What Did You Buy Today?

Had these Rocket Sockets in the amazon cart for several years now. Wife asked if she should delete them or order them. So I said order them... ;) I've got three rusty cars to work on soon, and my guess is at least one bolt or nut will need something like this. If not, I'll chalk it up to the fact that these were in the tool box!

Also, broke down and ordered a 'matching' set of Lufkin planer gauges. These things need only a slight cleaning and touch of oil. Otherwise they are silky smooth. A little bummed they aren't exactly the same size. Apparently being adjustable means they didn't have to exactly match dimension. They should be handy on the surface plate, and maybe for light duty setups in the mill...

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The planer gauges were cheap, the sockets not so much...
 
Not today, but within the last two weeks.... A Cross-pole Mag Chuck.

Yes, it has a decent enough hold to use it for the intended purpose of making steel shim washers to specific thickness.

It is 100mm diameter, 70mm deep, yet has a 50mm register and what I calculate as an 80mm PCD (need to recheck that to be certain).

I am stuck between whether to make an adapter plate and increase overall depth, or whether to machine the register out to 72mm and re-drill for the PCD of the spindle flange of the lathe....

Ignore the end of the steel rule in the phots, that has been filed to a very specific size to allow easy repeat measurements for when I machine Raleigh Chopper specific bolts.

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JustBen said:
Purchased a new 6" VERTEX HV-6 rotary table (4-Slot) recently.

I need to disassemble it and clean out any grit, but I like the fitment so far. I am disappointed in some staining/discoloration where the degree measurements are. The last photo shows how the 4 in 240 is covered up along with some degree markings. I tried alcohol, degreaser, hairdryer, elbow grease and no joy, it is stuck on there. That would be my main complaint. If anyone has any ideas on how to remove the staining it would be appreciated. I reached out to the seller and Vertex's subsidiary in the UK to see if they could help.

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That will be a good unit, I have a 10" Vertex and it is a very good unit.
 
dkemppai said:
I keep thinking of buying solutions like this. For now I just keep some veg tanned tooling leather and some copper wire handy. Basically the scraps are free, so good enough for who it's for! lol.
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I use Copper wire, 1/8" Copper & Aluminum bar, cardboard (other good ideas in this video, too), Aluminum Vee-blocks and a Vise-Ball:

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dkemppai said:
Lots of good ideas there. Keep thinking about making one of those vise balls. Never seem to get around to it...
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Unless you go for a hardened ball (like Chuck Bommarito did), you don't need to invest in a radiused carbide end mill like Chris used - he got his balls from McMaster (I used 3/4"Ø since I have a 3" vise) and when I checked with McM they told me they are 12L14.
 
ChazzC said:
he got his balls from McMaster
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Odd place to get body parts, but eh, to each their own I guess, wonder who took his original balls? :laughing:

On a serious note, why not MAKE the ball if you have a radius tool and the stock? Could make some from steel/ally/bronze/copper et-al in any size based on what stock you have to hand.
 
I like these for tramming in my mill vise with a large face .00025" indicator, not that I try to get that close. Just very easy to read. I have a beat up off brand I wanted to replace. eBay prices shocked me. Did a simple Google search and this popped up on a Goodwill auction listed as a bicycle repair tool.

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