What do you use 1-2-3 blocks for?

[EPAIII]

Glenn,

Great idea.


Paul A.

 

[darryl]

I recall a posting some time ago where the 1 2 3 blocks were best used as doorstops. I took a 3/8 and a 1/2 inch bolt with me to the store, and checked out the tapped holes for straightness. Most holes weren't straight, and some wouldn't accept the bolt. The outer surfaces looked good, though, but I didn't carry with me a way to check the squareness, sizing, and alignment of holes between blocks. This has all been an issue with blocks, even if they came from a reputable manufacturer. I don't have a set, but I can see how I would use them for setups. I would certainly want them to be good, and not just look good.
By the way, one of the best things I have made is a precision square that I can carry with me. I see in catalogues where a square is rated for so many thou per inch accuracy, and how longer blades carry that stated accuracy all the way. What does that mean, that it could be out 6 thou in 6 inches? Yup. My homemade one is out about 1 thou over it's 4 inch length. That's .25 thou per inch, better than a 'high accuracy engineer's square'. It wasn't that hard to make, and is a good thing to have with you if you contemplate buying blocks, or any other thing that's supposed to be square, including squares.

 

[TheMetalDoctor]

123's can be used in a lot of ways in clamping odd shaped parts in the vice or parts that are thinner than your parallels. They can be used for pressing in/out bearings and bushings. I use them almost every day for squaring up work that is above the jaws in my vice. They have a jillion uses. If you buy a cheap pair that are not precision, grind them square and parallel to the best of your ability or buy the precison set. The non precision ones are usually sold .002 or so oversize to allow for finish grinding.

TMD

 

[toolmakerjim]

some of the blocks on the market are metric threads. also i believe tey are nomially .0002" to .0003" oversize to allow for lapping. if you want to lap .002 better bring your lunch and dinner for 2 days...jim

 

[TheMetalDoctor]

Jim,

All the 123's I have seen (precision that is) have been ground, not lapped. My precision set is ground. I suspect lapping would bring the cost up a tad.

TMD

 

[toolmakerjim]

the brown and sharpe, and others, blocks that i have seen advertised are ground leaving .0002" to .0003" for the end user to lap if they feel nessacary. i'm sure that this is a built in tolerance so that they dont sell undersize blocks...jim

 

[kustomizer]

It has come to my attention that I am missing out by not using these handy tools. I have never had any or been around anyone that used them.
I make mostly small parts that rarely have any flat, true, square or even parallel surfaces on them, The parts I make are always in quantities of 100 to 20k. In the past I start by making a cad drawing followed by soft jaws cut in such a way that I can run up to 6 ops in the same jaws leaving me with complete parts using 3 Kurt double lock vises. Sometimes I put 18 jaws in making 12 stations rather than 6 so I can have as many as 18 to 24 parts per cycle. I am hoping to see some pics and likely some explanation as to how I can use the 123 blocks to improve my processes. I didn't make the brass beer tap, just the knob.
Here are some of the shapes I tend to make:


Please help a hard headed old man see the light.

 

[plastikdreams]

It has come to my attention that I am missing out by not using these handy tools. I have never had any or been around anyone that used them.
I make mostly small parts that rarely have any flat, true, square or even parallel surfaces on them, The parts I make are always in quantities of 100 to 20k. In the past I start by making a cad drawing followed by soft jaws cut in such a way that I can run up to 6 ops in the same jaws leaving me with complete parts using 3 Kurt double lock vises. Sometimes I put 18 jaws in making 12 stations rather than 6 so I can have as many as 18 to 24 parts per cycle. I am hoping to see some pics and likely some explanation as to how I can use the 123 blocks to improve my processes. I didn't make the brass beer tap, just the knob.
Here are some of the shapes I tend to make:
View attachment 337678View attachment 337679View attachment 337680View attachment 337681View attachment 337682

Please help a hard headed old man see the light.

Grave digging a thread 17 years old...that must be a record!

There's really no use for them with your application. They can be handy for setups and setting heights. I mainly use mine for platforms for measuring stuff. Especially when doing pin heights on sliding inserts that have very limited flat surfaces to reference off of.

