You got to be kidding man?
ever thought of changin your handle to .0002 ( 2 tenths)
guy went to the doctor,ran around the room muttering
iam a wigwam,i am a teepee,
doctor said relax
your 2 tents.
peace
gw

I have used both to mount aluminum plates (used in low pressure injection molding) for grinding.....SGNorton wheels leave an awsome finish on aluminum. and like most i have 3 sets of 1-2-3 block. i use the "elcheapos" for set-up on the mill and a premium brown and sharp set for gaging purposes. the 2-4-6 block are HEAVY!..... 1st post btw!

That reminds me, I have used them on surface and rotary grinders for measuring the block thickness. Just set them up on the clean table next to your bock. after you grind, check down to the top of the block and add the amount of your block height to the measurment. Then you don't have to turn the magnet off and remove your block for a micromenter measurement.

Thom J

Another use is for tramming in the head on a vertical mill. On one end of the table, zero the indicator on the 1-2-3 block, rotate the spindle/indicator 180° and slide the 1-2-3 block underneath to check the other end of the table. This saves you the headache of skipping the indicator over the T-slots.

The list of use's would fill this page but I find them good for setting up a Sine Plate.

Are they prescise enough to use for setting tenth's mics?

Depends if you have a "Good" set, or ones that have been "Around". The second most useful tool in the shop, right behind the 6" steel scale.
I have 6 sets, and have needed more!
have fun
i_r_machinist

seriously, a set of mic standards is worth its wieght in gold. You have know idea how many problems I've solved by makeing someone measure a standard.

Many of the 1-2-3s are made a few tenths oversized (I am told this is to allow the user to grind them to final size?). My blocks confirn this. So I would not use them to directly set a mike, tenths or otherwise. That's what gauge blocks are for. But you could measure one with a 1" mike and use it to zero a 2" one. I would not carry this to any greater extent (2" to 3", 3" to 4", etc.) as the errors would become cumulative. But then, my 2" mike came with a standard.

I do use mine for layout work on the surface block. One will quickly hold a flat part upright at a 90 degree angle for scribing layout lines and two blocks held or bolted together will hold a shaft or other long, thin part upright.

You can also extend your height gauge with them. I have added 1, 2, and 3 inches to mine with 1-2-3s. I first stack the blocks and measure the vertical dimension. Then I "zero" the gauge taking into account the difference due to the blocks deviation from whole inches. So if they will add 3.001" to the height, I "zero" at 0.001" on the dial before putting the height gauge on the blocks. So you simply add 3" to the measure. I have measured up to 14 inches with my 12 inch gauge and could go up to 15. But then, I also have some 2-4-6s so I could go to 24" with them. Again, I would not extend this beyond 24" as you would have to measure the blocks in 12" increments and would get cululative errors when adding them up.

You are only limited by your imagination and ingenuity.

I made one of my sets in trade school. They have 1/2" drilled holes in place of the 3/8" taped holes. This allows them to be bolted to the table of a mill (good for stops) I have used them for hundreds of different things

I must have 20 sets of 1-2-3 and 2-4-6 blocks from Hermann Schmidt to cheap imports and a few Moore 0.785-1.25-1.5. I use my blocks all the time but there are some sizes that I would use that aren't available. I was going to make some awhile back out of 8620, mill, drill, rough grind, carburize, tap, finish heat and final grind. I couldn't find a local heat treater that would do it for a reasonable price. Has anyone gone down this road before?

Pierce
Making a set of 123 blocks was always the first test for my apprentices. I could think of no better way for them to demonstrate that they understood the principles of flat, parallel and square. They had to make a set of four 123 blocks all flat, parallel, square and all the same size within .0001" of each other. The only leeway I allowed them was that actual sizes did not have to be exactly 123. By the time this was accomplished they knew what those terms meant and could apply that knowledge in any situation. They hated me at first but thanked me in later years.
Gene

When your blocks are about .005/.010" from finish size build a miniature BBQ looking enclosure out of bricks. Coat your blocks in any good carburizing compound. Use a fan tip on a good acetylene torch and heat them until they look like they are starting to melt (they aren't) Quickly dip them in a good HT oil (or 30W,diesel not recommended.) After they cool down, clean them up and finish grind them leaving a few tenths oversize. Check them again in a few months after all the warp has settled, and finish grind them to size.

another and more accurite way to tell if you are up to temp. Use a magnet on a pen. when the steel is up to temp iron atoms re-aliegn and the steel will no-longer hold a magnetic charge until temp drops and atoms relax. but they go back kind of another way and pick up carbon along the way from your BBQ sause

If you could what would you guys change on the hole pattern and amount of tapped holes on a standard 123 block? Sometimes I wished all the holes were tapped.

I would add a few 1/2 and 3/8 tapped instaed of all one size

My favorite blocks have some holes counterbored for SHCS.

I like to use them for picking up parts that are to long and need to be moved. Just square it up and clamp it in place

Ben

Here's a milling set up where I used 1-2-3s. I wanted to use a corner rounding cutter on various edges of some parts to give them a nice finishing touch. Since the parts were different sizes, I would have had to carefully set up the depth of the cutter for each different dimension. Instead I used this to establish a common height for all the edges when clamped in the vise.



It actually takes three hands as you must 1 hold the flat stock down on the 1-2-3s, 2 lift up on the part, and 3 close the vise. All at the same time. But as we all know, we all have that extra hand when needed.

The top edge of the work piece is set at 3" above the table by the blocks so you can set the depth of the cutter only once for many edges. The Y table feed controls the depth of cut and you can just remember the numbers to repeat the exact cut.

The blocks are removed while making the cut and replaced for the next part/edge.

Just one use for 1-2-3s. 2-4-6s are great too.

EPAIII, that is a bloody good tip!

One of those that you slap your head and think "wish I'd thought of that when I was machining that akward sod of a job last month!"

Thanks man!

They look pretty setting in top of my Gerstner tool box next to all of the other pretty tools I don't use. Speaking of tools I don't use, might start a new thread.

Ken S.