Take a look, I'll wait right here.....
Optical Comparators (Thanks, bitly.com!)
As I understand them, you place a calibrated transparent chart on the thing, put your part on a stand (the focal length is exact, so the scale of the chart is accurate), then QA the geometry and/or dimensions of the part. The part is magnified and the chart is superimposed. Too cool, and too big for me.
Then I ran across this guy:
The Tool and Die Guy
He introduced me to a nice bunch of tools, including...........
The pocket comparator:
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| Oh yeah! |
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| A bit shadowy, but it's all there. |
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| Ye olde radius gage. Is it accurate?? |
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| Yes, it is what is says it is. Perfect. |
Meet the pocket comparator. It allows me to be more precise when I grind tool bits, and check if I'm holding my tolerances like I should. I am definitely impressed. Now if I can find the instruction sheet that didn't come with it....
Hum.... the one I have doesn't have any instructions neither. The box says "For on the spot checks of linear dimensions, angles, radii and diameters." and that's about it.
ReplyDeleteOHHHHH KAYYYY. I couldn't figure out how you actually use the thing until I hit a Youtube video. There are like two for Pocket Optical Comparitor Use but the second one shows it being used by a guy sticking his finger in front of it and then focusing the camera to look through the thing. Now I get it.
ReplyDeleteI can see where that would be very handy for examining edges and angles on parts right away.
I about choked when I followed your link to how much the full sized ones cost.
Holy Moly.
I bet you could add up how much I have paid for my last 3 vehicles and get enough for a down payment on a new one.
I hope that little pocket job didn't cost too much but I can see someone such as yourself getting their monies worth out of it anyway.
Thanks for letting me know what that gizmo is for.
I also found out you could use them to gage blow holes in castings, or cracks in cement or anything else. There are 2 spots marked .001 and .002. The thickness of the line is what you measure with. Really a cool tool.
ReplyDelete