Where do you get practice scrap cheap?

[Janderso]

You scored BaronJ.
Mr. Mauser lover. Check out this Height Gauge I found on E-Bay. The weird thing is it is in Imperial measurements. I am very happy about that.
It has a Mauser plate on it. Very good quality

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Janderso,

Thank you ! Its nice to find a new source of material.

That hight gauge is a very nice find, robust too ! Are you going to convert it to digital ?

 

[Janderso]

It comes in handy for laying out lines, I use it on my surface plate.
Digital? You can do that?

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Janderso,

Yes you could ! It would mean a bit of work and would increase its utility.

I'd better show you a picture of mine, which is completely home brew.





I made this from a few bits of scrap and a cheap digital vernier gauge.
The base is a slice of continuously cast iron 15 mm thick. The whole vernier is moved up and down by rotating the brass knob at the base.
It turns the M6 X 1 mm threaded rod, so each turn is equal to 1 mm in hight. The black nut on the threaded rod is a backlash free cast Deralin one.
The 10 mm rod and bronze bearings were salvaged from a HP ink jet printer, a HP840 if I remember correctly.

You could quite easily adapt a vernier caliper to provide digital readout of your Mauser hight gauge. Just a matter of making a couple of suitable clamps.

 

[Mauser lover]

Well... I don't know if Mauser ever intended that to be sold to consumers. Maybe intended for use in one of their factories? I don't know if they ever sold that type of stuff, or just fabricated that sort of stuff for their own usage. Cool though, for sure!

 

[Propfool]

The micro surface finish rods in automotive shock absorbers is mild steel and cuts easily with a hacksaw and machines very well. The shop where you buy your tires will probably give you all the old ones free. The nitrogen filled struts used for hood and SUV rear lift door contain 1/4 inch or so rods while larger vehicles have 1/2 inch rods in their shocks.

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Guys,

Be very careful cracking open gas struts to get at the rods ! There is a lot of pressure in those cylinders.

 

[Mauser lover]

HA! I picked up one of them the other day, just to see if it would work. Haven't broken into it yet, so thanks for the warning! Maybe I'll just chop it off and lose some length rather than trying to break it open and lose an eyeball... I'm kinda attached to my eyeballs. They've been with me as long as I can remember...

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Mauser,

The technique is to let the pressure out slowly ! I use a hack saw and cut a slit about an inch up from the bottom, as soon as you break into the pressurised chamber you will hear it hiss. Use a face mask just in case it blows the swarf at you. Usually you can just push the piston back in with your finger. If not then there is a spring in there as well.

I've only nobbled a couple of small ones from a tread mill with a 9 mm shaft. The ones I see at the scrappy tend to have been bent and not worth bothering with.

 

[Cadillac]

So I'm mowing the grass in the backyard and my good friends cousin comes over andsays I got some gifts for you. He's a pipe fitter and said they were moving his shop and were cleaning out the yard and found this and thought of me. So you just gotta get the word out and eventually you'll have a life time worth of material in this case I'll make him something cool.




3" hex about 5' long
2 1/2 round about 4' in 3pcs
2" square 3' long
2" round about 8' in 3pcs