Bum micrometer?

[jmorris]

The tail stock is not part of a lathe, rather another measuring device, a set of “centers”. Let’s you measure things that would be very difficult to measure otherwise.



The reason micrometers (any decent set) comes with standards is so you can check their accuracy and ensure you are getting correct readings. You use them even if you don’t drop them.

[Ole Joe Clarke]

I have a Brown and Sharpe 0-1" micrometer that I bought new in the early 1960's (last century), they show some shop wear but are still good as new. Also have a Starrett 1/2" micrometer that still works like new.

[mozeppa]

this brings back memories.

when i worked in a gear factory, i used all the mics 0" to 24"

the guys that made the really big gears used something else to measure their gears by...
don't remember what its called tho.

i do remember the biggest gear tho...it was over 13 feet in diameter and was about a foot thick.
when they cut teeth on it it made a sound like "wong wong wong wong" as fast as you can say that
and you could hear that throughout the building. took 45 minutes to cut one tooth and had some 300+ teeth.
we had headaches for 3 weeks till it was done.

[15meter]

Micrometers are more precise than calipers and they generally measure a much smaller range. Because of this they cost a lot more.

A 0-24” set of Starret calipers like this can cost many thousands of dollars. Each is a precision instrument and can only measure a range inside a single inch.



Any decent set will also include standards so you can quickly ensure their accuracy.

Starrett used to make them much larger on a custom order basis, tried to find a photo, seems to me it was in the 6 foot plus range. With 1 inch of travel. Same mike head on all of them.

[15meter]

Found it!