# Unusual measuring tools



## 8ntsane (Apr 7, 2012)

I dont know why, but I can,t get those PDF things to open.


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## ScrapMetal (Apr 7, 2012)

I'll save you some hassle. 





A little small but still sort of readable.  

Odd indeed.

-Ron


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## Charley Davidson (Apr 7, 2012)

I have a few unusual measuring tools myself, some of which I would like to trade for some more common useable measuring tools.


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## ScrapMetal (Apr 7, 2012)

Gordon Clarke said:


> Damn, you're good  Thanks. One day you'll have to tell us how you did that LOL
> 
> How about the other PDF I made?
> 
> Gordon



I cheated. :biggrin:  All I did was open the .pdf on my box and used a free "screen capture" program http://wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter_free.htm to convert it to a simple .gif file, then posted them like any other picture.

-Ron


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## RWL (Apr 7, 2012)

Gordon Clarke said:


> If any others have seen anything they feel should be added then send me a picture (and perhaps a short text) and I'll add it on. Life is too short to reinvent the wheel
> 
> Gordon



I don't have any photos, but how about adding Taper Micrometers and Thread Micrometers.


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## Charley Davidson (Apr 8, 2012)

RWL said:


> I don't have any photos, but how about adding Taper Micrometers and Thread Micrometers.



The three mics in the blue case in my post above are taper mics.


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## llarson (Apr 8, 2012)

Thanks for posting pics. of the unusual tools, things here I've never seen or heard of. A question to anyone familiar to some of these tools: are some of them made to order for a company for a specific job, or type of job, or are they commonly available if one looks specifically for them? The taper mics. and the odd-flute mic. as example.


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## RWL (Apr 8, 2012)

Charley Davidson said:


> The three mics in the blue case in my post above are taper mics.





Aha. I've learned something. I didn't know they made INTERNAL taper micrometers. I was thinking of EXTERNAL taper micrometers. You'll have to explain how they work. For what size holes / what is the intended taper to be measured with these? I"ve never seen either in the flesh, only photos. They're so small, I'm thinking they're for MT-1 or less, or something like a Jarno taper for machine assembly.


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## llarson (Apr 8, 2012)

Thanks for the mention, Gordon. I've used circumference tapes [here we call them "pi" tapes] a bunch over the years. I worked at the Bingham-Willamette Co. in Portland, OR, where I used pi tapes to measure parts for one of the service tunnel boring machines used on the Eurotunnel job, up to 18 feet in dia. on a Betts vertical boring mill. For anyone not familiar, a pi tape is marked so that each inch is ~3.14 inches long, wrapping it around a round part reads the diameter. I see Stanley is putting them on the back of at least some of their measuring tapes, very handy for me at home working with pipe or tubing of fairly large size. Obtainable accuracy varies, with the high end ones making .010" tolerance easy on 20 foot dias., the ones on the Stanley tapes goes by 64ths, Lufkin's goes to .01", are plenty close enough for what I need. I fairly recently learned that a lot of people not used to running large machines don't know about pi tapes, handy tool.


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## llarson (Apr 8, 2012)

Don't know how I came up twice, but can't delete completely, sorry for the clutter.
                                                                                                        Larry


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## bcall2043 (Apr 8, 2012)

Gordon Clarke said:


> If you can find a combination tape with inches and pi I'd love to put it in the PDF file. If you can't find a picture ten I might have to search myself
> 
> Gordon



Hello Gordon,

I have a Lufkin branded steel pocket tape #146PD that has the diameter (pi) graduation on one side and inches on the other. While I do not think it is as acurate as the real "pitape" shown at http://www.pitape.com/instruction.htm it is sure handy to carry and use. I keep it at hand for measuring materials. I took a quick look at the Lufkin site but did not see the same tape as I have. If you cannot find a good photo that you like I can take some and send to you.

Benny


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## george wilson (Apr 9, 2012)

I have 2 of those "taper micrometers". The 2 smaller one. The smaller one will measure from a .020" hole on up. I can't recall how large a hole they will measure. I wasn't aware that they made the 3rd larger size.

Someone asked how they work? You hold the micrometer square to the hole,and let the needle go into the hole. There is a scale inside a long window that reads the diameter of the hole. It is dependent upon how far the needle goes into the hole.

These mics are handy for reading holes so small that you can't get other devices to measure them. When the holes get to a certain size,you can use other ways to measure them,such as the expanding ball gages.


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## OldMachinist (Apr 9, 2012)

Here's unuasual one for you. It's called a Gaxi Gruv Gage.



















I didn't know much about it until I ran across this article in the March 1955 edition of The Machinist.




http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg49/calfranch/Machine Shop/GaxiGruv/Gaxi_Gruv.jpg


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## Harvey Melvin Richards (Nov 13, 2012)

george wilson said:


> I have 2 of those "taper micrometers". The 2 smaller one. The smaller one will measure from a .020" hole on up. I can't recall how large a hole they will measure. I wasn't aware that they made the 3rd larger size.
> 
> Someone asked how they work? You hold the micrometer square to the hole,and let the needle go into the hole. There is a scale inside a long window that reads the diameter of the hole. It is dependent upon how far the needle goes into the hole.
> 
> These mics are handy for reading holes so small that you can't get other devices to measure them. When the holes get to a certain size,you can use other ways to measure them,such as the expanding ball gages.


I realize that this is an old post but I thought that I would comment on the Kwik Chek Hole Gages. They work as George has said, but because they measure right at the surface of the hole, any deburring or countersinking will give you an erroneous reading. Somewhere in time the manufacturer added pointed fingers to the gages so that they could read into a countersink. New version on the left, older style on the right.




Another useful and unusual hole gage are these made by Moore and Wright. A tapered pin wedges the tiny balls apart in the hole. These are not direct reading and need to be miked after removal from the hole. They are also useful in determining an out of round hole.


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