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Dalek87 24/07/2020
I bought these to keep at my milling machine. I thought that I could look after my expensive ones. Use these as sort of guestimators. Now, I'm wondering why I paid so much for my others. There's some junk coming out od China. Soft metal...Chinesium. Soft drill bits. All sorts of rubbish. At the same time, they're producing things that are very well made. It's difficult to know what is what. Some woodworker might think that something measures accurately. For what they do, they're happy. People who work with metals need to be spot on. Or, withing a 10th of an inch. I played with these for hours. I was trying to catch them out. Couldn't. They are accurate. And they are reliable. Repeatable. They turn off after a few minutes. Turn it back on and your numbers are still there. The fraction part of it is really good. For my drills, it's so fast to check their size. Much better that those plates with holes in. More and more, I'm having to use the foreign cm and mm. I grew up with good old English inches. Find them easier and more accurate. These make it easier for me. I still want my Mitutoyos, but I've got a feeling that I won't be needing them very often. If at all. I might sell them all off. Because if these keep making such good quality tools, soon mine won't be worth much more. These are heavy. They feel good on the hand. Snap them closed and they go to zero. Every time. I've been using them a lot this week and I can't believe how good they are. It's good steel. Well machined. All edges broke. And they're smooth. Very smooth. I can't make up my mind if they are as smooth as my Mitutoyos. They are new. I'm sure that they'll bed in nicely. If they get sloppy, I'll be back to say so. You know when you pick up a good tool. And these feel like the real deal. I used to go for the brand names with tools. Now, I read reviews. I try to sift through the crap to find the gems. It's hard to know. So, I hope this helps you.
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Dalek87 0.01 mm is 0.000394 inch. In other words it's just under half a thousanth of an inch. It's not 4 thou as someone has said. I don't think that you'll need anything finer than this for most setups. If you're grinding or lapping you might want a 10th indicator. Best wishes.

2022-01-23 06:59:03 Helpful (1)
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Dalek87 14/07/2020
Well. I'm amazed. I didn't expect these blanks to be this good. I got 10 for £3.37 I won't bother talking about postage and so on. I only care about how they perform. I think that I was unfair with them. I mean, I use good quality tool steel that's made in England. I trust it. These came and I got out my surface plate and a tenth indicator. I wanted to know what I had bought. They are all spot on. Not their length. I think that they just cut them off. All were at least 100mm long. The diameter is exactly 8mm at all the random points I checked and they're round. They come hard. I can't find my files so I can't test their hardness. They grind just like the English tool steel I've used for years. I can't tell any difference. They anneal and temper just as they should. Best of all, they cut. I've only used one. I spent a couple of hours trying them out. I made a forming tool using the full diameter. Very simple. It cuts mild steel and all kinds of harder mystery steels. It cut just as I expected. Well, I didn't ecpect it. If I'd known how good they would be I might have made a video. I've got a bit of a job coming up. I'm going to make a tap. I might film it. I need a strange tap to use once in cast iron. It's got hard spots in it. I've gone on a bit. In short, yes. They're good. 10 for less than I can buy 1 here in the UK. I'm sort of torn. I've always bought proper steel, made in England. I've known that it's the best you can get. Now, I can buy this Chinese stuff. Dirt cheap and not bad at all. I Potter about in my garage. I've got a mill and a lathe. Good old machines made in England. I'd sooner buy a well made old machine than a rubbish import. So, I'm set in my ways. Yet, I can't fault these. I don't know how they can sell them this cheap. British companies will have to start competing. I want to buy British. I feel guilty, but I can't afford not to buy these. I like them.
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Dalek87 They once sent something to me twice. When I told them about it they said to just keep it. I thought that was very nice of them. I know that a lot of people wouldn't tell them. That, of course would be dishonest. Steeling. I would be racked with guilt and lose sleep over it. A great many would think you a fool. I think that you're an honest man. It's good to know that there are still some honest people in the world. Best wishes.

big zipper 24/03/2017
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Dalek87 I have an Enco with 9 inch swing. I'm really happy with the 250 000 It depends on the hight of your cutting tool. Measure the height of the centre of your spindle. Height from the top your compund to the centre. I just measured up to the cutting point of a set tool. This tool post will sit on your cross slide. So you can look at the measurements and see. If you sat it on your lathe, could you raise or lower it enough? I would suggest that it will sit low enough. Because the tool holder can sit all the way dond on the cross slide. And it can slide up a fair way. To the top of the tool post ways. Someone should do a video on fitting it. I was nervous took. But I'm fine.

2020-06-06 05:59:57 Helpful (0)
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Q: can you use only 2 axis on a 3 axis dro

Asked by Brian on 2020-03-02 03:18:48

Dalek87 Yes. Just plug them in. The one you don't use won't do anyghing. I was lazy. Just used X and Y on my mill. Worked fine. I'll get around to fitting the Z at some point. Yes. Yiu can use any 2 of the 3. Or only 1 if you wanted. No problem.

2020-06-06 05:43:24 Helpful (0)
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Dalek87 With buying things from China: Don't buy it unless you can afford to lose it. There's some very good deals. But, on anything like this that has to be made to high standards, it's a toss of a coin. It might have been wise to buy one first to check it out. I bought something like this from eBay and it was 0,5mm out over 75mm. Nowhere near parallel either. Better to buy Made in England, Germany or USA....from somewhere where they know how to draw a straight line.

HenkvanZwam 26/01/2018
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