Sources For Shim Material....?

Crow Horse said:
I'm practicing turing grooves in aluminum with a rear mounted parting tool. As mounted, it's not perfectly on center and I need to shim the holder. What's a good economical source shim material. My first thought was to purchase an inexpensive feeler gauge and use the appropriate blade as a shim. Is there a better material to use?
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That is exactly what I did. Went to Harbor Freight and bought a half dozen feeler gauge sets and took them all apart and store the leaves in a tube. Been using these on my CNC lathe for a couple years.
 
For me, it's the feeler gauge for the win. Being that I have several duplicate feeler gauges, one will be dedicated to tool post shimming duty. Footnote* This is the first time that a solution to an issue didn't cost anything.

Thanks for everyone's input!
 
It would help if we knew how much shim is needed.
 
Beer can is that.

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I have a propensity for using smaller tools than what the machine is designed for, especially on the Taiwanese lathe. In most cases, I use folded up metal roofing for the gross shims, anything over .020. It's only the small, last little fitter piece where shim stock comes into play. I have a large quantity of brass shim stock, 6 inch wide rolls that I acquired as sheet stock, for .003 and .013. And a (cheap) feeler guage for fine tuning.

Shims don't need to be "shim stock", any sheet stock of appropriate thickness becomes a shim when it is used for that purpose. The only "proviso" being that the material is flat or square so the tooling is held at the proper attitude. I often use roofing metal (commercial) that has been folded and hammered flat for "spacers". In electrical work, I have used a sliver of a coin (copper penny) as an electricaly conductive shim.

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Soda cans work great and even tinfoil if you need to go super thin. Dirt cheap end you can quench your thirst.
 
Suzuki4evr said:
Soda cans work great and even tinfoil if you need to go super thin. Dirt cheap end you can quench your thirst.
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Same here. I've got a few cut up Coke cans, measure .004". Also have a pack of brass shim stock for when I get carried away.
 
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