# making a height gauge



## Anko (Nov 24, 2010)

Hi to all

has been a long time for me to post on the forum..

now, with the few basic tools that i have been adquired, im ready to start building my own NOT CHINESE tools, better said, made in chile tools 8) jajajaj

i have seen a lot of guys that made its own heigth gauge, so seem to be a popular and usefull build, I desing mine with nothing of engineering, just to be a lot of fun and experience.

and ofcourse, money its not my friend, so all is build from scrap, the only things that are not, are the screws and the cheap dial caliper.

first the base, i found a scrap piece of cast iron with the dimentions:







first was to take out the "arms" so i can get a square piece, drill a line of holes and then broke the metal with a hit of a hammer, then, put in the mini-mill and start to machine, in some point my favorite cheap hss 1/2" mill became round, total blunt, arrrghhhhh!!!






I thing that i was trying to mill a solder point or some ultra hard end-mill destroyer thing in the midle of the cast iron block..losse the 1/2 endmill is a great loss to me so I dont want to take more risk... I chuck the block on the lathe and with carbide tungsten cutter rough all surfaces to make sure that i will have no more tools casualties.






once the block wass out of "danger hard zones" i put in the machine, this time, using flycutters, because I can resharpen the hss bit

all work pretty well, the scrap block came with a lot of holes that I have errase with some press fit plugs on the holes, the finished base (i still tinking on what color I should pint, green or white) :
















the rods are silver steel 8 mm, why one is larger??? jaja just a 1 cm of bad measure at the moment of cut ;D


----------



## Anko (Nov 24, 2010)

to continue with the project

now is time to make the "clamps" that will fit the dial caliper in place, again scrap stock is used, these pieces are twins, machined together so the caliper get a perfect aligment position:











the brass emmm bearings?? i dont know how to call it, are a 10.05 mm press fit to a 10 mm reamed hole, the inner hole are reamed too, to 8 mm to fit the rod






the result was, that i like to think, two identical pieces:






now, is thime for te carriage, i see that the common is to attach the scriber direct to the caliper carriage, i will not do that because if you apply a little of tangential strength to the jaws of the caliper this will play a little (not the up and down mesaure strenght, for the sides) and that will introduce some error, besides i dont want that the caliper suffers any strength, its only job is to mesasure like measuring air, all the abuse and strength will be taked by a robust carriage:

sorry not much pictures of his construction, but here it is:

the screw that goest up is for the fine feed control, the other will be shorted when the time comes, they grab the caliper carriage.











the brass hand grip are made of a deformed teeth brass worm wear from the scrap yard.

and some preview of the height gauge, ofcourse that the jaws of the caliper will be cut off in the final stage of the proyect, for now I still use it for measure.
















looking like a heavy duty height gauge 8)jajaja

Saludos!!


----------



## steamer (Nov 25, 2010)

Interesting looking build Anko! Are you going to turn the calipers around so they hang over the front?

That should make for a useful tool!

I see the vise is getting a work out. Glad it worked out for you

I also use a flycutter to get through the hard stuff and save my good cutters....because I can sharpen it! ;D

Great job scrounging for material there.....keep the posts coming!

Dave


----------



## ttrikalin (Nov 25, 2010)

very nice build!
exceptional craftsmanship!


----------



## Omnimill (Nov 25, 2010)

Looking good! Keep the pictures coming.

Vic.


----------



## kevino (Nov 25, 2010)

Looks great. You do nice work.

Kevin


----------



## Anko (Nov 25, 2010)

thanks for the comments!

steamer:

i dont understand very well what you might been turning around the caliper, you meant to roate 180 and then use the caliper jaw for the scriber??

any way the screwless vise is great! great tool!

I have some advance today to show, not much anyway:

Working on the fine feed piece:

ofcourse, scrap stock is prefered 8) jaja
































tomorrow i get my 23 birthday, so i dont think that i will have time for the workshop (not workshop really, just all the tools scattered over any piece of space over all the house jaja) 

the items that are left are the brass wheel with knurled finish and the locking nut

thanks again!, I will post soon as a get some new progress!

Saludos!


----------



## Anko (Nov 27, 2010)

Today progress:

butchering the dial caliper with the dremel jaja

the caliper gear system has been covered with masking tape to avoid the metal dust make his way intro de gears and the shaff gear teeth..





















Saludos!


----------



## steamer (Nov 28, 2010)

Hi Anko,

OK now I get it....   Looks great!

