Official Luthiers Forum!

There was a fantastic thread a while back about making many tools at home with some great photos. I searched and can't find it anymore.
If anyone knows where I can find that thread, please let me know.
And specifically, I am looking for ideas on making a home made thickness guage/caliper.
Thanks in advance.
-j.j.Brown38937.5605787037

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Hi J,

Here's a pic of a setup I rigged up:



You can find inexpensive versions of the tools I show at tool supplies. I bought mine at Wholesale Tool (wttool.com). I probably have $50 in the whole setup. I had to go with a gooseneck arm because I couldn't find a beam-type with the reach I needed. You'll note the corian sink cutout. This gives me a very flat surface that I zero the depth gauage against. I just move the wood around under the gauge to check thickness.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Excellent. Any idea on where to source the dial guage? I'm hoping for a metric, but I guess I can translate a standard.
What is it exactly that I ask for? Just not sure what the terminology is on that thing.
Thanks again.
-j.j.Brown38937.5735069444

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

I see you are in the US, so this is probably not convenient for you, but I bought mine from Axminster in the UK.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Lee Valley has one. They don't have a metric version, though.

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John Cavanaugh
Saint Paul, MN
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Hey J,

I got one at Harbor Freight on 88th and Sheridan I think. It's digital so if I remember you can do either english or metric. It was cheap two, I'm thinking like $20 or so. I'm going to mount it to some bike forks of just make somthing out of 3/4 mdf.

[QUOTE=j.Brown] Excellent. Any idea on where to source the dial guage? I'm hoping for a metric, but I guess I can translate a standard.
What is it exactly that I ask for? Just not sure what the terminology is on that thing.
Thanks again.
-j.[/QUOTE]

It's called a dial indicator. I bought an indicator with base, just an inexpensive generic model, looks something like this one here. I bought the gooseneck arm separately from WT, but I don't see it in their catalog anymore. Other places, like Enco or Penn Tool, might carry it.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

J. here's the link to the thickness gauge discussion, I think you are looking at Shane Neifers cool gauge ya?

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Thanks for all the info. I just picked up a digital dial indicator over lunch for $29. It reads in inches OR mm.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Hi J,
      Here's one I made a few years ago. It's fully adjustable and I use it all the time for lots of different things . It's a bit of fun and always puts a smile on my face .
Doesn't measure down to thousands ( in fact it's metric ) but the increments are easily fine enough for guitar work

Regards KiwiCraig

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CRAIG LAWRENCE of AUSTRALIA
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KiwiCraig, that looks fantasic! How about some close-ups?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Yeah...that's real cool! Very slick.

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Only badly."

Thanks Arnt. Sorry , that's all I have stored on my computer and don't have a camera at the moment.
     Made it out of scrap lying around.
The treble upper bout on the little brass and copper guitar acts as a cam .I've used bronze (off an old horse buggy) for the wearing parts .
The dial was made from a piece of copper pipe I split and flattened. I engraved it and filled with black enamel . It measures exact !, There are three adjustments to fine tune it, should it ever be required.

The part I am very happy with is the little round base of the measurement area ( don't know what it's called. )It has a part spherical bottom which sits on a bronze rimmed hole . No matter what angle you have the wood to be measured , it reads accuratley. I t annoyed me with other calipers , that you have to muck around to find the lowest type reading ,by shifting the wood until you have it parrallel with the unit . It's a fault of most micrometers

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CRAIG LAWRENCE of AUSTRALIA
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Here's one made by Shane Neifer that is real nice.

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Here's one i made out of purple heart and a recycled stainless steel lamp

Your the king of recycling there Serge, living in such a large building has it's advantages eh?

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Nice job, Serge! Though it kind of looks like you actually recycled a banjo...

[QUOTE=KiwiCraig]
Hi J,
      Here's one I made a few years ago. It's fully adjustable and I use it all the time for lots of different things . It's a bit of fun and always puts a smile on my face .
Doesn't measure down to thousands ( in fact it's metric ) but the increments are easily fine enough for guitar work

Regards KiwiCraig [/QUOTE]

Nice one Kiwi, have you thought about an inlay?

It looks awesome.

Rod and Carlton, my middle name is Scroungy!

Me too Serge .It's always interesting to see what you can come up with .
I cut the little guitar out of an old brass puncture repair clamp . One bracket was cut from an old window fitting and found a bronze bracket I cut up from an old horse buggy . The aluminium pieces are cutoffs I scrounged
The spindle for the dial indicator / counterweight arm is from a record player turntable . All the copper was from a copper pipe I split and flattened .
I find that when you go looking through little bits and pieces to fill a need , you are often sparked by an idea .

I love all the individual efforts on show here . Well done guys !

   Paul , It actually does have a brass into copper inlay !    I'll try and get a close up sometime.

Regards to all , KiwiCraig

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CRAIG LAWRENCE of AUSTRALIA
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Thanks Craig, where are my manners, yours is awesome too, very clever, i love it bud!

Very inventive!

I needed one also, and one day while looking for something else in the shop I came across the old dial indicator I bought years ago for setting top dead center on my old Yamaha Enduro motorcycle. I still had it, and it's been in its case for years. Well, a light went off and I built me a thickness gauge out of it. I have to say, it works great.

Finally found a use for something I'd been dragging around for years. Best part was it cost nothing (well, I did give about $30 for it about 30 years ago, which is probably about $85,000 in today's money!).

I'm a great believer in keeping things simple, so when I needed a thickness caliper I went down the simple route. This one I made Ive used for many years and find I want nothing else. Simply made of plywood, with a dial indicator and rounded bolt the handy thing about this one is you can put it in a vice for ease of use and stability, just run the wood between the jaws. Took about 30mins to make from a dial gauge and scrap.



ColinColin S38944.2588194444

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Colin, i love this simple and effective concept, i will dismantle mine, use the purple heart for my guitars and build one like this !!!!

Thanks!!!