Seeking recommendations on non-Chinese 1/8" solid parallel set

[Newman109]

I have a set of parallels that I bought some 25 years ago when I got into machining to support my then motorcycle racing habit. I recall that I got them from ENCO long before they were swallowed up by MSC and disappeared from the market.
I couldn't tell you where they were made except to say that the red plastic box in which they came looks suspiciously like the ones in the MSC catalog shown above.
Oh yeah. They work OK for my needs.

 

[EPAIII]

I agree, it IS a good point. And this IS a "Manufacturing" forum. I peeked, that word is in the title. So, would anybody here (US shops) want to produce a new product? A set of 1/8" thick parallels by 1/16" increments going from perhaps 0.250" to 1.500" high for a target price of $400, including shipping (at least to the 50 states). They should be hardened and have a tolerance of +/-0.0002 which would be guaranteed (free replacement warranty) for at least a year (to ensure the heat treatment was done properly). In other words, no warping allowed. That tolerance should apply to sets made over the years as well, in case a customer needs additional, matching parallels. A wood or plastic box should be included.

It sounds like a money maker to me. I am throwing down the gauntlet. This is an opportunity for your shop to make more money. Any takers? If not, please tell us why. And "my shop is too busy" does not count. If this is doable, you can always hire another machinist and buy a (another) milling machine and/or surface grinder.

I ask for explanations as to why your shop can not do this because I suspect those answers would be a lot more informative than any of the discussion already present in this thread.

The OP does raise a good point
How come I cannot buy a, I dunno $400 set of 1/8 by X USA made parallels.
I don't need $40 ones, but $2000 seems a bit much, I mean, I am going to drill a hole in one soon enough
The B&S are China, bought some 2 years ago.

 

[dian]

is there a u.s. standard for parallels? over here its seems to be IT5 (iso 286-1).

without knowing the tolerance the above discussion doesnt make sence. im not sure if we are talking about parallels or gage blocks. 5µ over 200 mm is IT1. then you want them not to bent? why? they will, but sideways. and you want to stack them up and mix with other sets? no way.

if you buy ground stuff the price approximately doubles with each class. lets say some sliding bushings. H6 is common. H4 is rare and expensive. i havent seen any lower than that. thats gage territory.

(oh, and btw, concerning "imports": in todays global economy its a futile undertaking. can you be sure the steel in u.s. made is not chinese? the nickel in it might be russian. where did the grit it was ground with come from? did you know there is a high probapility of having the same molecule in a glass of water taken at home and a year later in another place of the world? so the water it was hardened with will be to some extent chinese as well.)

 

[AdamC]

Did I miss the post recommending ebay or fb marketplace? I have several sets of homemade parallels 3” and 6” long I’ve picked up for pennies. They are easy to inspect. I cant think of the downside.

Thin parallels are nice. So are the super fat starretts. I don’t think your instructor would care what you show up to school with.

FWIW, I have a bunch of parallel sets as I’ve written, but I only use a couple. You need a pair that is close to the height of your vice jaws, a set half as tall as your vises jaw and maybe one or 2 in between. I can’t think of any reason to have many more than that.

 

[MilGunsmith]

We were required to make our parallels and V-blocks as Toolmaker Apprentices. My Dad also made his back in 1950 when he was an apprentice, the 1/4" ones have an I-beam cross section with holes in the web. He said that was to make the tool box lighter to move from bench to bench, They only had their wooden boxes and no rolling carts like we use today.

 

[Mike1974]

We were required to make our parallels and V-blocks as Toolmaker Apprentices. My Dad also made his back in 1950 when he was an apprentice, the 1/4" ones have an I-beam cross section with holes in the web. He said that was to make the tool box lighter to move from bench to bench, They only had their wooden boxes and no rolling carts like we use today.

made these in my apprenticeship. flat/parallel/matched less than .0005" after almost 30 years!

 

[prime_mover]

oh, and btw, concerning "imports": in todays global economy its a futile undertaking.

Borg, there is no such thing as a global economy.

 

[MilGunsmith]

made these in my apprenticeship. flat/parallel/matched less than .0005" after almost 30 years!
View attachment 365905

Dad's look very similar. He was a Toolmaker at Singer Sewing Machine in Elizabeth NJ

 

[michiganbuck]

Grinding hard thin flat parallels is a good learning event, not uncommon for an apprentice to grind them to a nice radius (bow)..

 

[Mazinger]

Have a look on vintage machinery.com, he’s selling a bucket load of really quite good tooling at the moment...

I checked it out, but the stuff went fast and he was already sold out by the time I watched the video he posted. I emailed him anyway just to see if he has any leads. Hopefully he'll reply with good news.

 

[Mike1974]

Grinding hard thin flat parallels is a good learning event, not uncommon for an apprentice to grind them to a nice radius (bow)..

Ya it's good practice to try and get them flat. Especially if you have a grinder with no coolant... it's a learning experience, and a GOOD one

 

[neilho]

....It sounds like a money maker to me. I am throwing down the gauntlet. This is an opportunity for your shop to make more money. Any takers? If not, please tell us why. ....

Sounds like an opportunity for you!

 

[p-moon]

On the subject of Chinese tooling, buy it, check it, tune it up as needed. On the subject of parallels in increments of 1/8", Why? I made them in .100 increments and they were WAY more useful than the 1/8" ones. You should too, probably need the practice. Had to go collect them from other guys in the shop every time I wanted to use them..... On the subject of them curling up when grinding, I always milled shallow pockets in each side so there was way less area to grind. Kept them cool.

 

[Mazinger]

To follow up on the Accurate Manufactured Products Group parallels mentioned earlier in the thread...
I called them and the lady said they are made in China, but the plastic cases are made in America, hence the conflicting COO information found across the internet.

I ended up buying a set on facebook marketplace from a total stranger and had him ship them to me. The package arrived and it didn't contain a brick or scraps of 2x4, so that was cool. It's an old set of Japanese origin. They're very lightly used and two of the pairs were still in their factory wrap. I checked a couple at random and they were parallel within two tenths. It was $70 including shipping, so I'm pretty happy with my purchase, but still kinda sad that there's no domestic option these days.

 

[___brad___]

To follow up on the Accurate Manufactured Products Group parallels mentioned earlier in the thread...
I called them and the lady said they are made in China, but the plastic cases are made in America, hence the conflicting COO information found across the internet.

I ended up buying a set on facebook marketplace from a total stranger and had him ship them to me. The package arrived and it didn't contain a brick or scraps of 2x4, so that was cool. It's an old set of Japanese origin. They're very lightly used and two of the pairs were still in their factory wrap. I checked a couple at random and they were parallel within two tenths. It was $70 including shipping, so I'm pretty happy with my purchase, but still kinda sad that there's no domestic option these days.

I'm glad you found a set. At that price, condition, and origin, I'd be happy too.

I'm looking for parallels myself with similar requirements as you. Suburban Tool is the only option I've come up with. Did any of your classmates find parallels that met your needs?

 

[EPAIII]

This was an answer to my post about making my own parallels. But you missed the point that I have made twice already. It only took me an hour or so to make a bunch of them and I only used my metal band saw and a file.

I PURCHASED FLAT GROUND STOCK. That is stock metal that is already ground on four sides. It comes in one foot and three foot lengths and I purchased a couple of lengths of several sizes. Then I simply cut off lengths of them to use as parallels.

However I can clearly see why someone in a commercial shop may not think that is time well spent. Different strokes for different folks.

As a further note, I hope that some time soon US manufacturers WILL become more competitive with the prices from a place like China. This is not an easy thing to do considering the difference in cost of living in the two countries. It will take innovation, but we once were known for that. So I hope that it happens. SOON!

I think making your own parallels is probably worthwhile, and I'd like to do it at some point. I'm still very green at this point, and time is an issue. I really need to tool up so I can hit the ground running. I've already got several projects to grind for class and others to make on the mill. There's just not enough time to make both my mill projects and other grinding projects wait while I fab my own parallels.

I'm definitely going to buy my first set of parallels, but it might be the last set I buy. Might not be a bad thing if I grind my own after that once I've built the chops, especially if the market for parallels remains as dismal as it seems to be right now.

 

[EPAIII]

If you know of any of those options, please share. I too would love to know about them. I have been searching for reasonably priced tools ever since I got into machining. Not all of us are blessed with a surface grinder or even the space for one if we did have one.

I didn't really think it needed a reply... Obviously it's silly to spend thousands of dollars on a set of parallels. There are (or at least there used to be; not sure nowadays as it's been a while since I purchased a set of parallels) perfectly fine options available for a lot less than that. Another option is to buy the cheap import parallels and grind them in one's self.

 

[snowshooze]

Starrett or Suburban tool. If I had to choose, Suburban Tool.
But, I just harden and grind my own these days.

 

[Mazinger]

Did any of your classmates find parallels that met your needs?

Nobody else in my class came up with anything that I failed to discover. As far as the 1/8" thick category goes, there is nothing made in the USA, or anywhere but China as far as I can tell. The other students bought a range of things from fairly generic to fairly reputable, like SPI, but it's all from China. Understandably, nobody was interested in putting down the extra cash for the ostensibly nicer B&S or Fowler sets (also China), so we won't be able to compare the cheap and expensive sets. Whether companies like B&S and Fowler give you more QC and accuracy for the extra money or you're just paying for the name on the label remains unknown as far as my experience goes.

Even if the stuff is nicer, is the difference really worth hundreds of dollars? As others in this thread have already suggested, If you have the time and equipment, you'd probably be better off buying the cheapest set you can find and re-grinding them if they're way out. Time was a big constraint for me, and regardless, I'm not too keen on that option because my money would still go to China. I still periodically check the used market for a spare set, but non-Chinese sets don't come up often. I'm sure I'll be making my own parallels from scratch in the future.

 

[Mazinger]

One other thing...
Recently I did see a few wavy parallel sets apparently made in Switzerland by a company called Schleuniger. SPI sells them, or at least did at one point. If you're not set on 1/8" straight parallels, those might be an option. Not sure about affordablility.