pipefitter
10-04-2008, 02:53 PM
I love all of the pocket tricks in fabricating, layout or construction/building in general. My tool box is probably half the size of most fabricators. Laughable really. The owner, on the other hand, has a tool chest that would choke a freight train with every imaginable gimmick in triplicate.
Here's my solution for finding centers quickly and accurately on round material with items from the basic workshop's equivalent of the kitchen junk drawer.
I have 4 rod holders to install on a top and I want to suspend them on locater pins so they don't slide around under the clamps. The rod holders are clamed to the table so that they can't roll.
I start out with my marks on the holders with my scratch awl.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/tigmaster/PA030120.jpg
Then color the awl marks with a grease pencil.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/tigmaster/PA030122.jpg
Take a straight edge and let it contact the peaks which is dead peak center and rub it across the grease pencil marks.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/tigmaster/PA030123.jpg
You can see (barely, due to photo quality) the naked spots where the straight edge has rubbed off the grease pencil leaving a perfect indicator on the awl marks where center is but leaving a little speck of black in the awl mark in which to set the center punch.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/tigmaster/PA030124.jpg
If I only had one round item without an equal to guide the straight edge, a wood block or whatever equals the OD of the round item in which to find the center would suffice.
Here's my solution for finding centers quickly and accurately on round material with items from the basic workshop's equivalent of the kitchen junk drawer.
I have 4 rod holders to install on a top and I want to suspend them on locater pins so they don't slide around under the clamps. The rod holders are clamed to the table so that they can't roll.
I start out with my marks on the holders with my scratch awl.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/tigmaster/PA030120.jpg
Then color the awl marks with a grease pencil.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/tigmaster/PA030122.jpg
Take a straight edge and let it contact the peaks which is dead peak center and rub it across the grease pencil marks.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/tigmaster/PA030123.jpg
You can see (barely, due to photo quality) the naked spots where the straight edge has rubbed off the grease pencil leaving a perfect indicator on the awl marks where center is but leaving a little speck of black in the awl mark in which to set the center punch.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/tigmaster/PA030124.jpg
If I only had one round item without an equal to guide the straight edge, a wood block or whatever equals the OD of the round item in which to find the center would suffice.