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Discussion That One Tool You Never Expected to Love… But Now Can’t Live Without it!
I work in 2 workshops; one in Colorado and the other in Puerto Vallarta. I don’t have everything duplicated in both, except for most of the inexpensive and highly used tools.
I recently came back to my Colorado workshop and found an item that needs to be upgraded… tweezers. Sure I have a couple that I’ve been using here for a while without too many complaints. Until I got used to the set of tweezers I have in Mexico.
So my add to this thread is a good (and inexpensive) set of tweezers. $8 on Amazon.
I recently came back to my Colorado workshop and found an item that needs to be upgraded… tweezers. Sure I have a couple that I’ve been using here for a while without too many complaints. Until I got used to the set of tweezers I have in Mexico.
So my add to this thread is a good (and inexpensive) set of tweezers. $8 on Amazon.
If I was in Puerto Vallarta I would be in the bay of Banderas fishing for dorado, marlin, snapper and more and never get any model work done.
One tool I can't live without......my library of reference books. I don't read these books for pleasure like a novel, but I do use them as much or more than any tool in the shop.
Allan
If I was in Puerto Vallarta I would be in the bay of Banderas fishing for dorado, marlin, snapper and more and never get any model work done.
One tool I can't live without......my library of reference books. I don't read these books for pleasure like a novel, but I do use them as much or more than any tool in the shop.
Allan
I generally don't go fishing too often, but when I go, it's more for the social aspect than the fishing part. Although I guarantee you, I catch something EVERYTIME - ok, it is a buzz, but I do catch something.
Another saying that I use a lot... There's only so much beer (or tequila) you can drink in a day/night - and trust me, I've found my limit. I'm at the Malecon or actually in the Bay of Banderas multiple times a day (our condo is only a block away), but when it's your 2nd home, and you're spending multiple months there, you need multiple hobbies.
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A cheap screwdriver/drill from Amazon. I use this for drilling tiny holes, like for trunneling, which I'm doing now on a launch. It holds 1/8" bits and smaller, it's easy to hold and I can put my drill bits into the pre-punched hole layouts and 'then' push the button to turn it on. No more drill bits skittering around and missing their intended targets. It's not fast, only about 420rpm, but that seems to work just fine for drilling small holes. I like it much better than a Foredom for what I use it for. No long flex-cable or foot-pedal to deal with. Great little tool if all you want it to do is drill small holes.
After following this for a while I've come to the conclusion that "The one tool you can't do without is the one your currently using for the task at hand". Until you stumble across something better. Thanks for the many (low cost and no so low cost) suggestions.
Japanese Micro-planner, Hozo Digital Caliper (this is a great tool, as it can evenly divide a measurement into any number of parts specified, great for planking), Japanese Micro-chisels (1-4mm), and an Ultrasonic knife (it goes through tabs like butter)
Hi, not wishing to be pedantic. I think, technically it is a “Vernier”.When I started out on my Syren build I wanted to be as accurate as possible in the general construction. I purchased a caliper to help with the accuracy I wanted but also found, more and more, that I was using the scaled readout by switching between fraction inches, decimal inches and mm. I found it helped since the kit was designed in the imperial system and I am used to primarily working in mm. It is a fast way to convert between scales and again it satisfied my need for personal accuracy.
As I progressed with the build I found myself changing out the kit wood to pear and AYC because I preferred working with it rather than the basswood. That meant obtaining billets of the replacement wood, milling, cutting and sanding to various sizes and checking constantly for repeat accuracy. Further build progression saw me scratch build more and more parts, including brass work, and discarding kit supplied wood and fittings. I did that to learn new skills and most importantly because I was enjoying challenging myself. The smaller the replacements became the more I needed and used the caliper. So much so it is beside me on the workbench constantly.
Initially this “tool” was a “nice to have”. Now it has become a necessary “cannot do without”.
(Edit: changed word micrometer to caliper - thanks Phil @Philski)
View attachment 523992
As an old millwright (fitter/turner to those Antipodeans and Poms) and not wishing to be pedantic but the correct term is vernier calliper. I still have an old school version which relied on much better eyesight to read than the modern LCD readout. I might add the LCD versions are a much better option to the aged such as most of us in this forum.
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=6740...S5jb20vYmlvZ3JhcGh5L1BpZXJyZS1WZXJuaWVy&ntb=1
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=6740...S5jb20vYmlvZ3JhcGh5L1BpZXJyZS1WZXJuaWVy&ntb=1
Kurt Konrath
Kurt Konrath
My luck seems to be the one tool I can't do without, was the one dropped on the floor and rolled under some benchwork never to be see again, as you didn't know when you last used and dropped it!
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As far as I understand it, the term vernier relates to the printed scale itself on the caliper (6 or 7 in Rick's image). A digital caliper doesn't have the scale thus it wouldn't be as accurate to call it a vernier caliper.
For instance, this is a vernier micrometer:
While this is simply a micrometer:
Though, honestly, English is a very cagey language and typically allows for anything as long as it gets the message across. If you point at some calipers and say, "Hand me the micrometer." People will understand what you mean and that's really the litmus test.
Now Im being a little pedantic.
Standard callipers are typically bought in sets of 3, Inside, outside and dividers. They do not generally have any means of measurment themselves and you would use tools such as a rule, inside or outside micrometers or verniers callipers to obtain your measurements by of the gap of the calliper used to size the workpiece. The scale used for both micrometers and vernier calipers was invented by Pierre Vernier and he also invented the callipers themselves. Subsequently Joseph Rogers Brown (born Jan. 26, 1810, Warren, R.I., U.S.—died July 23, 1876, Isles of Shoals, N.H.) was an American inventor and manufacturer who went on and perfected and produced a highly accurate linear dividing engine in 1850, and in the succeeding two years he developed a vernier caliper reading to thousandths of an inch and also applied vernier methods to the protractor. Think Brown and Sharpe tools. (Now called hexigon)
As for micrometers they are similarily named for thier function. I.e. Inside, outside, depth, tube etc. whether they are digital or use a vernier scale.
Encyclopedia Britannica; Pierre Vernier (born August 19, 1584, Ornans, France—died September 14, 1638, Ornans) was a French mathematician and government official who is best remembered for his invention of the vernier caliper, an instrument for making accurate linear measurements.
Standard callipers are typically bought in sets of 3, Inside, outside and dividers. They do not generally have any means of measurment themselves and you would use tools such as a rule, inside or outside micrometers or verniers callipers to obtain your measurements by of the gap of the calliper used to size the workpiece. The scale used for both micrometers and vernier calipers was invented by Pierre Vernier and he also invented the callipers themselves. Subsequently Joseph Rogers Brown (born Jan. 26, 1810, Warren, R.I., U.S.—died July 23, 1876, Isles of Shoals, N.H.) was an American inventor and manufacturer who went on and perfected and produced a highly accurate linear dividing engine in 1850, and in the succeeding two years he developed a vernier caliper reading to thousandths of an inch and also applied vernier methods to the protractor. Think Brown and Sharpe tools. (Now called hexigon)
As for micrometers they are similarily named for thier function. I.e. Inside, outside, depth, tube etc. whether they are digital or use a vernier scale.
Encyclopedia Britannica; Pierre Vernier (born August 19, 1584, Ornans, France—died September 14, 1638, Ornans) was a French mathematician and government official who is best remembered for his invention of the vernier caliper, an instrument for making accurate linear measurements.