not sure how many (if any) are interested but I had some spare time tonight and photographed some of the items I have found at car boot sales over the past few months. Wanted to list them out anyway for my own reference so thought I could share.

Will add a bit more to the descriptions etc later. I have put what I paid on some of the ones I remember, but so far nothing has cost me any more than £25 individually so its not turned into too much of an expensive hobby.....yet.

I am mainly collecting as I have an interest in almost any old tools or machinery - but also as a small workshop collection to actually be used as I learn the basics of engineering.

Here's what I have grabbed so far.

I hadn't seen one of these before, took a bit of cleaning to get it working again as it was seized with gunk, but an interesting clamp for £1.




The same seller had a WESCO oil can too for £1





Starrett 696M - Distortion Dial Indicator?




Buying clamps is so expensive, so when I see any second hand strong ones I grab them, this is a 12" C Clamp that feels very sturdy!





Another little oil can, this one didnt have a maker on it but it will be handy im sure.





A Mitutoyo 11-12" for £5!








A similar Mitutoyo 6-7"




Shardlow Depth Micrometer







John Bull Bore Micrometer







This Mitutoyo Bore Mic is in a pretty rough state, but was thrown into a deal for free so I didn't say no!




Mercer Bore Micrometer







Starrett 12-18" Mic, love this one and think it was a bargain at £25







Browne & Sharpe 570




Etalon




Starrett No.122, this was in a pretty rough state too.







Quite a bit of surface rust on this one, not sure on maker either. Stamped C.A. Gray, Herts, England










Found this one in a charity shop...




Mercer




Lovely little John Bull




Mercer




This is my fav little indicator....




And a verdict in need of a clean




Mercer 185




I also like picking up books which may be useful or interesting in the future of this hobby...










Chesterman No. 2900




Starrett No. 229?




Starrett No 226?




Moore & Wright No 965




Browne & Sharpe No. 8




Moore & Wright No 965




Starrett No. 436




Moore & Wright No. 965M




Found this in a guys toolbox, he wanted a pound for it! All working just needed a new battery.




Sometimes I pick stuff up just because I like the look of it, this is one of those things.




Probably my favourite of the small mics,
LS Starrett No. 2







This Moore & Wright was used by a Rolls Royce engineer in their factory for 25 years before he retired.




A starrett that has seen better days.




Moore & Wright No. 366/2




A bit beaten but still some life in them im sure, these Mitutoyos were £3




These I really hoped would work, but when I got them home and replaced the battery there was a problem with the connector. Even after this was bypassed to test them the display just cycles through the numbers rapidly so not sure what is wrong with them. Hopefully they can be fixed though.





I posted about these in a seperate thread, it is a Moore & Wright Braille Micrometer




That's it for my small collection so far - but go to the sales every week so hopefully more to add soon.


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## chips&more (Sep 19, 2016)

That’s a very interesting Braille micrometer! Thank you for sharing! Never seen one before…Dave


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## RJSakowski (Sep 19, 2016)

That's quite a haul!


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## JimDawson (Sep 19, 2016)

An amazing collection!


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 19, 2016)

Thanks for sharing!


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## Tony Wells (Sep 20, 2016)

You did very well, I'd say.

On that Starrett 696M, that's commonly used as a crankshaft strain gage. When an engine block is line bored for the main bearings, the crank is laid in, and that indicator is planted between two of the counterweights, held in place by the pointy ends. When the crank is rolled through its stroke, if the main bearing journals are not in line, the crankshaft will be forced to flex and this causes the counterweights to either spread apart or come together. I guess both, really. There would be a relaxed position, and a flexed position in both directions. The cylinder on the side is just a counterweight to keep the dial positioned a certain way for readability. I suppose one could use this before an engine was removed by dropping the pan. Seems like you'd have to remove one or more of the pistons thought to get this instrument in place. I had one in my inspection department, bought at an auction but never found a use for it in a job shop or small manufacturing business.


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## upahill (Sep 24, 2016)

Thought I would add a couple of acquisitions from this weekend.

A Smith Venture Tachometer, boxed in great condition with all of the accessories for a tenner...





I believe this to be the same as above really, but would love more info.





This one was the right price, but in need of a clean up like most of my micrometers.





A 10" vernier, from a company I haven't heard of before so this was an interesting eBay win.









And proof you shouldn't place bids before planning how you are going to collect something, this welder I know very little about but will make an interesting resto project at some point.... If I can collect it.


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 24, 2016)

There is a shop that I go to for my work that still uses a miller welder like that, I don't think it will ever die!


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## upahill (Sep 24, 2016)

woodtickgreg said:


> There is a shop that I go to for my work that still uses a miller welder like that, I don't think it will ever die!



It does look like its built to outlast me, its three phase looking at the manual online so I won't be able to use it until I get a better place to work from - but I plan on keeping it for some time!


