Layout Tools
Last updated on
Saturday, May 27, 2023 01:24:46 PM
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Layout Tools,
Levels,
Scribes & Automatic Center Punches,
Layout Fluid,
Precision Gauge Blocks,
Surface Plates,
Surface
Gauges,
Height
Gauges,
Transfer Punches,
Transfer Screws,
Protractor,
Optical
Protractor,
Machinist Calculator
Also refer to
how to drill a hole where you
want it &
how to drill the center of a rod.
See
Precision Mensuration.
Tables
Metric & Inch Equivalents
Inch
to Millimeter Conversion Table
Millimeter to Inch Conversion Table
Metric & Inch
Equivalents
Tap Drill Sizes For Fractional Size
Threads
Decimal
Equivalents of Letter Size Drills
National /Unified Coarse/Fine Thread
Dimensions & Tap Drill Sizes
Decimal
Equivalents of 8ths, 16ths, 32nds,
64ths
ISO External Threads Medium Fit
Decimal
Equivalents of Number Size Drills
Tapers &
Angles
Rules Relative to the Circle
Triangle Chart
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Layout Tools
Various types of squares, small rules,
& protractors.
Starrett (USA) &
Mitutoyo (Japan) are highest quality.
Starrett steel rules: a satin chrome finish,
machine-divided
blade, & hardened steel.
Starrett is
best in class followed by Mitutoyo.
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thumbnails #ad
Starrett Model No. 289A combination
square blade attachment (USA).
This accessory allows attaching a steel rule at right
angles to another rule or
the blade of a square.
Accepts 1" (25.4mm) wide blades.
Attachment seat lengths:
blade 1-9/16" (40mm) x
rule 1-11/16" (43mm).
Machinists' solid squares (top) are hardened
(RC55),
ground, & lapped to high accuracy.
USA Starrett Nos. 13, 4R, & 14D squares (4
pieces).
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thumbnails #ad
Dowel center finder.
Specialized rule that can be used on
lathes &
mills.
Stop-Loc instructions.
Made knobbed screws using
cut-down 1/4-32 bolts.
The bolt was clamped by a
5C fixture &
the
cut end was
diamond ground
flat/perpendicular.
The plastic knob press-fits onto the hex head bolt.
Very handy & quick when I was
parting 50 pieces
on the lathe.
LS Starrett invented the combination square.
All three of
these are hardened & ground (USA).
Protractor (top), square (left), & dowel center finder (right).
These hardened sets are best in class.
Starrett
434-12-16R 12" Combination
Square Set
A small scribe is stored in a
hole
that has a spring
retainer.
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thumbnails #ad
Starrett
No. 98
Four-inch Machinists' Level
with ground & graduated
vial (USA).
The base has a V-groove for leveling round parts.
Protective metal cover rotated
closed.
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Outside calipers, spring divider,
hermaphrodite, & inside calipers.
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Scribes & Automatic Center Punches
Scribes & automatic center punches.
Top to bottom: Starrett surface gauge
steel scribe,
a diamond-tipped scribe,
a carbide-tipped scribe, two
large-body punches that make deep marks, two
high-precision
punches that
have fine, sharply pointed replaceable
tips & the last punch has small
replaceable tips.
Regular punches have a 90 deg angled tip whereas
prick punches have a more
narrow-angled point.
Automatic center punch (Lisle
30280-70) exploded detail.
Assembly order is left to right, top to
bottom.
If the cylindrical guide (middle row, far right) is turned around,
the punch will not work
properly. The flat side faces the point
while the
curved side faces the firing pin & ball bearing.
Though the above
Lisle design incorporates a ball bearing,
most designs do not use one.
Assembly instructions for
three styles of General Tool automatic center punches:
No. 87 thin body,
No. 70079 large
aluminum body,
No.
78 steel body. Note: Before assembly, verify
that all parts do not have any type of lubrication.
Automatic center-punch replacement tips.
Lower-left: General No. 79P.
Screwing the spring-compression knob
out reduces the punching
force.
For center punching softer materials
(e.g., gold, silver,
plastic, wood)
the strong spring can be replaced
with a much lighter one.
Examples of center-punch force reduction.
Different springs will, of course, result in different
levels of punch depth so
trial & error may be in order.
1-A punch using the original spring General Model 70079.
2-Smaller spring with
adjustment screwed in.
3-Smaller spring with adjustment screwed out.
