I Am Not Making This Up

Surprise! Some of us still use calipers and dividers; there are things that cannot be measured with dial/digital/vernier calipers, Personally I do not trust dial or especially digital calipers for accurate measurements; call me old fashioned, and proud of it!
 
I just used my outside calipers today. I like to set them a certain diameter and use them while roughing, plus you don't have to turn the lathe off.
 
Susan_in_SF said:
you jwmay for your useful input. From looking at the prices on ebay for most vintage 4 pieces combination squares, I would have thought they were really useful.
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Keep in mind, the cost of a vintage item on EBay may have nothing to do with how useful it is. People pay lots of money for lots of things for lots of reasons. I once paid nearly 400 dollars for an item I used precisely never, and sold it after 3 years of moving it out of my way. Anyhow like you said, they can be useful. But I don’t see needing a drawer full of them. I use dividers the same way others have mentioned. Just not often, and if I didn’t have them I wouldn’t be stalled. I use a combination square for a lot of layout type work. But again, if I didn’t have them, I wouldn’t lose any time. Contrast that with dial or digital calipers, which I couldn’t do without. Super useful gadget...20 bucks will buy you a set that are as accurate as most of us need. A micrometer set that ranges from 0-6 inches would be the only way to continue if I didn’t have calipers. Calipers that indicate measurements in thousandths of an inch, in my opinion, essential.


Btw, I had to look it up, but apparently the terms divider and caliper seem to be interchangeable.
 
Thanks guys. I will sort through my dividers/calipers to decide which to offer to our members --- the ones who dare to use archaic old tools ;-)
 
You have a lot of nice vintage hardware, I am jealous. I just wish I could come up with a centerfinder like the bunch you have laying in that drawer...
 
Do you need any Dial calipers? I may have one or two I can send your way. You will have to check them out, I pulled them from the excess tool bin at my last job. Let me know. Tim
 
Susan_in_SF said:
Thank you jbobb1. I appreciate your compliment :) However, when you say "drive" do you mean lack of impulse control once it comes to deals? I am at the point where, as "chips&more" labeled it, I am more of a collector than user. I don't want to be a collector, and truly want to cut some metal. I just keep on running into deals. From my experience with visiting old machinists, some of them get a lot of work done with just 1 lathe, 1 mill drill, a few grinders, and a horizontal bandsaw. I am a newbie with a Bridgeport. I need to attend tool hoarding rehab, lol.
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No Ma'am. I apologize if it sounded that way. Simply referring to your desire to continue with your goals even with some of the drawbacks you've had.
 
astjp2 said:
You have a lot of nice vintage hardware, I am jealous. I just wish I could come up with a centerfinder like the bunch you have laying in that drawer...
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Oh, is that what those are? LOL! ;-)
 
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