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## hman (Sep 25, 2016)

Your first photo looks like a tachometer that operates like a car's speedometer - indicating revolution _rate_ on the dial.  The operating principle (at least for a speedo) is that the input shaft turns a magnetized disk.  A neighboring disk of copper is connected to the needle or dial, which is spring loaded to return to zero.  As the magnet turns, it induces eddy currents in the copper, "dragging" it along.  The force is proportional to the rotation rate.  I'm not sure how the 200, 2000, 20000 scale is selected - possibly gear ratios between the input shaft and the magnetized disk.

The second item is a turns counter.  To measure rate, you touch the end of the shaft to the shaft you want to measure, for a timed interval, then read the number of turns on the dial.  The counter is (originally) supplied with a variety of concave and convex rubber tips, for coupling to various sizes and types of shafts.  I've used one, but that was back in the late '50s.


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## upahill (Sep 26, 2016)

hman said:


> Your first photo looks like a tachometer that operates like a car's speedometer - indicating revolution _rate_ on the dial.  The operating principle (at least for a speedo) is that the input shaft turns a magnetized disk.  A neighboring disk of copper is connected to the needle or dial, which is spring loaded to return to zero.  As the magnet turns, it induces eddy currents in the copper, "dragging" it along.  The force is proportional to the rotation rate.  I'm not sure how the 200, 2000, 20000 scale is selected - possibly gear ratios between the input shaft and the magnetized disk.



Thanks for the explanation. I saw another of these that was branded by Lucas whilst looking it up online so not sure who is rebranded who.



hman said:


> The second item is a turns counter.  To measure rate, you touch the end of the shaft to the shaft you want to measure, for a timed interval, then read the number of turns on the dial.  The counter is (originally) supplied with a variety of concave and convex rubber tips, for coupling to various sizes and types of shafts.  I've used one, but that was back in the late '50s.



This makes more sense, I was wondering how it could count rate with a limited number  Doh.


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## upahill (Sep 30, 2016)

Picked up another eBay lot today - quite a few bits I don't already have although may sell on the hardness tools.

A Yokogawa Tachometer





Baty





Baty - yet to work out what these are for...





This Capstan was the gauge I really wanted out of the lot, just for how it looks. 
A "Ruston" Crankshaft Alignment Indicator





No makers mark on this





I will either never need this light probe, or need it the day after I have lost it





...












Now comes the fun of learning how to read/use them all


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## hman (Sep 30, 2016)

Such a wide variety of stuff is absolutely fascinating!


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## dlane (Sep 30, 2016)

Car boot ?.


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 30, 2016)

dlane said:


> Car boot ?.


It's what we call a trunk, lol.


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## george wilson (Oct 1, 2016)

The last item is a portable hardness tester. Meant for big stuff,though. The little blue "Charity Shop" indicator is a paper gauge,I'm pretty sure.


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## 4GSR (Oct 2, 2016)

Yeah, that portable hardness tester, I've dealt with a couple of them over the years.  Never could get them to calibrate or read correctly. They always got tossed to the bottom shelf and collected dust.  Maybe this one is functional and really works!


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## george wilson (Oct 3, 2016)

The trouble with those portable hardness testers,is they are only good for LARGE stuff. Not like knife blades or other small stuff that I need one for. I wish I still had that Versitron hardness tester we had at work.


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## upahill (Oct 12, 2016)

Picked this up on Sunday for £20, missing the tap wrench though 





Picked this up on eBay for £2 but it is very loose. The seller was selling it as broken beyond repair but I think it just needs a bit of TLC.


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## george wilson (Oct 13, 2016)

I might mention that to use the small tachometer already discussed,you touch it firmly to the CENTER of a rotating shaft's end to get the RPM's.


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## upahill (Oct 16, 2016)

Picked up a lovely indicator holder at a flea market today, looks possibly custom made? Although it does have Mercer written on the clamp.









Also got my hands on a few taps, building the collection of these very slowly.





Almost missed these clamp blocks tucked away in the corner of a stand, the seller wanted £10 for the pair which seemed like a good price to me, they look very handy for clamping down round stock. Picked up some interesting pliers (another part of my obsession) and sundries too.





I had a couple of non-tool related bargains / profit makers too so this weekend has been a lot of fun and pretty much self financing


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## upahill (Oct 16, 2016)

Also the die & tap set above is a Greenfield Little Giant No 2. Can't find an info sheet on it, but the box is stamped whitworth. Its a lot bigger than it looks in the picture!


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## British Steel (Oct 27, 2016)

upahill said:


> It does look like its built to outlast me, its three phase looking at the manual online so I won't be able to use it until I get a better place to work from - but I plan on keeping it for some time!



They're normally single phase, but across two phases to get the voltage/current required - for the UK you can wire 'em for 220v if you check the transformer connections, pull A LOT of amps though, not going to plug into a 13A socket, nor even a 16A! You MIGHT get away with a 32A (Commando) socket on a separate breaker in your fusebox / consumer unit, if you can find one a 63A socket would be better, with 10mm cable from a 50A MCB -- it needs to be a type C or D MCB though, because of the inrush current!

Dave H. (the other one)


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