4-Lisle with weaker spring & the
adjustment screwed out.
Standard center punch.
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Layout
Fluid
Apply Dykem layout fluid to make scribe marks highly visible.
CAUTION: Quickly makes permanent/semi-permanent stains on porous materials.
4 fluid oz. liquid with brush in cap applicator & 12
oz.
(340 g)
of remover/surface prep spray.
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Example, Dykem with scribe marks.
A second example of layout fluid &
height gauge use.
Precision Gauge Blocks
81 piece, Grade B, hardened, precision gauge block set,
from 0.050 to 4.0",
+/-0.000050" at 20 deg C
(68 deg F).
Excellent for use with height gauges, depth gauges,
sine vises,
sine bars, sine plates, setups, etc. (import)
Example of a
calibration reference table.
See this
Starrett document for info on
wringing gauge blocks.
Left to right: 1", 0.5", & 0.2".
Note the middle,
micro-lapped working surface.
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Spacer gauge set.
Used for
setting stops,
setups, &
sine bars/plates/vises.
The ends are threaded so they
can be screwed together/stacked.
Hardened, dimensionally accurate 1-2-3, 2-3-4, &
2-4-6 (inches)
precision-ground steel Jo-blocks.
3/8-16 threaded & clearance holes allow clamping.
Handy for surface-plate measurements & mill setups.
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Surface Plates
Granite surface plates (+/-0.0001") in 18"x12"x3" (85 lb) &
12"x9"x2" (30 lb)
sizes (import).
Use surface plate
cleaning fluid to remove dirt, oil, & marks left
by (aluminum) parts.
Do not scratch the plate as it affects accuracy.
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Different Sizes & Accuracies available:
6" x 6" x 2"
6" x 8" x 2"
12" x 8" x 2"
12" x 9" x 2"
12" x 9" x 3" (40 lb)
18" x 12" x 3" (80 lb)
24" x 18" x 3" (150 lb)
36" x 24" x 4" (495 lb)
48" x 36" x 6" (1200 lb)
Grade A accuracy is +/- 0.000075"
Grade B accuracy is +/- 0.000150"
Granite Surface Platea checked using an
autocollimator for
accuracy
assurance to meet or exceed
Federal Specification GGG-P-463c.
Includes a Certificate of Inspection.
Surface Gauges
Universal Starrett surface gauge
holding its hardened steel scribe.
Base is
2-13/16"
(L) x
2-3/8" (W) & is
supplied with
9" & 12" spindle lengths.
Starrett Model 257 exploded
diagram.
The base has a V-groove for
centering on round parts.
The pins can extend to act as guides along an edge.
Base guide pins extended.
The fine (tilt) adjustment mechanism works very well.
Starrett Model No. 56 toolmaker's surface gauge.
The small size helps when
working in tight locations.
The base is 2-1/8" (L) x 1-3/8" (W) x 7/8" (H) &
the
spindle length is 4-inches.
Starrett No.
56 surface gauge parts diagram.
The universal & toolmaker's
surface gauges compared for size.
Height Gauges
A Mitutoyo, 8", 543-244 digital height gauge
with fine
adjustment mechanism.
The height gauge & a granite surface plate
make an accurate
combination
for
measuring
parts or laying out
precisely scribed lines.
Resolution: 0.0005".
Absolute electrostatic
capacitance type linear
encoder.
A fine
adjustment carriage is a requirement for fast,
accurate settings.
See Mitutoyo 543-244 digital
height gauge
manual &
dimensional drawing.
For accurate, repeatable measurements, insure
the surface plate, height gauge, &
scribe
working surfaces are free of debris/grit.
Check to see if the scribe bracket is tight.
Periodically inspect the adjustable
ways
of the transducer for excessive play.
A carbide-tipped (Mitutoyo)
10", dial
height
gauge on a
granite surface plate (+/-0.0001").
High accuracy can be
achieved using
gauge blocks to set specified heights.
Use layout die to make the scribe marks easier to
see.
Mitutoyo height
gauge manual.
Surface plates are useful for precision
alignment when
assembling parts, too.
See
Height Gauges in
Mensuration for
additional descriptions of various accessories.
Starrett No.
3751 digital height gauge.
Starrett No. 995E (USA)
Universal
Precision
Gauge
Set.
A post clamp holds a hardened HSS
scribe which
is being set at 3.0000" height using a gauge block.
