Gauge blocks

[transatlantic]

For the current jig I am making, I need some gauge blocks, to add offsets in 1mm increments (3 - 10mm or so). Normally, I would just use drill bits, which usually work perfectly, are cheap and come in sets with increments of 0.5mm. The only problem being, you can't combine them to create bigger offsets, which I need for my jig.

Just wondering if anyone knew of something else I could use, that is cheap, and is square/rectangular rather than round. I know that gauge block sets exist, but they're super accurate and super expensive and way over kill. I don't need anything like that.

I just want a few metal blocks.

 

[Doug71]

Plastic packers?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/broadfix-*** ... -pcs/99189

 

[Phil Pascoe]

https://www.screwfix.com/p/broadfix-gla ... -pcs/84200

 

[transatlantic]

yeah - I do have some of those, but they're a little too flexible, and not really flat. Definately not repeatable.

 

[TheTiddles]

Do you need precision, accuracy, or both?

How much of each?

Aidan

 

[transatlantic]

Do you need precision, accuracy, or both?

How much of each?

Aidan

They don't need to be precise in terms of their size, I don't mind if they're not exactly 1mm, or not exactly 2mm. I just need them to be flat/straight to reference off, and repeatable.

Just thought about lego ... if I can find some

 

[Trevanion]

Key steel? Ground pretty accurately and it's fairly inexpensive if you look around for it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Metric-Key-Steel-from-3mm-25mm-Square-Bar-Keyway-300mm-in-length

 

[transatlantic]

Key steel? Ground pretty accurately and it's fairly inexpensive if you look around for it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Metric-Key-Steel-from-3mm-25mm-Square-Bar-Keyway-300mm-in-length

Exactly the sort of thing I was after! thanks

 

[lurker]

Lego bricks.
I have a little stack (5 or 6) of the thinnest ones.

 

[Yojevol]

I use these.
Not square but can provide dimensions from 1 to 32.5mm in 0.5mm intervals. Going at a very good price at the moment.
Brian

 

[Blockplane]

Buy some sheets of plasticard, as used by model makers and cut whatever shapes are most suitable. It is available up to 2mm which gives you a start, and you could buy some solvent and sandwich some sheets together for thicker gauges.

 

[Luke Barnard]

I was in a similar position recently, and ended up buying a set of different sized parallel keys, which serves my purposes well enough. I can't post links. But if you search "60 Pcs Imperial Parallel Key Assortment" on ebay, it should get you there. They do a metric set as well, if that is preferable.

Cheers,

 

[AES]

Don't know if available in UK, but here, in most normal food super markets, you can buy I think it's a set of 8 beech (?) "spacers". (Food safe anyway, and so marked).

They're all about 300 mm long x about 20 mm wide and in each set you get a pair of 4 mm thick, a pair 6 mm thick, a pair 8 mm thick and a pair 10 mm thick.

It's for people who make their own pasta and want to roll it out in different thicknesses according to taste/whatever dish they're making. The idea is to place one of each pair under each end of the rolling pin and off you go, roll out the dough to the thickness of the spacers used.

Very cheap here and very useful for all sorts of model & toy making uses.

If not ditto the plasticard from model shops idea.

Personally I would have though gauge plate a bit too expensive (not sure) but definitely very accurate thickness.

Though if you can find them, the last set of the above "pasta spacers" I bought measured within 0.010 mm throughout all, and nice & flat & warp-free. No idea how they would stand up to pasta making though!!;-)

 

[Ttrees]

Scavenge some household plugs and make a few?

 

[Inspector]

Lee Valley sell something pretty close to what you want and should be available from any of the Veritas dealers in England. Buying direct shouldn't be a problem. Maybe their free shipping during the Corona Virus crisis on everything may apply to you too, or perhaps they will reduce the shipping cost similarly. They have both metric and imperial sets.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/to ... -up-blocks

Pete

 

[powertools]

I understand that on a woodworking forum my approach may be a bit extreme but I made a set of gauge blocks out of hardwood.

 

[Trevanion]

I understand that on a woodworking forum my approach may be a bit extreme but I made a set of gauge blocks out of hardwood.

Yes, That also works!

I've still got sapele packers in millimeter increments kicking around from when I was too much of a miser to buy plastic packers :lol: