Gauge blocks

You will probably be fine. I hardly even use my gage blocks. I just CNC machine an angle plate with a stop. I have a cheap B grade set, and I miced them (I have Starret standards), and they are as good as I can measure except the 4 inch which for some reason is almost exactly 4.001

I have a set of gage pins too. Most of the time I just use my set of drill blanks because its faster and most holes I'm checking are nominal standard sizes anyway. If they aren't I measure them with an inside mic.

Am I really going to need to allow for millionths of an inch ? I'm looking at an 81 piece set from Shars , a grade B with the deviation table for under a hundred bucks . Looks like the biggest variance is .000034" , or about a third of a ten thousandth . I can't see any project that I might get needing that kind of precision ... I'm considering buying the set just because I've kinda wanted some and I think they'll get me closer to perfect in my upcoming depth mike project . Since they can trace back to a national standard I can also use them to check all my other micrometers , none of which have been calibrated for at least 40 years , and in some cases longer than that .

I'll probably only use them for calibration checks . And only because one of these days something I make is going to have to be a pretty precise fit for something somebody else makes . Gauge pins are on my wish list too . I got a set of thread wires a while back . Haven't used them yet but then I haven't needed a precise thread fit . I have a couple of projects in mind that will require a fairly precise thread ... OBTW , I did order that set of Shars blocks . Under 110 bucks , and there's no doubt that if I waited I'd be paying more .

I could have done this without them , but I never let an opportunity to buy tooling go to waste . Already told the wife , her response was "Well , if you need them you need them ." because she knows how much money I've saved us over the years by doing repairs to "stuff" .

Yes. Everything always goes up and lately very quickly. I've been bringing in some cash the last couple months, so I have been buying things I need and stocking up on materials so I'll have it when things inevitably crash again.

I could have done this without them , but I never let an opportunity to buy tooling go to waste .

--------------------------- I rarely pass up on measuring equipment, especially second hand. And sometimes, years later, I really do need it, like a Mitutoyo 146-102 Groove Micrometer I got cheap from a seller who didn't know what it was, and I needed a week or two ago. IIRC I was the only bidder on the gauge block set with a couple of common sizes missing. MSC had them for ~$16 each, accurate to better than 10 microinches.

Yes. Everything always goes up and lately very quickly. I've been bringing in some cash the last couple months, so I have been buying things I need and stocking up on materials so I'll have it when things inevitably crash again. Bob La Londe

------------------------------- Usually I was working overtime during booms and unemployed during busts, R&D runs on venture capital. I saved some cash when I had it and bought temporarily unwanted stuff when it became available, such as the steel for my sawmill and gantry hoist.

I have a Starrett can lid micrometer. Never know when I might need it. I could wind up at Libbey chopping green beans and sealing lids. LOL.

I'm lucky , we're debt-free and have enough in the bank that I can pretty much buy what I want within reason . I ain't gonna be buying a new Corvette , but if I want a beer ... or a set of gauge blocks . Well ... I can see Bad S*it coming down the road . If y'all have read The Mote in God's Eye , I'm trying to position our "Holler" as one of those warehouses out in the fields . I have a unique position as a volunteer with the Friends of the Library which gives me first access to all kinds of material that would be useful for rebuilding society ... for free , and one of my neighbors has agreed to host the library .

Ummm , we can green beans ... and tomatoes , and peaches and ... but not in tin cans , just Mason (tm?) jars . My paternal grandmother had a "canner" that actually used metal cans . I don't remember details but I know she was using metal cans and lids .

Well ... I can see Bad S*it coming down the road . If y'all have read The Mote in God's Eye , ...

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I identified with the engineer who realized that everything in the museum was broken, it was a personality type test. That resembles my second-hand shopping trips, the trick is to figure out what's wrong and if and how I can easily fix it before negotiating a deal. (Clean the carb?) The narrow nerdy stereotype of electronics people the book magnifies is common among liberal arts types, who were visibly annoyed that I could also discuss art and literature.

Jerry Pournelle's blog was very intelligent and interesting.

The only thing I caught him on was the argument that an eye is too complex to have evolved.

I don't have a can seam mike, but my vehicles carry compact 4" dial calipers that can stay within a shirt pocket when rummaging through industrial "stuff". The 4" may fit under the mill head when 6" is too bulky. The can mike could be useful like my miniature 0-0.5" Fowler mike when picking through unlabeled sheet metal.