Turning starrett 50A trammel points into a gasket cutter?

I got a set of starrett 50a trammels for a great price on eBay with the intention of turning them into a gasket cutter/plastic cutter for covering up my steady rests and such. Anyone have any ideas for fabbing one of the points into a cutter or whipping something up in the shop?

Keep them both as points, copy the mounting for one but turn the new part into a holder for #11 X-Acto blades. Saves a lot of resharpening time, just swap out the dull blade.

That’s a good idea but I’m not sure I could cut a slit that small. I’ll have to think of something I can make that uses a set screw or a threaded hole that clamps two pieces against the blade to hold it.

Jeweler's saw can cut that slit (and narrower) with no trouble and little expense. FWIW, it's nice to swap out blades for one-off kinds of work, but you can save a ton by just giving them a few swipes on a plated diamond plate sharpener, or even a hard Arkansas stone. Don't bugger up a good Starrett tool!

I’ll swap you a set of knock-off Starrett 59A trammel points. They will accept a small x-acto and will be perfect for your application.

Modifying Starrett seems…

Too much like heresy.

Like digging through a pile of Craftsman wrenches to find a Snap-On wrench to grind down.

Sure… the shop-made thin-wrench made from a Snap-On will be marginally better than one from a Craftsman… Just as the unground Snap-On wrench was marginally better than the unground Craftsman, but YOU surely paid more for the Snap-On and SOMEONE paid a lot more.

Starrett and Snap-On are tools one buys with an appreciation of the tool.

Your claimed primary application hardly warrants an actually round shape, certainly not round to the degree capable of something bearing the Starrett name.

I’ll gladly send you the ones I’ve got, postage-paid both ways, in trade for your Starrett ones and I’ll keep the Starrett ones in my toolbox for the rare occasions I need trammels up to the envelope your ones will do.

Otherwise, tape an x-acto blade to a big set of dividers… and keep the Starrett trammels as you bought them.



Be safe





Jeremy

On edit:
For gaskets, check these out:




FLAT LYING TRAMMEL SET - MPOWER Tools

REAL nice for cutting out gasket material.

I have a Starrett trammel set and I really have no idea what it's original use was supposed to be, but I have found the parts are incredibly useful for reverse engineering weird stuff. It so happens that the trammel parts fit on 5/16" shaft. Same size as a lot of automotive engine valves. I've used the trammel points mounted on a valve stem with the face ground concentric to reach around obstacles and get some real tricky measurements.

I would not cut one up, but I would make an attachment to hold a razor blade in a heartbeat.

IMO, if I needed to cut out thin plastic or a gasket I'd use a Chinese CO2 laser. If you don't have one you have to know somebody who does and is trying to find uses for it. It would look much better than cutting with a razor blade.

Yeah I’m not trying to destroy or really alter the tool at all, just seeing if anyone had a good strategy for whipping up a part that I could swap out for one of the legs

Jewelers saw is a great idea I didn’t know existed. And seeing that the lie down trammels the guy above posted uses a set screw to hold the blade in place, looks like I can just turn to whatever diameter, thread the end to match the threaded hole, cut a slot and drill and tap for a set screw and I’ll be set. Thanks a lot for the suggestions, I promise I won’t butcher a nice starrett tool.

PinkySlayer said:

Jewelers saw is a great idea I didn’t know existed. ...

Click to expand...

Jeweler's saw is a name applied to two completely different cutting tools. The older and more familiar to jewelers is a 5" long thin steel saw blade to be held in an adjustable frame that looks a lot like a woodworker's fret saw, These saw blades come in sizes as small as a sewing thread and up to sizes more like the ones woodworkers use. The teeth have no set. They are mostly used for piercing work in precious metals, but they can cut soft steel as well. They are sold in bundles of 12 because they break easily. You will find them in jewelry supply companies like Rio Grande.

The picture shows a bronze tsuba I made which has a lot of saw piercing.

The other tool is a thin circular saw that is usually used in a milling machine. You will find them in places like MSC.

Larry

I made two gasket cutters from an empty soup can and a 1 lb. coffee can. I removed the bottom of each can with a battery operated can opener that removes the lid with no sharp edges or burrs. It is called something with mama in the name and works on round ,rectanguar cans. I cut the cans to 2" in length. I ground the inside perimeter with a dremel tool and grind stone attachment. A wood top on the opposite side with a piece of wood for a handle. I was going to make the top with an arbor so it could be used in a drill press. When I tried it out the runout was too much even at the lowet speed. This did work very well if the DP is turned by hand. I made a wooden yoke that fastened on the quill so it was easy to turn by hand.
The wood top has 3 1" diametr holes in it so the gaskets can be pushed out of the can .
mike

WTF are you trying to reinvent the gasket cutter? For the time you will spend fucking up a nice tool you can have the real thing:
Allpax AX6010 Standard Gasket Cutter Heavy-Duty Cuts 1/4" ...

mike44 said:

I made two gasket cutters from an empty soup can and a 1 lb. coffee can. I removed the bottom of each can with a battery operated can opener that removes the lid with no sharp edges or burrs. It is called something with mama in the name and works on round ,rectanguar cans. I cut the cans to 2" in length. I ground the inside perimeter with a dremel tool and grind stone attachment. A wood top on the opposite side with a piece of wood for a handle. I was going to make the top with an arbor so it could be used in a drill press. When I tried it out the runout was too much even at the lowet speed. This did work very well if the DP is turned by hand. I made a wooden yoke that fastened on the quill so it was easy to turn by hand.
The wood top has 3 1" diametr holes in it so the gaskets can be pushed out of the can .
mike

Click to expand...

The sharpened can idea is one that works extremely well for cutting foam rubber or foam plastics. I have a part that I machine that requires disposable dams of semi-rigid (you know that shiny slick-feeling plastic polyethylene foam often used for packing expensive delicate parts) foam to retain cast cerrobend used as a support medium. I use a ground-edge tomato paste can and a ground-edge soup can to quickly cut perfect donuts of foam in seconds. If I need a “custom” size cutter I can quickly roll it with a small pinch roll.

Denis

Step one: purchase an exacto knife.

Step two: modify same so it fits on the trammel beam

Step three: set aside one of the starrette trammel points, replace with item fabbed up in step two.

Warning: This is a very sophisticated setup for professional use only...YMMV...

The drill press was used to only hold things square...cutting was done by hand turning the chuck.

To be used correctly that setup has to be operated by somebody who is:

a) wearing a tie
b) wearing gloves
c) has a heavy gold chain around their neck
d) has long, loose hair.

=)