First tries at segmenting and CA/BLO

[aldwardo]

These are pens #4 and 5. I wanted to play around and try segmenting. The design is haphazard, and overdone, but I was just looking for experience. They were also my first try at CA/BLO. That is slick. I have a lot of room for improvement. After only 5 pens I am noticing that my bushings are wearing thinner. I need to get a nice calapers. Would a cheap one be good enough to measure that small of an increment? Sorry, I am full of questions, now for the picture:

 

[hewunch]

I had the $7 set of calipers from HF. They work fine.

 

[kirkfranks]

Nice job on the segmenting. Especially for pen #4 and 5.

On the caliper question many folks here get the low cost digital type. Yes they will work fine. I got mine from Rockler on sale less than $20.00 if I remember correctly. Harbor freight has them onsale often for a little less than what I paid and many are happy with them.

 

[wdcav1952]

Rod,

Nice work. You will find that most bushings are semi-disposable items. They wear out like everything else.

As Re the calipers - My cheap HF digital calipers are more accurate than I am!!

 

[rwyoung]

Get calipers with metal jaws and a good lock for the slide. Use them to make a relative measurement by checking against the pen hardware, not a nominal measurement somebody wrote down. That way, the absolute accuracy of the calipers is not at issue. A $7 pair can work as well as a $50 pair.

 

[DurocShark]

I'm quite happy with the Cen-Tech digital calipers that Harbor Freight sells. They go for under $10 when on sale.

Honestly, they don't have to be accurate, just repeatable. It can be off by 10 feet, as long as it's *always* off by the same 10 feet. I have no idea if these are truly accurate, but they are repeatable and work great for turning.

Just remember to turn the lathe off when measuring. DAMHIKT

 

[leehljp]

Get calipers with metal jaws and a good lock for the slide. Use them to make a relative measurement by checking against the pen hardware, not a nominal measurement somebody wrote down. That way, the absolute accuracy of the calipers is not at issue. A $7 pair can work as well as a $50 pair.

I agree completely. I had one "plastic" set that someone gave me (or left for me) once and I did not find them very helpful. Personally, (as RW mentioned) I would stick with metal ones.