Dave


----------



## Anko (Dec 19, 2010)

hi to all

i just finished my last exam for the university, now im free to finish this proyect.

curiosity kill the cat jaj, in my case, i almost kill the caliper, just for curiosity i open the dial to see how works, is very simple, with two gears, one with a spring to eliminate the backlash, the two drive a smaller one in the middle, this one get attached the pointer.






time to reasemple all, just hell, i spend almost 3 hours trying to get the caliper back to work, finally i discovered that the trick is to set the distance between the gears and the rack with all the screws lose, then carefully tight two screws only, just for maintain the possition, then move the dial up and down all the way of the scale, if the gears are too far from the rack, the dial will jam all along the travel, making a clic sound when force is apply to unblock.
if the gears are to close to the rack you will need extra force to move the dial, and the gears will sound like they are too tight.
in the equilibrium the calier would work fine like new, then just tight the rest of the screws and reasemple all.

of course all this process is made taking care of the spring load on the gear, this is achieved turning one gear at the same time that the other is lock, is just a little, then block all the sistem putting a pin in a hole next to the spring loaded gear, then put all the sistem in te rack, tight the screws and release the pin

now im very confidence to disarm the dial caliper for cleanning when it needed, if someone has his dial caliper jam or dirty making the caliper no funcional, just give a try with that info.

also with my little adventure i was able to put the pointer vertically in the 0 position of the caliper 8)

and besides that, i make the locking nut and the fine feed scroll knob






looking good so far

Saludos


----------



## deere_x475guy (Dec 19, 2010)

Anko,
Nice tool build thead you have going here and I am sure this is one you will use often and smile everytime you use it.....great job!


----------



## Anko (Dec 27, 2010)

I got some advances to show:

I finish the top and final piece of the two shaft structure, his funtion is to calibrate de 0 adjustment moving the entire scale when the set screws of the clamps are loose

this funtion will replace the need for turn the dial face for calibrate the 0, this way i can calibrate the instrument very quick everytime i change or replace the scriber tip

then tight the set screws to gain rigidity and repeatable 0 measurement

i dont know if i say clear, but with the pictures you will going to get some idea of why i am trying to say:
















in the beginning i say that i like to paint the base, but that im not sure wich color to choose

well i have choose, white, this will ensure that i will wash my hands before use it, other wise it will be black before i finish (I not mean that im a dirty guy jajajaj, but every time that i made something with the lathe or mill my hands got black because the oil and grease and do not know what else)

anyway there it is:






now that i finished with the main structure, I am start working on the pieces that holds the scriber tip:






A quick check shows that I'm not doing too badly so far, the real test will be in a surface plate, i hope some day i will get one of those jajaj if not all this effort will be useless jaja but at least has been fun..






and we're almost ready!, a few pieces left and is finished












in the first time i was thinking to use silver steel for the scriber, and make a heat treatment to gain strength, but i dont have a torch or something to heat the thing, and considering that i never have made a heat treatment before i just consider using a ordinary ground square hss tool bit, and grinder to shape

I should go for the hardered silver steel or the ordinary hss bit for the scriber tip?

what do you think?

well thats for now, thanks for looking this all the way, as soon i get some advance i will post

merry christmas and happy new year for all!

Saludos


----------



## ozzie46 (Dec 27, 2010)

Anko, I made one using a digital caliper and just used a small HSS cutting bit as a scriber. Its worked fine.

 Ron


----------



## Anko (Jan 5, 2011)

well, almost finished!!! 8)

i just finished the remaining pieces of the heigth gauge, then made the scriber out of hss and make a test assembly to see if its works

first, the makeout of the L shape piece:







i found that put a L shaped piece on the vise for machining is very dificult, i have made a very weird setup to solve the problem ajaja:
















finally, made the scriber and put all together and made some test:





















in my computer desk the results of the test in the 1-2-3 block shows generally and error inside of the +/- 0.06 mm range, sometimes +/-0.1 mm and i cant get a repetitive 0 reading, its change everytime i move the theinstrument around the table, the surface obiusly is not flat and have lots of jigs and irregular stuff

i will start looking for some surface plate alternative solution, in the meanwhile i still need to machine the piece that will allow me to clamp a dial indicator.

hope you like it

Saludos!


----------



## Royal Viking (Jan 9, 2011)

Very nice work. Whne I had made home made tools they were functional (I have not made many). Yours looks well made. Congratulations.


----------



## Anko (Jan 22, 2011)

hi to all

these are the last photos of this proyect!

i buy a 60x60 cm porcelanate (i dont know how its called in english, is that square stuff for floor) to use it as a economic surface table, its work good, but its flex a little because is very thin, i measure a 0.07 mm of flex range

anyway the height gauge works good, i still need a cople of repetitions to get acurate measurements but to be the first thing thati made seriously im very satisfaced ;D











i made a wood case too











Saludos!


----------



## dsquire (Jan 22, 2011)

Anko

You have made a beautiful instrument there. The wood storage case definitely adds the finishing touch. A very professional looking tool. Well done. :bow: :bow:

Cheers 

Don


----------

