23 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Thanks for all your tips Steve, this one stood out the most though, so I am assuming your placing calipers on a moving spindle or bowl. I didn't know if that was standard operating procedure or not so I erred on the side caution and turned the lathe off before I did a caliper check. With standard calipers, then it's ok to check dimensions while it's spinning, as long as the points are rounded or smooth?

 

John. Yes on a moving spindle. NO on a spinning bowl. On a spindle, the parting tool and calipers are often used in conjunction with each other. Never on a bowl.

 

Steve

Just now, Steve Krumanaker said:

Never on a bowl.

That makes complete sense, it could grab the caliper from the side and throw it pretty badly, thanks for the tip. I think just by the nature of it not feeling right, I would not have done it.

42 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Shoot, my button finger hit Buy Now, and it bought now! Got these just now off of Ebay for 12 bucks including shipping, nice American made 6" caliper.

Man I hate it when that happens... Well, now guess you will soon have "more stuff" to "clutter" up the pictures 'eh? 

Sweet find...don't look like Starretts??? but maybe Brown & Sharp?? Either way, good old fashioned quality.

Edited January 8, 20179 yr by Grandpadave52

One thing on the spring loaded calipers- vibrations from the spinning work can cause them to "readjust". Most of the type you pictured don't have a locking screw to make sure the setting sticks. You need to recheck the setting every now and them.

 

 

use a piece of this for your tooling rack mount up on the wall....

easy visual and it won't collect much in the lines of chips...

build it a frees standing rack...

put it on a compound arm and hook the arm to the lathe base or wall...

there are a lot of variations and sizes to choose from...

 

 

Edited January 8, 20179 yr by Stick486

27 minutes ago, Stick486 said:

use a piece of this for your tooling rack mount up on the wall....

Stick, that's a wonderful idea, thanks so much, I actually have some of that hanging around, left over from a closet job.

 

54 minutes ago, lew said:

Most of the type you pictured don't have a locking screw to make sure the setting sticks.

Thanks Lew for that information, I had never thought of that. This topic just keeps getting better, thanks to all who have shown up and given tips and suggestions for me, thanks so much guys.

4 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Stick, that's a wonderful idea, thanks so much, I actually have some of that hanging around, left over from a closet job.

 

Handy Dan built one... but I can't the picture of his...

this style works really well...

use the shelf upside down. set it at a slope (to or away from you) and lay the tool handles on the wide portion of the shelf...

slide the blades through the perpendicular bar...

 

2 hours ago, Stick486 said:

this style works really well...

Thanks a heap Stick, I love the concept and idea.

If doing spindles, open end wrenches make perfect calipers.  They are accurate and never move from their set.  I have been known to slot pieces of Plexiglas to the right size to match the parting tool thickness. 

 

Here is the stand I made from Stick's idea.  I did add a locating block up at the blade end because the tools would fall over to the side for lack of support.  The bottom is the weight from a discarded pole lamp.  I added legs to it also for more stability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 20179 yr by HandyDan

14 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

If doing spindles, open end wrenches make perfect calipers.  They are accurate and never move from their set.  

They make great gauges for checking thickness out of the planer, too.

50 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

 

If doing spindles, open end wrenches make perfect calipers

 

+1 on this one!

3 hours ago, HandyDan said:

Here is the stand I made from Stick's idea.

Thanks John, I really appreciate this clarification.

24 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Thanks John, I really appreciate this clarification.

 

That is a shelf from a refrigerator and I used it as is.  I set it by the lathe and it holds the tools being used on the job at hand.

1 minute ago, HandyDan said:

 

That is a shelf from a refrigerator and I used it as is.  I set it by the lathe and it holds the tools being used on the job at hand.

I've got closet shelving that should work well, same set up as yours.