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Leitz Hardness tester

Vonn

Plastic
Joined
Jun 23, 2021
Hi,
Just picked up a old but good horizontal mill from an estate sale and the lady there asked if I would be interested in a instrument in a box, It is a Leitz West German Hardness tester. I told her I would love to have it but I have no idea what's it worth and if it even has all the parts or works, She asked if I'd give $20 dollars for it,and I about broke my fingers getting a 20 outta my pocket!

It looks like it's in good condition but there is no model number or anything to really identify it. I'd really like to find an manual for it, even if it's in German, I could do some google translating enough to get a little understanding of it. Does anyone know anything about this thing? Would love to be able to use it in the shop, middle of building a small heat treating oven and I think this would come in handy!

20210714_211046.jpg 20210714_211101.jpg 20210714_211020.jpg 20210714_211009.jpg
 
Are you sure that's a hardness tester? Was there any documentation with it? Looking at it, I would say it's more likely to be some sort of very old comparator. That is .00005" graduations on the dial.
 
I actually have only found 1 other one like it on the web, a hardware company in oregon,listed as an old german precision hardness tester. I spoke to them asking if they had a manual for it,their looking for one. They used to use it for testing hardness on batches of custom made hardware for customers but haven't used it in about 20 years, gathering dust in the warehouse. I'm hoping they can find a manual, this thing seems like a unicorn or maybe a unicorn's twin brother!

Quality Component Supply -- High Tech Fasteners, Components, Screws, Nuts, Bolts and Rivets from Gesipa, Dzus, PEM, Richco, Heyco, and others.
 
It's indeed a comparator. As far as I know, the only thing it is missing is the light source. I do have one as well, somewhere. Similarly without light. You need the light to illuminate the needle and the measuring scale (if I recall correctly, in mine the two knobs at the side move a red and green filters that can be set for the acceptable plus and minus tolerances.

I was planning to adapt a cheap LED flashlight to it, but never did it.

Paolo
 
I actually have only found 1 other one like it on the web, a hardware company in oregon,listed as an old german precision hardness tester. I spoke to them asking if they had a manual for it,their looking for one. They used to use it for testing hardness on batches of custom made hardware for customers but haven't used it in about 20 years, gathering dust in the warehouse. I'm hoping they can find a manual, this thing seems like a unicorn or maybe a unicorn's twin brother!

Quality Component Supply -- High Tech Fasteners, Components, Screws, Nuts, Bolts and Rivets from Gesipa, Dzus, PEM, Richco, Heyco, and others.

Reading the blurb at that link, I'm not certain they know what they've got. I'm inclined to think not. The bottom plate on that sure doesn't suggest hardness tester to me. And is there any way to apply downward pressure? That's needed to check penetration depth, which that thing sure doesn't look capable of to me; no rigidity in that design for a hundred pounds of pressure. And let's not forget the "Made for Geo. Scherr" on the side. As far as I'm aware, Scherr never made any hardness testers, but they did make metrology inspection equipment. The photo at the link sure does look like it has a light sticking out the back of it where yours has the port, as Paolo mentioned too.
 
Yep, your right, started playing with it and realized it had no way to apply any type of force, opened it up saw the lens and prisms stuck a small LED flashlight in the back and all the scales lit up. Unfortunately it's something I wouldn't have much use for,but for the 20 bucks I gave for it I'm not out much. I'll probably machine a small fixture to hold a LED flashlight and list it on Ebay, I'm sure someone would have a need for one.

Thanks everyone for the replies!
 
I was playing with it yesterday noticed the len's stuck a flashlight in it and the scales lit up just as you said. everything seem's to be working,I just really don't have a use for it, pretty much everything I do in the shop is a one off project.
 
I was searching everything as a hardness tester, makes since why nothing was coming up, except the other one who mislabeled it as a hardness tester.
 








 
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