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Thread: Ancient Tools - Divider & Compass

  1. #61
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    Hmmm thinking some more on the home-made Brass divider project:

    2 square sections of brass bar stock
    1 section of the thicker brass plate stock ( quadrant)
    Set screw to hold the fixed end of quadrant
    Brass bolt, or thumbscrew to hold the moving leg to the quadrant...
    Brass bolt to act as a "hinge" at the top.
    2 hardened steel points....may use a couple of "scribe" pins from old combo squares.

    Maybe a weekend , or two to complete? Depends on the cost of the parts....and how soon I can get to this.

    Length of the "arms"? 6"? 8" or something else? Brass was chosen for it's ease to work with the few tools in my shop. It IS a woodshop, not a machine shop,after all.

  2. #62
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    Quote Originally Posted by steven c newman View Post
    Hmmm thinking some more on the home-made Brass divider project:

    2 square sections of brass bar stock
    1 section of the thicker brass plate stock ( quadrant)
    Set screw to hold the fixed end of quadrant
    Brass bolt, or thumbscrew to hold the moving leg to the quadrant...
    Brass bolt to act as a "hinge" at the top.
    2 hardened steel points....may use a couple of "scribe" pins from old combo squares.

    Maybe a weekend , or two to complete? Depends on the cost of the parts....and how soon I can get to this.

    Length of the "arms"? 6"? 8" or something else? Brass was chosen for it's ease to work with the few tools in my shop. It IS a woodshop, not a machine shop,after all.
    Of course you could make a very serviceable one out of wood as a prototype. I would suggest going for the 6 inch leg length as long as you are making one. You just need to be able to lock the arms - maybe a bolt, a couple of washers and a wing nut for example at the pivot point. You don't even need to make a saddle / bridle joint to get something that will work fine. If you need an adjustment screw it will add considerable complexity.

  3. #63
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    Will need a 5" non-ferrous scrollsaw blade....with pin ends. Makes it a bit easier to cut out the brass Quadrant. Have the taps and dies.....Hmmmm

  4. #64
    I did a similar tool a while back --- the file and notes on the hardware might help: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...er-H-O-Studley

  5. #65
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    Lest all think I don't fit in the neander section, or wouldn't know a divider if it poked him in the eye, I thought I would show you my woodworking dividers - OK one is an old compass, probably from high school, that I still use from time to time for drawing circles, marking arcs, etc. The middle dividers with the fine points is one originally used to measure heart waveforms, back from when we still had paper print-outs. The pair on the left is one I use most often but which needs some tip dressing.
    dividers.jpg

  6. #66
    Pat, good start. Get a pair of hand made old ones and you will be collecting them. Beautiful and useful things.

  7. #67
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    Aug 2012
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Barry View Post
    Lest all think I don't fit in the neander section, or wouldn't know a divider if it poked him in the eye, I thought I would show you my woodworking dividers - OK one is an old compass, probably from high school, that I still use from time to time for drawing circles, marking arcs, etc. The middle dividers with the fine points is one originally used to measure heart waveforms, back from when we still had paper print-outs. The pair on the left is one I use most often but which needs some tip dressing.
    dividers.jpg
    Pat be careful and don't stick yourself with the sharp end. You will soon be over your fear of the unknown past.
    Jim

  8. #68
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    Oct 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stanley Covington View Post
    Does anyone know how to procure a very precise measuring tape? I understand the Starrett brand is quite accurate, but I am not certain.

    Here in Japan you can pay a little extra for tapes with the JIS Class One mark which are quite precise. What about the States and elsewhere?

    Of course, the clip on the end of all tape measures must always be suspect.
    I believe that BMI are made to a certified standard http://www.bmi.de/en/products-pocket-tapes.php

    I use this one at all times, notice no clip http://www.bmi.de/en/products-pocket...9-bmimeter.php

    I use a standard measure rod in my workshop which I had made for all my machine fences and these tapes (I have several) measure spot on or as spot on as can be measured by eye with my machine fences.
    Chris

    Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening

  9. #69
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    There are a couple drafting sets of mine that have been misplaced. They could even still be in California. Drafting compass sets were a dime a dozen when everything was switching to CAD. Now they are starting to climb in price because they are "antiques." There are plenty compasses or dividers to work with in the shop:

    Shop Set.jpg

    The fancy set is kept in the house:

    Inking Set.jpg

    The beam points in this set have a knurled wheel to fine adjust the setting. They do the same job as a set of trammel points. There are also some fancy inking accessories in this set for various dashed or dotted lines.

    Heck, just thought of another dividers stashed in a drawer not in the pictures above.

    Just the same they seem to call my name and grab hold of my wallet if a set jumps out at me somewhere.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  10. #70
    Great thread guys! I second making it a stickie.

  11. #71
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    The discrepancy is multiplied by the number of divisions. If after 7 steps there isn't a discernible discrepancy, then it is likely close enough.

    Just for the heck of it one can train oneself to gauge small sizes by eye. Here is a training exercise I wrote years ago:



    We also had some .003, .020, .025 and other odd sizes in the mix. My co-workers and I became fairly adept at keeping our spacing washers sorted after this training.

    This not only helps at gauging sizes, it helps to train the eye to see small features like a nick in the edge of a blade.

    Another training piece was on using known screw thread and the amount of rotation of a screw as a method of measurement. After all, that is all a micrometer is doing.

    jtk
    I did my trade as a hand compositor and one thing that it did was train your eye to measure quite accurately and reliably.
    Chris

    Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening

  12. #72
    In the 1960s tape rules were pretty expensive and there were differences among brands. Companies often demanded all employees use the same brand. As has been noted before, they are much better now. Harbor freight has a 1/4 inch wide carabiner 10 ' tape; English on one edge and metric on the other. They have nice clear skinny marks and line up exactly with my two foot Starrette combination square blades. Ends are non slide-adjust but accurate. Cost is one dollar.

  13. #73
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    Is there a moderator who can link this thread in the Neanderthal wisdom/FAQs folder?

    It would fit in right here:

    4. Tool usage and maintenance/tuning
    Hand planes
    Block Plane selection and rehab, Bob Smalser
    Spokeshave tune-up, Bob Smalser
    Getting started in handplanes, James Koepke
    Everything you ever wanted to ask about molding planes but were afraid to ask.
    Chisel
    Chisel names, types and uses, Bob Smalser
    Saws
    Sharpening a handsaw, Bob Smalser
    Resawing using a frame saw, by Bob Easton
    BowSaw resources: by Peter Cobb. This post includes articles and videos on various bowsaw related topics (how to make, sharpen, use etc.)
    Files and rasps
    Card scrapers
    Tuning Card Scrapers, Bob Smalser
    An interesting thread on card scrapers. See post #7 by Derek Cohen for a link to his article.
    Vices
    Other
    A new category would have to be created.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  14. #74
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    Putney, Vermont
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    The use of dividers was taught and used by machinery repairmen in the navy. The concepts of geometrical construction in the machiney repairman book using dividers was common knowledge in the shop while I was in the navy.

  15. #75
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    South West Ontario
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    Well I bought the last display pair of big dividers from my not so local LV. Made in France! Perhaps they use them for wine barrels!
    The points are somewhat square so will need careful honing unless they are designed to ream out the mark as you spin the compass.
    Derek will know!

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