common items that can be used as shims?

I've got a lathe sitting on a stack of free software CD's - pretty thick shims, but also faily stable. Index, computer, or business cards are the thick end of paper shims.

Drafting mylar is pretty good. It's easy to cut with scissors and stiff enough not to squeeze out under reasonable loads.

Jeff

I keep a box of outdated business cards in the rollaround. They are handy for clamping AL without marring the surface.

Inside every 'anti-theft' sticker are 2 nice iron shims that I measure as .001". Someone please measure more accurately but it seems VERY close to .001"

Aluminum roof falshing is .010", the tape in standard video cassettes is pretty close to .001".

Ned Simmons

Hey Grant,

I've got a few packages of ZigZag too, but I figure another 5 to 10 years it's going to be VERY hard to find, so I like to save it for the "special jobs". I've got a box or two of "laser-cut" printer paper from the old days that has tear-off strips with tractor feed holes on the edges. It's paper that I don't use it anymore. I made up a longish pin to fasten to some pegboard near the mill, and then I gang-stripped the edges off a couple dozen sheets on both sides, so I had two "neat" handfuls. I doubled each up and "spiked" the last holes on the ends and put a clip to keep them from coming off my spike. Then cut through the "loop", so there are a whole patch of "loose ends" hanging down from the spike. Even though every other one of the "holes" on the spike are still not torn apart, you just grab a piece at the bottom and pull, and it tears off at the spike quite clean. Tears out the last hole for sure, but it doesn't matter. So, now it's a bit thicker than ZigZag alright, but very easy to use to get close to an edge or anything, and thick enough to act as a "leveler" when clamping flat things. Works for me.

Take care.

Brian Laws>I know about cigarette papers, and cut up aluminum beverage cans. Zig-Zags

Banding (steel strapping) material works pretty well.

Jim

For woodworking setups (where the clamping pressure is not so high) I often use "Honey Nut Cherios" box matl. It's 20 thou. :-) ...lew...

On Mon, 01 Nov 2004 10:13:17 -0800, Grant Erwin calmly ranted:

Old, 3rd-string feeler gauges, or whatever's handy and mikes out.

In woodworking: formica scraps, plane shavings, tenon shavings.

I just bought a few of those feeler gage assemblies and took them apart so now there's a bunch of shims in the shim drawer with the size marked on them. Depending on how much pressure is used plastic shims can extrude out from under the item being clamped. Cigarette papers have one advantage in that they greatly increase friction by filling the minute holes in the surfaces they contact. ERS

Grant Erwin wrote: I'm curious what else you guys commonly use

Transformer laminations are generally .02", made of soft iron, and the "I" section is the right size to shim up bits in toolholders.

Kevin Gallimore

Now that's a great idea , the rest of the gage should be right.

My Grandfather's shims. An old motor brush made of copper leaves about an inch wide. Don't know what it came from. Karl

I use tiny Post-It notes. I use the sticky end that will stick to the work by itself and cut off the rest. I've measured these at .004 consistently.

I find these handier then Zig-Zag papers. I make a mess spitting all over my work piece trying to get the cigarette papers to stick :)

George

aluminum foil

On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 00:55:29 GMT, "Tony" calmly ranted:

Hey, that's handy. We just take it right off our hats!

Hmmm, 7:20pm on election night? Yeah, time to change the sig.

-- Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ---- --Unknown