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Inside Micrometers
- Thread starter Old Iron
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2013
- Messages
- 125
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2011
- Messages
- 120
I'm new to this, but I think the US manufacturers all figured once you get over 2", you can fit the type with the add on rods and don't need a new barrel and scale assembly for every size.
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2013
- Messages
- 35
I have seen them up to 12", but that was 25 years ago and they were likely that old or older then. I have no idea if they are still made that large.
I never used that style of inside micrometer. I have a set of interchangeable rods that I can setup different lengths. I also used telescoping gages for smaller diameters. I bought about all of my tools before I was 20 years old. That was one good thing the first shop I worked in they had a tool buying program.
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2013
- Messages
- 35
I have a set of inside mics the go from zero-2" and then a set of telescoping gauges that go from maybe 1/2" to 6", and then a bore guage that goes from 3" to 6" with a dial gauge on the top. I use the bore gauge for engine bores as it has 3 probes and you can check for out of round and tapper and also have small hole expanding gauges that you tighten down and the two sides expand to check hole sizes, if I recall they go down to 1/8" to 1/2". I also have a zero to 1/2" outside micrometer that is kind of cute. When I first got into the tool and die trade I had nothing except auto type of tools and ended up buying out 4-5 retired guys entire boxes, kept everything that I wanted and sold the rest and made money from it. I kept things like a 6" sine plate and 6" compound sine plate, 6" sine bar, all kinds of tooling.
I have live centers, jacobs chucks fror bridgports, lathes and even a reall large one for a drill press or lathe in morse tapper. I have a bunch of chuck keys to go with them as they always seem to get stolen or lost in a tool shop. I bet I have 200 or more pounds of carbide cutters, everything from hand made spre cutters to 3/4" 4 flute 4" and 6" long cutter right down to 1/8" new in the tube. The best thing I have is a ton of drill bits as the tool shop I worked at would throw them in buckets when they got dull or chipped and throw them away as it was not cost effective to sharpen them....anything 2" or smaller......yea really they did that and the boss said I could have them all, along with all of the reamers and cutters. I have on size and .001 - .005 over sized reammers in about every size up to 3/4 as we used them when I built magnesium die cast molds ad they had to heat treat the H13 steel to Rockwell 56-58C and the ejector pin holes would shrink so you reamed them over size before heat treat or you had a heck of a time afterward.
They also used to throw away all of their worn out carbide inserts, at each mill they would have a 5 gal bucket and throw all of the broken and dull carbide in there too. I asked the boos if I could have that as well. We were cleaning up the shop and I was the night shift Supervisor and in charge of getting things ready for our ISO 9000 inspection, he said to get all of the junk out of the shop and I could have them every time they were full......I took 20 five gallon pails full of carbide to scrap and got questioned and they even called the plant manager to make sure that I was supposed to have it or not. He told them that any time I brought anything in that it was okay and they made note of that and I was good to go from then on in....I don't recall the exact dollar amount, but carbide for scrap was 18.00/pound and I had 20 five gallon buckets full over the top. I had to load them onto a pallet and load them into my truck and it sat on the axle. I know I purchased a brand new all aluminum race engine for my late model all tricked out and paid cash and had a bunch of cash left over to buy fuel and tires for the entire year and money for the next season too. I was over 20k. they were just to lazy to mess with it. Eventually they figured out that I was making a bunch of money on it and started doing it themselves, but I did it for over 2 1/2 years....I loved that! An extra 20-30k or more a year tax free in the 90's on top of the 30.00/hr I made....that was all gooooood! The same thing was true with anything that the sweeper guy would sweep up from the floor, they would throw away, nuts, blots, cutters, drill bits, tooling, everything, he was the owners brother in-law and loved me as I always repaired his lawn mowers and chain saws etc. I needed a bench for home....he decided that he was going to throw one away a day after I told him I needed one and just loaded it in my truck...lol! I also had permission from the owner to build 2 injection molds when we were slow and use anything that we had on hand and I did. I now have my own injection molds that make my own design of duck and goose calls and the guts that go inside as well as a reed cutter for cutting the reeds for them.
Those were the good old days when they had more work than we could handle and then things got slow and they tightened their belt.
I have live centers, jacobs chucks fror bridgports, lathes and even a reall large one for a drill press or lathe in morse tapper. I have a bunch of chuck keys to go with them as they always seem to get stolen or lost in a tool shop. I bet I have 200 or more pounds of carbide cutters, everything from hand made spre cutters to 3/4" 4 flute 4" and 6" long cutter right down to 1/8" new in the tube. The best thing I have is a ton of drill bits as the tool shop I worked at would throw them in buckets when they got dull or chipped and throw them away as it was not cost effective to sharpen them....anything 2" or smaller......yea really they did that and the boss said I could have them all, along with all of the reamers and cutters. I have on size and .001 - .005 over sized reammers in about every size up to 3/4 as we used them when I built magnesium die cast molds ad they had to heat treat the H13 steel to Rockwell 56-58C and the ejector pin holes would shrink so you reamed them over size before heat treat or you had a heck of a time afterward.
They also used to throw away all of their worn out carbide inserts, at each mill they would have a 5 gal bucket and throw all of the broken and dull carbide in there too. I asked the boos if I could have that as well. We were cleaning up the shop and I was the night shift Supervisor and in charge of getting things ready for our ISO 9000 inspection, he said to get all of the junk out of the shop and I could have them every time they were full......I took 20 five gallon pails full of carbide to scrap and got questioned and they even called the plant manager to make sure that I was supposed to have it or not. He told them that any time I brought anything in that it was okay and they made note of that and I was good to go from then on in....I don't recall the exact dollar amount, but carbide for scrap was 18.00/pound and I had 20 five gallon buckets full over the top. I had to load them onto a pallet and load them into my truck and it sat on the axle. I know I purchased a brand new all aluminum race engine for my late model all tricked out and paid cash and had a bunch of cash left over to buy fuel and tires for the entire year and money for the next season too. I was over 20k. they were just to lazy to mess with it. Eventually they figured out that I was making a bunch of money on it and started doing it themselves, but I did it for over 2 1/2 years....I loved that! An extra 20-30k or more a year tax free in the 90's on top of the 30.00/hr I made....that was all gooooood! The same thing was true with anything that the sweeper guy would sweep up from the floor, they would throw away, nuts, blots, cutters, drill bits, tooling, everything, he was the owners brother in-law and loved me as I always repaired his lawn mowers and chain saws etc. I needed a bench for home....he decided that he was going to throw one away a day after I told him I needed one and just loaded it in my truck...lol! I also had permission from the owner to build 2 injection molds when we were slow and use anything that we had on hand and I did. I now have my own injection molds that make my own design of duck and goose calls and the guts that go inside as well as a reed cutter for cutting the reeds for them.
Those were the good old days when they had more work than we could handle and then things got slow and they tightened their belt.
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