dividers recommendation?

[Clarke Davis]

I'm looking for a decent pair of dividers, largely to use in laying out dovetails and other bits of joinery. I checked out Lee Valley today and decided I enjoy my first born son more than I would their dividers. Can anyone recommend a decent instrument? Amazon sells everything, including the things you don't know you don't want until they arrive. Recommendations for a decent, reasonably priced instrument are most welcome.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Clarke, you don't have your location listed. There was a pair in a shop along US 30 in Oregon if you are anywhere near Portland.

It really depends on what you are looking for in a pair. Over time it has become convenient to have a few pairs. The manufactured pairs vary in size from ~3" to 8". My big pair, ~24", is shop made:

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The large ones get a little unwieldy for laying out small dovetails.

The least expensive way may be to find an old drafting set. They will have one or two dividers in them most of the time. It is also easy to repurpose most compasses into a pair of dividers by switching the lead out for a pin which is usually included in many sets.

Lots of them listed on the ebay.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

You can pay whatever you want to for dividers. Used are often cheaper if you can find them. Look for some at an art supply store. I bought a set of 5" brand name drafting dividers for about $12. But I learned that I personally prefer the type that are spring-loaded (like a bow compass) because they are eaier for me to set accurately. That type is more expensive in a "pretty good" brand.

I just checked Amazon and they sell a no-name 4" spring-loaded divider for $10. Before Christmas, I bought some 4" PEC dividers (spring loaded) for around $22, but that's comparable to LV's in price.

Good luck!
Fred

[John K Jordan]

I'm looking for a decent pair of dividers, largely to use in laying out dovetails and other bits of joinery. I checked out Lee Valley today and decided I enjoy my first born son more than I would their dividers. Can anyone recommend a decent instrument? Amazon sells everything, including the things you don't know you don't want until they arrive. Recommendations for a decent, reasonably priced instrument are most welcome.

I like these at the lathe (but a larger model). The quick adjustment nut saves a lot of time. I keep several identical dividers at hand to transfer key dimensions for a project.
https://www.amazon.com/Toolmakers-Quick-Spring-Adjustment-Mechanism-C7-4/dp/B01J0BIZGU

They are not as nice as the Starrett but a fraction of the cost!

I also have some with needle-sharp points from my drafting days. They allow precision transfers but one possible problem is they use a friction pivot instead of a nut. I have to be careful they don't accidentally get moved. I mostly use these as intended, for precision layout on paper.

JKJ

[Tony Zaffuto]

Look on Josh Clark's used tool site, "HyperKitten". He has several nice dividers on this morning, all vintage and priced around $20 to $30. Josh is a great person to deal with for used/vintage tools.

[lowell holmes]

Check this site.

https://www.google.com/search?q=drafting+dividers&oq=drafting+dividers&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60j0l4.6944j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[Mike Henderson]

I haven't bought any dividers on eBay for a while but I used to find them readily available and at decent prices. Just watch out for people who take inside calipers and grind the legs to dividers. The problem is that calipers don't have spinners on the top which makes them hard to use as dividers.

Jim's suggestion to use the compass from a drafting set is also good. Those usually sell pretty cheap and the compass is usually well made.

Mike

[Roger Nair]

I use Osborne dividers available from Amazon. Good quality old school dividers with a quadrant with a locking screw and a spring loaded fine adjustment, a much more secure and accurate system than drafting dividers and slip-nut dividers. American made and a very economical value compared to Starret.

https://www.amazon.com/name-C-S-Osborne-Divider-Maximum-Opening/dp/B075WXMYJK/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1547659514&sr=1-1&keywords=osborne+dividers

[steven c newman]

401363
Have a 6" and an 8".....8" is by Peck, Stow, and Wilcox. No. 35....I have to dig the 6" out, and see whom made it....
Seem to have a decent set in the shop..
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[Edwin Santos]

Thanks in part to a post here on SMC about using dividers, I have become a big fan of this ancient tool. I can recommend the French Ledin La Cible brand available on Amazon. The 6" ones were about $15 or $16 if I remember correctly, the 8" a little more. They are very well made, with a nice quick adjust mechanism and sharp hardened points.
Edwin

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks in part to a post here on SMC about using dividers, I have become a big fan of this ancient tool. I can recommend the French Ledin La Cible brand available on Amazon. The 6" ones were about $15 or $16 if I remember correctly, the 8" a little more. They are very well made, with a nice quick adjust mechanism and sharp hardened points.
Edwin

+1. I have 2 of those. They are well made tools!

[Mel Fulks]

I've got a number of them. About a year ago I bought a pair for my son on line that had a date of 1846. Extremely beefy for a pretty
common size. But not crude in any way,they were made by a British company that went out of business that year. No
surprise to see beefy user made stuff; but I've never seen another finely made pair so beefy. Near the hinge both legs are
about a half inch square and even the round part is that big. For good users we see a lot of old Pexto dividers around here
for 12 to 15 dollars.

[Doug Dawson]

+1. I have 2 of those. They are well made tools!

Ditto on the Ledin's, couldn't justify spending any more once I'd used them. Assuming the size is ok.

