# New Old Tools, Potd, And What Is This?



## wrmiller (Oct 17, 2015)

A friend's uncle was a tool and die man way back when and she's been lugging around one of his old tool boxes for decades. Then she showed up with a box full of stuff and asked "you want this stuff"?

I don't know what some of this stuff is, but like I'm gonna say no?  

So some of the more readily identifiable stuff I cleaned up and put away.




Some of the stuff I'm unsure of, and thought I'd post a pic to see if some of you machinists recognize anything.



Found a little indicator sort thingie that has the needle swing from 0-10 regardless of which direction the tip is pushed. Says 'Ideal Tool Company Rochester, NY.



Last is some kinda gauge that I have seen scribes attached to for checking height or something (my pistolsmith friend had one and had it set to check lathe tool height). Pretty sure that isn't what it was intended for, but hey whatever works. But when cleaning it I noticed the fine adjuster piece was cracked, so I whipped up a new one. But I will tell you the tapered holes the pointed pivot screws sit in to locate and allow movement gave me a few headscratching moments, but I managed.






Almost all of the tools say 'The L.S. Starret Co. Athol, MASS U.S.A. All in all a good day.


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## Dan_S (Oct 17, 2015)

the last 2 photos are a surface gauge, it's designed for layout work. The trammel with the fine adjust looks pretty sweet as well.


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## kd4gij (Oct 17, 2015)

That is awesome.  The stand thing looks like a surface gouge. The other is an old indicator  And


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## wrmiller (Oct 17, 2015)

Trammel? What's that?


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## Dan_S (Oct 17, 2015)

wrmiller19 said:


> Trammel? What's that?



The one that looks like this.


It's for layout work that involves circles and arcs.


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## middle.road (Oct 17, 2015)

That is one HECK of a score there. Those scale holders are priceless. Lots of gems, and then there's the Kennedy box.
I'll bet everyone that views this thread is drooling onto their keyboards.



Dan_S said:


> The one that looks like this.
> ..........
> It's for layout work that involves circles and arcs.


During my manual drafting days, I used one for years as a beam compass. I put a standard compass point in it and it held regular sized lead holder lead.
WDNich sent a larger one to me this year to go along with it. I think I may start collecting them...


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## kvt (Oct 17, 2015)

Nice haul  I got some stuff that was my father in laws but nothing like that.


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## wrmiller (Oct 17, 2015)

Ah...trammel. OK, called that a compass as it kinda looks like one from my mechanical drafting days.

Scale holders? You mean those two blocks that look like they will hold a Starrett metal scale/ruler? Not sure what to do with those, but if I can find scales the one that looks like it will hold two perpendicular to each other might come in handy.


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## brino (Oct 17, 2015)

For a couple of price points.....

here's a trammel or "beam compass":
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32629&cat=1,42936,42939

and a little ruler clamp/stop:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=67290&cat=1,42936,42945

and real Starett scales are expensive....:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=71653&cat=1,43513

That's a good haul!

-brino


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## British Steel (Oct 18, 2015)

Nice score...

Just above and left of the trammel is a "wiggler", I think - does the rod swivel in a ball-joint? If so, the rectangular bar goes in the lathe toolpost (while you use it), the clamp at the left-hand end takes a sharp point e.g. a scriber tip, which goes into a centre-punch mark you're aiming to centre in the lathe chuck - when the free (right-hand) end stops wiggling, your punch-mark's on centre and you can run the centre drill up / turn concentric to the punch-mark. With careful attention it's good to a thou" or so (you can feel the free end tremble easier than you can see it - or at least I can, with my old deflicted eyes).

Oh, the "crow foot" on the right of the pic takes a steel rule, when it becomes a centre square - apply it to the end of a round bar so the rule crosses the end face, scribe a line, rotate 90 degrees and scribe again and you have pretty accurately found the centre of the bar to centre-punch and centre-drill. Useful when you need to centre on a shaft sticking out of something irregular in a 4-jaw or on a faceplate, for instance.


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## T Bredehoft (Oct 18, 2015)

A is either an automatic center punch or part of a trammel
B (band letter under C) is a part stop for a mill, as is I.
C is a tool maker's clamp
D is a centering square, put it on a scale (1" by 1/8 by 12 or longer) find center on round or square ends of bars. 
E joins two scales at 90º.
F Joint to scales end to end
G are riffle (not rifle) files for mold makers, generally
H two scribes
I part stop for a mill. 
J is a primitive indicator
K may be a trammel, but made up of various pieces

I can't see/identify most of the other pieces.


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## wrmiller (Oct 18, 2015)

G are checkering files used for metal checkering. Sorry, they weren't supposed to be in there.


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