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Anyone heard of a "tommy gage"?

I bought a populated machinist's rollaway once. It has one drawer in which live a set of round "space blocks" which can be called gage blocks too. These are all the same diameter and have a central threaded hole. In that same drawer are two identical tools. These were commercially made and they were die-cast from pot metal and not finish machined at all. They are labeled' "Tommy Gage" and at one end they say "GO" and at the other they say "NO GO". I'm a reasonably savvy guy but in the 5 or so years I've owned these I still haven't figured out how to use these. They are formed in 2 halves which are threaded together with a knurled finger bolt. It seems you could somehow clamp them together with a space block to get a go/no go gage, but I can't figure out how.

Anyone know about these? I can post a picture if needed.

And yes, I've googled.

Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington

Reply to
Grant Erwin
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I don't know them by name, but generally the similar devices which I have seen have had either thread gauges or hole gauges clamped in the ends. The "GO" end was slightly smaller than the "NO-GO" end, so you can check a thread or a hole for being within specs.

The pot metal is obviously not the gauge, which is typically hardened and ground. Your description does not show how the actual gauges are mounted on the holder. The ones which I have are collets with red and green anodized closing nuts instead of the words "GO" and "NO GO", but the principle is the same. It came with a pair of cylindrical gauges (the diameter is the critical part, not the length as in your space blocks). I did not need those, but I did need a 5/8-27 set of gauges, so I made my own. (Not as good as a hardened and ground set -- but I'm not equipped to do thread grinding.)

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

Tommy gage is used for holding the common 2" long cylindercal pin gage, usually sold in sets of .001 increments.The US brand is Meyer, but there are tons of imports. Then select the go and no go size, clamp them in and volata, a go and no-go cylnidical plug gage. Double end handles with collets are more streamlined but the collet range is small so it takes lots more handles to cover the range.

Reply to
ShakasCaregiver

No, mine don't look like the Meyer gage handles.

Grant

Reply to
Grant Erwin

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So -- post an image or two to the dropbox. The description does not seem adequate so far.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

OK, maybe it *is* a Meyer gage handle. Mine is the one shown on the J&L online catalog page:

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It looks like it's supposed to hold pin gages on its ends and isn't used with my flat gages.

Grant

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Grant: Sounds like they were set up to be used on a surface plate as an inspection aide. Screw on the block that is just below the absolute minimum on one end the and absolute max on the other. Set the part on the table and see if the min side will pass under the surface to be compared, then flip the tool and check for max height. It also could be used between parallel sides of a machined trough....Most of the GNG gauges that I use are for hole diameters drilled or bored into parts.

Craig C. snipped-for-privacy@ev1.net

Reply to
Craig

We use the TommyGage go no/go to hold pin gauges. We use pin gauges to test the inside of an orifice used in an instrument for determining the melt flow of plastic. The smaller pin gauge (go) must pass through the inside of the orifice. The larger pin gauge (no go) should not pass through the inside orifice. If it passes through the orifice is thown out. The tolerances we use are from ASTM methods.

Reply to
Rudy

replying to Rudy, Navarro wrote: Hi Rudy, you say you use the Tommy gage where can I buy these?

Reply to
Navarro

replying to Rudy, Navarro wrote: Hi Rudy, you say you use the Tommy gage where can I buy these?

Reply to
Navarro

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