[Richard Jones]

The PS&W's are really nice and not too difficult to find. A 6" pair would do great for dovetails, although I use an 8" set. The micro adjust capability is very handy.

[Bill Houghton]

eBay. Search for "machinist's dividers," and you'll get more possibilities than you can imagine. "Loose leg" dividers are nice - one leg removes, and you can substitute a pencil, for drawing instead of scratching - nice for arcs and circles. Pexto, Brown and Sharpe, lots of good brands. Don't bother with Starrett unless you manage a screaming deal - they're usually 25-50% higher than another product of matching quality, just for the name.

[Hasin Haroon]

The lee valley dividers from France are actually very good for the price at around $25. I would recommend those over the $10 or $15 dividers (new) - they will last you forever and serve you well. Now if you really want to trade in your first born son, you can get crucible dividers, over $100. In my opinion way over the top and unnecessary.

On ebay you will often find vintage dividers for very cheap, but they usually come as a lot with other small tools. Nothing wrong with those either.

[Bob Leistner]

Just bought an 8" set of PS&W for a dollar at our local construction junction.It is not unusual for me to have three or four sets on my bench with different measurements saved during a project. Anywhere that might have old stuff is a good place to find a set. I always look closely at a pile of pliers.

[Clarke Davis]

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm esp going to look into the Ledins. Problem with the internet is that if you google dividers, you'll get WAY too much choice and ZERO guidance. Thank you folks for the guidance part of the component!

[Bob Leistner]

Harbor Freight sells perfectly serviceable dividers in two sizes. I bought those as well at one time and filed and sanded them to my liking . I can't possibly understand why, (other than ego) you need to spend big bucks on dividers. I do have( bought them new) the two sizes of Starrett dividers that go for $75 bucks or so a set so I can say with absolute certainty they ain't that special.

[Rob Luter]

Most of mine came from the usual rust hunt haunts. Garage sales, flea markets, antiques shops, etc. can usually be counted on, especially in areas with lots of manufacturing. For real precise work I have the ones I used as a draftsman when I was a pup. The lifers in the drafting shops called them "picks" and we used them quite a bit for transferring geometry from one drawing view to another.

[Andrew Seemann]

While you are looking for dividers, keeping an eye out for a trammel and/or a set of trammel points wouldn't hurt. A trammel is basically divider points on a metal beam for wider arcs, say 8" - 18" or so, and trammel points get mounted on a piece of wood for larger arcs. I have mine on a 4 foot piece of hard maple.

[Mel Fulks]

Small clarifier, "trammel " is the board with slots cut into it for ellipse drawing. And ,if I remember right, "trammel " in
also used for other devices that limit and guide movement.

[Mike Henderson]

While you are looking for dividers, keeping an eye out for a trammel and/or a set of trammel points wouldn't hurt. A trammel is basically divider points on a metal beam for wider arcs, say 8" - 18" or so, and trammel points get mounted on a piece of wood for larger arcs. I have mine on a 4 foot piece of hard maple.

Trammel points are a good suggestion for drawing very large arcs. The ones in the picture I inherited from my dad - they probably go back to the 1930's - they're marked Starrett 50-B. I have a wooden beam that I mount them on when I want to use them.

Mike

401448

[Tony Wilkins]

Harry Epstein has several options including a 6” for $11. Can’t speak to their quality personally but they generally sell quality items.

[Jim Koepke]

For laying out dovetails dividers from a drafting set are fine. If one wants to lay out larger joinery or use dividers at their lathe for laying out the machinist style of divider is a sturdier choice.

For larger joinery an old machinist style works fine:

401451

The '2X4s' used on this project were ripped out of larger material. Each joint was slightly different in sizing.

It is convenient to have multiple dividers for different layout points:

401452

Here the distance of the leg to the end of the 'horse' was calculated using the angle to height. The distance was set to slightly more on the dividers. This keeps the legs from being past the end of the 'horse'.

jtk

[Bill Houghton]

Let's remember, Clarke has signaled that he's on a budget. While a set of trammel points can be lovely, handy things (at least I tell myself that, as an owner of three sets), Clarke may be able to get by for a while with a stick in which he's driven a nail for the pivot point and a hole for a pencil for the other end.

"Trammel," as a verb, refers to restraint and limit, although, in American English, it seems mainly limited these days to appearances in the word "untrammeled," which, of course, means "unrestrained."

And, returning to the original subject, the dividers that got me by for years are from a New York company called "Wm. Johnson," hardly a major name in the tool trade. They're marked as eight inch dividers, but the actual measurement is around 7-3/4", close enough to 200mm that I suspect they were made in Europe.

[lowell holmes]

Check this link

https://www.google.com/search?ei=199AXMaKK8-WtQXexKXoCg&q=drafting+dividers&oq=drafting+&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.35i39j0i67j0j0i131j0l2j0i131j0l2j0i131.4252 7.53485..56845...3.0..1.475.7133.4-16......0....1..gws-wiz.....6..0i71.fg-sgvr3Hf0

You will not go wrong.