Tool for setting tool height. Tools for tools , it never ends !

[coal miner]

Always checking the tool height on the QCTH that I had . The old pinch the ruler , dead center in the tailstock , and other methods were used , but most of the time it left that little tit on the facing op . Grr ! Found some stuff in the scrap box and came up w/ this design and it seems to have solved 99% of the problem . The base is a cut-off of 1" diam. Al with a neodymium Super Glued flush w/ the bottom . A 3/8" adjustment rod , some knurled adjustment nuts and a 1/4" tapered pointer in a 3/8" threaded Al block . Nothing fancy . After I got it made and set by facing a piece in the lathe , found that almost all the tool holders were off . Some of them quite a bit.






The neodymium magnets are super powerful for their size and find a lot of uses in the shop . Got a bunch in different sizes for projects .

Degree wheel w/ pointer .

 

[Maglin]

Nice scrape made tool height setter.

 

[Old Iron]

I need one of those its been on the todo list for a long time. Nice job on yours.

Paul

 

[endmill]

Nice tool. What pitch did you use?

 

[jgedde]

Awesome tool! I need to make one like it! Where did you source the Neodymium magnets?

The degree wheel is a cool idea too!

John

 

[Tony Wells]

I think you can get Neodymium magnets in a few sizes from HF.

 

[nolo]

Really nice looking tool. I eye the tool up to a center in the tail stock. I'm often off by a little and have to adjust after facing. I have to get my eyes checked. Eyeing those points up is getting difficult.

 

[GoMopar440]

I've seen the Neo magnets at Ace hardware when I went in there just the other day. I did notice that they seemed to be a bit pricy though. I've always just gotten them for free from inside old broken hard drives. Ask around at computer repair stores for some old broken drives if you don't have any laying around. They'll probably just give them to you. I've never had to pay for any of the ones I've gotten.

The hard drive magnets are shaped a bit wierd, but they're plenty strong for just about anything. I just cut them down (hacksaw) to the size I need and stick them to whatever with some superglue or epoxy. It's not too hard to put them somewhere out of sight if you just get a little creative. Trying to mill them or turn them to shape would get interesting very quick due to the chips not wanting to leave the workpiece. You also have the magnets trying to magnetize your tool bits, which will then cause your ferrous metal chips to stick where you don't want them to while you're maching other stuff later on. Hacksaw blades are a lot easier to use and discard (or demagnetize if you know how) for me.

 

[coal miner]

Endmill , the 3/8" was 24tpi to allow a finer adjustment .

Tony , I buy my magnets from an E-Bay seller http://www.ebay.com/sch/magnet4less...882&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&_trksid=p4340.l2562 Gives good service and has about any size you would need . The N rating is indicative of the strength .

Paddy , that's the same way I check the height . These old eyes don't see so good without a magnifier . The finger nail works just fine

 

[sic semper tyrannis]

Neo magnets are really cheap on ebay. TONS of sizes!!!

Great tool and I like the idea of the line on the tailstock...but with my lathe all the parts would have to be at the same place every time or it would never work out. Just a bit of wear.