Decimal to Fraction Conversion - and Letter- and Number drill bits

Good point. They probably did intentionally avoid fractional sizes.

It's the E that's exactly 0.250", not the F. I just looked.

I don't have that index, but I do have a collection of individual Huot indexes. I don't like the new Huot indexes near as well as the old ones. Are there any better brands than Huot?

Joe Gwinn

It makes sense for them to have done so.

O.K. I don't have to use the letter sizes often enough to remember, and with my (heavy) 115 bit index downstairs, and me upstairs typing, I wasn't going to bother checking it. That's why the '?' in my statement. :-)

Hmm ... I've not seen better ones, but I have seen much worse ones -- the ones with links to pull each layer up as the one above it moves past a certain point -- but made of the cheapest tin can material you can imagine, and distorting (and the hole sizes not very accurate).

My 115 bit Huot is as good as the earlier ones for individual sets -- other than being heavy with all of those bits in there. I guess that I got it about ten years ago from MSC -- filled with good "Made in USA" bits. About that time the cheaper sets were in similar looking boxes, but which they warn were not genuine HUOT. Is it possible that you've encountered some of these?

The only HUOT index which I find awkward to use is the really old one for 3/4" to 1" bits with MT-3 shanks (a nice fit for the lathe, but *really* heavy. :-)

Of course, I also have a zinc die-cast index (stand) from GTD (Greenfield Tap and Die) for fractional bits near the tailstock of my lathe. That is pretty convenient for most things, with a small number-size index of screw machine length drills of cobalt steel with split points which are so nice that I use them whenever possible. (They are also in a HUOT index, a bit newer, and it works well too.)

Enjoy, DoN.

[snip]

Drat. That's my experience too.

No, I quickly learned to order Huot, and they came with Huot embossed into the metal. But new is not near as good as old.

The difference is that the old indexes had a solid rectangular bar at the top (with precise size holes all in a row) spotwelded to the swinging sheetmetal layers, while in the new boxes the solid metal bar is gone, replaced by a punched and bent over end on the sheetmetal layer. For one thing, there is no easy way to catch a layer and pull it up, and of course the holes are not nearly as accurate. And the hinges upon which the layers swing don't work as well either.

Never met an index for MT drills, but never needed one either.

What year were these bought?

Joe Gwinn

Hi Carla I appreciate your efforts. That's a good program to have. Another way to convert decimals to fractions is contained w/ in a program in the HP 32s II pocket calculator & iirc it rounds up to the nearest fraction also. It's a somewhat complicated operation that was very useful in my work before I retired. I have since forgotten to use it. But I love my HP

32s II. Possibly the best true pocket calculator made by any company. I'm not counting the bigger 'pocket' calculators as such as the HP 40 series as a pocket calculator. The funny thing is that I think I paid ~$40 bucks for mine in the mid 90s, & in about '97 I was standing in a store looking @ close out display of them for ~ $25, trying to decide to buy another as a backup. Economy & lack of foresight won out & I kept my $$$ in my pocket. To day they are going for over $250 on eBay. If I had had the foresight, I'd have bought everyone I could get my hands on & made a tidy profit @ 10 to 1.

Thanks, JD

Yes -- there can be *really* bad ones -- usually with Chinese sets.

O.K.

Hmm ... none of mine (with the possible exception of the MT-3 set) has that. The earlier ones have the top end folded twice to make a plate for the holes and a reinforcing ridge, and a bit down the hinged plated is another 'L' spot welded on to make the second set of holes. The newer ones have the second set folded out of the hinged piece, but still pretty well punched and aligned. Some of those later ones have a black plastic overlay with the sizes and numbers (and the metric ones have decimal inch sizes in addition to the mm diameter). The index for the screw machine length has another tab folded out to support the shorter bits.

Obviously, the point end goes in first, and the MT shanks stay at the outside end. But the weight of the plates loaded with bits (especially the ones from 1" down to perhaps 7/8") is great enough so a bump will pop one end or the other of the hinge pin out of the dimpled hole which serves as a bearing. And this is probably the oldest one that I have, painted OD. So every once in a while, I have to tilt things until the hinge pin pops back in. (And sometimes I first have to drive out and straighten the hinge pins. :-)

When did *I* buy which -- the GT&D stand or the number-sized index of screw machine length bits?

*I* bought both perhaps ten years ago now, but the GT&D stand was from eBay, and at a guess it is at least from the mid 1950s if not later. It is shaped like the GT&D logo, which looks like the profile of a tap much magnified, putting the drill bits in a zig-zag pattern which makes them easier to reach -- especially the most common fractional sizes, which tend to be at the crests of the threads. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

I've seen these variations as well. I really don't want any plastic in a drill index - the plastic soon crumbles away.

I've had pop-outs as well, but without the excuse of great weight. Perhaps the hinge pin needs to be made of sterner stuff?

So, these are all from the good old days. Drat again.

Joe Gwinn

Hey Joe!

I've got one of these fractional stands on my desk right now:

I inherited it from a Westinghouse machinist about 20 years ago. It's clean and the stamping is clear. There is minor staining and some edge wear.

It's yours for postage. My email address is on the bottom of the first page on my website:

I found these too: ?hash=item23042aadec?hash=item3ca126840d

--Winston

Hi all -

Thanks to feedback from a couple of newsgroup users (especially thanks to Len Turnbow) we updated the decimal to fraction converter again to make the display a bit more intuitive and useful in the shop.

It now shows the next larger fractional, letter/number and metric size drill bits corresponding to a decimal value input, plus the next two larger and smaller drills - and the clearance.

The executable is compressed in "Fractions.zip" and downloadable from

Still Windows only... additional comments appreciated.

Help yourselves!

Carla

Thanks for the great tool, Carla!

I have it pinned to my Start menu and I'm sure it will be very useful!

--Winston

Thanks, but I was looking for drill indexes with closing cover. (I do have stands containing transfer punches.)

I'm afraid to get the indexes from eBay, because it's impossible to inspect them well enough, and they do turn up in the local used tool place.

Joe Gwinn

(...)

Oops. My mistake.

--Winston