Starrett Model No. 995E
Universal Gauge exploded diagram.
Transfer Punches
These punches are used to align parts & to
transfer the center of a hole to mate
an adjoining part.
Transfer punch sets: Fractional - 3/32" through 1" by
1/64th", 0.0025" undersized.
Numbered - 1 through 60. Lettered - A through Z. Metric - 1mm
through 13mm by 0.5mm.
Black anodized & heat treated.
Some of the original stands were replaced with
Huot USA brand.
Note: Smaller, import punches sometimes have off-center
tips that need to be corrected
using a lathe tool-post grinder.
A 5/16" transfer punch marked the center.
The
bearing center was transfered to the gear plate.
A stand was fabricated.
Sizes 5-3/4" x 2-5/8" x 1/3" thick & the
bottom plate is 1/16" thick.
A thick top plate keeps the punches vertical plus it's
easier to take them in & out
than the multi-plate designs.
The holes were made using each bit of the entire
set of
metric drills; the transfer punches are undersized.
After the plate was drilled, the top surface was fly
cut & then the holes
chamfered to make a nice finish.
1-1/8" long,
4-40 steel standoff posts were used as spacers.
The bottom plate corner holes
were first threaded,
the
posts were then screwed in followed by a nylon-insert
lock nut that secures the post &
acts as the feet.
Integer sizes were stamped onto
the top &
filled-in with black marker.
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Transfer Screws
Transfer screw sets for
mating threaded parts
especially blind holes. Hardened screws stored inside handle.
Storing all the screws in the handle oriented one-way
e.g., tip in first) seems
to help insertion & removal.
Handle end has a hex driver that serves as wrench.
Top to bottom examples: 3/4-10, 4-40 & M10-1.5
(metric).
A 10-32
transfer screw (top-center) in the end of a
3/8" dowel pin for the
Taig DRO x-axis modification.
This was part of the pre-CNC
Taig Micro Mill DRO
design.
A metal holder for the transfer screw sets.
The hardware: 1/4-20
cap-head bolts,
brass tubes, & lock nuts.
The lower plate has corresponding
holes that capture the
tips.
The lock nuts also function as feet.
Modified all of the holders where
1/4-28 bolt heads now act as feet.
Holders for metric (L) & imperial (R) transfer screw sets.
Similar design to the
Silver & Deming drill bit stand.
The metric are imports & the imperial are USA manufactured.
These case-hardened M8-1.25 transfer screws
were made using a
hexagonal 5C fixture.
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All sizes are available.
Protractor
Accurate, all-metal protractor set.
There is an etched degrees scale with a
5' precision
vernier (nonius)
scale.
If the magnifier is needed, the two
screws are used for attachment.
A vernier scale as viewed under the magnifier
accessory. This scale is reading 0
deg 5'
angle.
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Also see Angle Gauges Section
Optical Protractor
An optical protractor excellent for ergonomic analyses
of
cockpit & workstation display layout geometries.
OPTO-METRIX Optical Protractor OP-1a.
US Patent No.
4,257,164.
Machinist Calculator
Machinist Calc Pro capabilities: cutting speed, spindle
speed (rpm), feed rate,
cutting feed,
feed per tooth
(chip load), built-in drill & thread size reference tables,
drill
point cut depth
solutions, wire sizes & 3-wire
measurements, bolt pattern hole layouts with
center
x, y
coordinates, right-triangle math, trigonometric
solutions, work in & convert
between US &
metric units
including decimal inches/mils, feet-inch-fractions, m,
mm, cm, area, volume & weight. Many of these
parameters can also be calculated
using
DRO functions.
It defaults to 75% threads but I like being able to
quickly calculate any other
needed % e.g., 50% or 65%.
After selecting a hole size, one can scroll up & down
the table to see the
closest inch & metric bit sizes.
Their app is lower in cost but I did not want my
iPhone to be exposed to
a shop environment.
Machinist Calc Pro 4087 Manual
Machinist Calc Pro 4087 Specs
Shop-hardened case with a sturdy double
hinge & two effective
locks (front & back).
Layout Tools,
Levels,
Scribes & Automatic Center Punches,
Layout Fluid,
Precision Gauge Blocks,
Surface Plates,
Surface
Gauges,
Height
Gauges,
Transfer Punches,
Transfer Screws,
Protractor,
Optical
Protractor,
Machinist Calculator