Indicator Base/Surface Gauge Shop Print

[Cphockey16]

Hey guys.

I've posted a handful of times around here. I'm a year two apprentice.

A lot of the guys in the shop have multiple bases they use with their test indicators (lever style) on the surface plate. I have one myself, but I could use another. I'm thinking the kind with the knurled knob for increasing/decreasing tension. Many of the guys made their own indicator base (aka surface gauge aka transfer stand) while in trade school. I never had the benefit of vocational training myself.

I was wondering if any of you guys have some old prints for an indicator base from your school days or early in your apprenticeship?

I've asked several guys, so far to no avail. I haven't had any luck searching online. Might be a shot in the dark, but ANYTHING would be appreciated. I'm determined to make my own and I'd much rather have a print to work from.

Thanks a ton.

Edit: Attached a couple pics.

 

[lucky7]

Suggest looking up Stephan Gotteswinter on youtube and his website.

L7

 

[Cphockey16]

Suggest looking up Stephan Gotteswinter on youtube and his website.

L7

Still no luck on a print, but I found the video this Stefan guy made. Good stuff. Thank you

 

[michiganbuck]

The V nose height gauge on the pink plate with a ball in the V can function as a right-angle / check for squareness gauge to check the being-checked-side to the base side(the one on the plate) with testing first to a master.. and it can also check the squareness of a part having two parallel sides with not using a master. This method is often used to test a part the top and bottom are perfect parallel as if coming off a surface grinder. You check one side to the opposite/parallel base ..and then flip it 180* to check the same side to the base and see that half the error is the error to remove in order to make square.

*Checking square is a basic and needed ability for anyone in any of the machining trades.

Also the pivot pin on that style(the style with the tilting blade) can pivot on a tapered nose screw so taking away any bit of slack(clearance.)

*Just drawing your own print should be fine/ok as the sizes don't mean anything. but it should be near dead nuts square in all its features..

3 x 4 x 1 1/2 or 2 might be good.

Vintage LUFKIN RULE CO. NO.522 SURFACE GAUGE Saginaw MI | eBay

 

[thermite]

Hey guys.

I've posted a handful of times around here. I'm a year two apprentice.

A lot of the guys in the shop have multiple bases they use with their test indicators (lever style) on the surface plate. I have one myself, but I could use another. I'm thinking the kind with the knurled knob for increasing/decreasing tension. Many of the guys made their own indicator base (aka surface gauge aka transfer stand) while in trade school. I never had the benefit of vocational training myself.

I was wondering if any of you guys have some old prints for an indicator base from your school days or early in your apprenticeship?

I've asked several guys, so far to no avail. I haven't had any luck searching online. Might be a shot in the dark, but ANYTHING would be appreciated. I'm determined to make my own and I'd much rather have a print to work from.

Thanks a ton.

Edit: Attached a couple pics.

View attachment 310498
View attachment 310497

First.. MAKE a print. Ability to turn mental concept into useful sketch or drawing for your own use, for "record", or for use of a co-worker or a(ny) third-party contractor, can be just as useful - or MORE so - as the ability to build TO a print.

"inspiration" can then come simply from browsing "old stuff" made by - and generally also "proven by" - others and picking up ideas to be blended for part or all of what you want.

You are allowed to make and have more than just the ONE after all, so "JFDI".

If the design turns out to be imperfectly suited to the need? And they ALL are.. Simply make a better - or just DIFFERENT - one next time.

Not as if it were a parachute you were trusting your life to, first time you ever used it!

 

[Cphockey16]

The V nose height gauge on the pink plate with a ball in the V can function as a right-angle / check for squareness gauge to check the being-checked-side to the base side(the one on the plate) with testing first to a master.. and it can also check the squareness of a part having two parallel sides with not using a master. This method is often used to test a part the top and bottom are perfect parallel as if coming off a surface grinder. You check one side to the opposite/parallel base ..and then flip it 180* to check the same side to the base and see that half the error is the error to remove in order to make square.

*Checking square is a basic and needed ability for anyone in any of the machining trades.

Also the pivot pin on that style(the style with the tilting blade) can pivot on a tapered nose screw so taking away any bit of slack(clearance.)

*Just drawing your own print should be fine/ok as the sizes don't mean anything. but it should be near dead nuts square in all its features..

3 x 4 x 1 1/2 or 2 might be good.

Vintage LUFKIN RULE CO. NO.522 SURFACE GAUGE Saginaw MI | eBay

I got lucky when I first got into the trade, I bought a load of tools from a guy who left the industry for whatever reason. Included in the set of tools was a Squar-ol squareness comparator. After the toolmakers showed me how to use it, and after a great deal of practice, I've basically got the thing figured out. Grinding the base itself dead nuts square & parallel won't be an issue. I should probably figure out how to check for squareness to tenths without the thing though.

Thanks, in any case. I'm still holding out hope somebody posts something from their trade school days. I've got a 14x4.5x2.5 chunk of S-7 that I'm going to cut & mill into a couple 4x3x2(+ grind stock) blocks to start with in the meantime.

I appreciate the responses fellas. Keep 'em coming, by all means.

 

[metalmagpie]

If you are going to use a surface gage as a right angle comparator, make sure the indicator point can sit directly above the tangential point of contact. This isn't always easy when using a trapped ball bearing.

 

[TGTool]

Harold Hall's site might be a good place to look. I haven't gone through the whole thing except to check alphabetically for surface gauge and not finding it, but he uses British nomenclature so it might show up somewhere else. Various interesting things in any case.

Harold Hall's website index. A to C

 

[James H Clark]

Cp: Does the gray one in your pic belong to you? If so, copy that. Don't know what kind of shop you are in, but if its the kind of shop I was in, you will need to practice your skills in copying a part. Often, we had only a wrecked part to work with.
JH

 

[ratbldr427]

That gray one looks exactly like my Lufkin, which is slightly different than the one michiganbuck linked to. Mine is probably a later model and is my favorite among the four I have.

 

[michiganbuck]

Drawing the base and each of the parts is a very good experience.

making it dead square sides to the base, and to the far back end it can be used as an eyeball square check gauge.. with just holding it to a part set on the plate.

While you are making things also make a small bench surface plate. perhaps 5/8 x 10 x 12 (6 x 10 Whatever)
This to be your portable checking plate for small parts. It also dead square so to be also used as an eye-ball square checker. Left soft os Ok but then you need take careful care of it.

 

[TGTool]

James H Clark's recommendation to draw or sketch it up because you'll need that skill with broken things is excellent advice.

Sketching presses you to think about each feature, what it does or why it's there. This lets you alter or relax tolerance in places that don't matter, and focuses your attention (and time) on the features that may be critical. This is also the place where you can change things to suit yourself - to fit material on hand, to change size based on expected use, to alter the looks just for esthetic reasons or whatever. It's great exploration of unknown territory.

Some time back I happened to see a retired machinist's collection of small tools and fixtures on a shelf. All were shop made by various people but there was a wealth of information about the unknown makers left on the tools. You could see that some had had a shaper in the shop, some were all milled. Some had features that were dictated by what the maker had available. Some were painted on non-functional surfaces, some just as heat treated. I should have had a pith helmet and elephant gun.

 

[lrak]

I think the gold standard for a surface-plate-indicator-stand is the Murkens http://murkensprecisiontool.com/indicatorbase.html What HS used to sell and later copied.

 

[4GSR]

Another one digging up an old thread...