 

[michiganbuck]

I use 123 blocks for inch spacers for layout work along with JoBlocks, for block-ins on surface grinders, for a square reference at millwork, two as an angle plate for griding, as a C clamp fixture to square grind a surface ground part, as a look at an inside corner to see less than x radius, as a high bump block in on the surface grinder with clamping a high-touch finger off the part as it sets on the magnet.

 

[kustomizer]

Grave digging a thread 17 years old...that must be a record!

There's really no use for them with your application. They can be handy for setups and setting heights. I mainly use mine for platforms for measuring stuff. Especially when doing pin heights on sliding inserts that have very limited flat surfaces to reference off of.

This is the reason for the search button, right. I suppose I could have started another but I suspect the stuff above is perhaps relevant

This pin height measurement might be a part like the standoffs in my first pic?

 

[kustomizer]

I use 123 blocks for inch spacers for layout work along with JoBlocks, for block-ins on surface grinders, for a square reference at millwork, two as an angle plate for griding, as a C clamp fixture to square grind a surface ground part, as a look at an inside corner to see less than x radius,

I can picture this, I don't have a surface grinder, I have had them offered to me but I don't think I would use it much. I do my tool making in a VMC.

 

[plastikdreams]

This is the reason for the search button, right. I suppose I could have started another but I suspect the stuff above is perhaps relevant

This pin height measurement might be a part like the standoffs in my first pic?

Sometimes they are used to support the block with the pins, sometimes when the pins are in a vex or cave cavity the reference for 0 is off the gage block.

 

[Plane Parts]

I can see using them as a known flat/ground surface of a specific width, but since they all seem to have tapped holes in them, what gets bolted to them (or what are they bolted too)?

I've not bought any yet because so far I haven't really been able to figure out what I'd end up using them to do.

cheers,
Michael

They are just great for so many things it is hard to think of "the best" way to use them. Spacing in clamps. Lifting parts off a table for drilling or machining. A nice square for small parts.

 

[kustomizer]

They are just great for so many things it is hard to think of "the best" way to use them. Spacing in clamps. Lifting parts off a table for drilling or machining. A nice square for small parts.

I don't much care what they are best for, simply how they might improve things I do. I understand how they help with the things you listed but I just don't do that kind of work.

 

[CarbideBob]

Sometimes they make for a handy block of steel to tap things down in vise.
Old micrometers also make for very good precision c-clamps. That fine thread is a great power multiplier.

Oh.. this is probably all not the right things to do. Yet I do it but I am still learning and big time foolish after some years.

Hole drilled and they can be bolted together in sets to do all kinds of things. Think Lego blocks.
Bob

 

[TheBigLebowski]

I've got a few of them that have been given to me over the years. I think their purpose is usually as a learning project to teach someone to grind flat, square, and to size. I use them once in a great while when I need a bit of extra support under a long part on the mill. I found making a bunch of soft 2.875" blocks worked better for this, as you can drill into them and they are the same height as a kurt vise bed.

Never used them for precision grinding - angle plates, v blocks, and gage blocks do all the heavy lifting.

There was a guy on here making a 123 block that had a bottle opener attached to it. He got laughed at but perhaps he found a way to make a more useful 123 block

"Swiss-Army" 1-2-3 Block: The Multi-Purpose Machining Tool!

 

[kustomizer]

Interesting perhaps?
How To Use 1-2-3 Blocks

 

[Milland]

Interesting perhaps?
How To Use 1-2-3 Blocks

Watched the video.

Totally bogus.

Did not see them thrown* at a Jehovah's Witness once...





[* The above is satire, do not throw 1-2-3 blocks at any actual people]

 

[EmGo]

[* The above is satire, do not throw 1-2-3 blocks at any actual people]

But you live in a sissy neghborhood. I always carry mine in their holsters, strapped low for a quick draw and speedy sling, whenever I go into the bad parts of town ...

For a while I carried a set of 2-4-6 blocks, they carried a wallop but range was poor

 

[Greg White]

I have ten of them,not a single hole in any of em,
Real handy on Bmils,any bigger weldments,castings, molds,dies,chit man,cant imagine being without them.
Gw