Craiglist find

[PixMan]

I'd always wanted a thread pitch micrometer, today I scored this VIS made in Poland one, with all the interchangeable anvils for $75. You can see what appears to be one set of anvils missing, but I don't believe that pair was ever shipped out with a 1-1" micrometer. Can you imagine trying to make a 2 TPI thread on a 1" or smaller piece of stock?

I wish I could have afforded a like-new Mitutoyo digital electronic one that also showed up on Craigslist here, but now way I could swing the asking price of $650.



I'll clean it up and check the calibration, but it appears to be in perfect condition. It's old enough that the quality of VIS tools was very good back in the 1970's when this was probably made. These days I don't see any new BIS brand tooling, so they may be out of business.

The seller was a 80 year old fellow who was selling off all of his small shop in southern NH. He had already sold a good many tools, but I did get this and some older Valenite milling cutters that I can now trade in for brand new Walter cutters for free. Having paid $75 for three cutters, the new ones of the same size would total over $1200 if I had to buy them.

[TomG]

Very nice Ken, those are a handy tool to have. I have a pair of Mitutoyo thread mics (not the digital ones) and use them all the time, they are a lot nicer than dealing with those damn wires.

Tom

[PixMan]

Thanks Tom.

Funny thing about the thread measuring wires. I picked up what I believed to be a very nice set in a stitched leather-like case, made by Flynn Machine of Michigan. I had dropped two of the smaller wires when I was showing the set to my dad, and couldn't find them. You know how that happens when you drop something, see it hit the floor and it just evaporates before your eyes.

So I found contact info on the internet for Flynn, discovering that they're main product is boring heads for milling machines. I talked to their "customer pissing off" department, and was told that the replacements would be $1.50 each, plus postage. Where I got into an argument was that on their website it stated that tolerances for the wires were " 'plus or minus .001' ". I asked if they were aware of a typo on their website because at a .002" range that would be well beyond tolerances for a class 3 thread tolerance.

Imagine if you had three .012" wires and one was .013", one was .012" and one was .011". With the compounding of the different diameters, there's no way to get an accurate measurement. The company selling "Pee Dee" thread wires, by contrast, states theirs at half the price to be +/-.0001". Flynn told me theirs are good and I'm wrong in thinking they needed to be better than that. This is probably why their site also states "This product also makes a GREAT addition for the home hobbyist". Their wires are certainly unacceptable for "real work", and I told them so.

They still sent the wires, or so they said. I called two weeks later to ask where they were, and was told "we shipped them out as promised". I agreed to wait one more week, and on the 7th day a white envelope arrived, inside a US Postal Service "damaged mail" cardboard envelope. Flynn had simply tossed wires into a plain #10 business envelope and they punched holes in it and fouled the sorting machine. Gone.

I sent them a photo of the package I received and they resent, but also refunded my money. By the time I got the replacements of the replacements, I had found the dropped ones under the surface grinder. To this day I have never used those thread wires, and never will.

http://www.flynnmachine.com/thread_wires.htm
http://www.fishermachine.com/index.php?c...cart&id=24

Fisher Machine (sold direct and through many distributors) doesn't state there what the tolerance of size is for theirs, but did tell me +/-.0001" when I called to ask.

[Mayhem]

You always seem to be in the right place at the right time Ken - nice find.

I recall you telling me this story when I asked you about thread wires, which is why I followed your advice and bought mine from Fisher. Just out of interest, I looked at the Flynn web site and I notice they offer a US and a Metric set. Is there sufficient difference in measuring the two to warrant different wire sets?

[EdK]

I also have the Fisher thread wires. I bought some of their edge finders also. Good products at reasonable prices.

Oh, and nice find Ken.

Ed

[TomG]

I have a set of the Pee Dee wires and have no complaints, other than the fact that they are thread wires and I'm always losing them.

Tom

[PixMan]

Tom,

There are a multitude of ways to avoid losing the wires. What you do depends upon how you are losing them. The most common occurrence is dropping them while trying to measure on the lathe. Many people use a dab of clay, chewing gum or grease to help retain the wires as you lay the top two onto the threads and get the thimble of the micrometer over them. I'm pretty good at doing that, and simply lay a big white towel over the machine's ways & cross slide as "insurance."

There are also a number of products out there to buy which hold the wires, usually made of a plastic or rubber. You can make your own with a small strip of thin rubber sheet and just poke a couple of tiny hole at each end to capture the top pair or all three.

[oldgoaly]

I've used "dumb dumb" a flexible non-drying caulk used in the Hvac field, doesn't leave as much residue like clay, little harder than gum. I'm not even close to being co-ordinated enough to use the Pee-Dee's with out help.

[TomG]

I normally use a dab of grease, but I have used rubber bands. Those have the added ability to actually shoot the wires across the shop.

Tom

[PixMan]

BTW, the guy who sold me the tools also had a business making some incredibly nice bench vises. I didn't have the $275 cash to buy the 6" wide, very tall one he had with pipe jaws below the main jaws, but he's going to save it for me to pick up when I get back from my trip to Wisconsin tomorrow thru Thursday.

Just wait til you see this thing. It's SO nice I couldn't let it slip through my fingers. I wish I'd taken a photo while I was there.