DIY concentricity guage???

[Shawnba67]

I have almost bought a sinclair guage a few times now, but I get stopped up because I have a handful of measuring devices that appear they work the same way. Little marble stand for an indicator several inticators ect
I have everything except the little rollers.
I attempted to use v blocks but the drag on them made repeatabilty for me and my ham fists very hard to acheive.
Any ideas on how to rig up a useable little set of roller thingys?

 

[chop house]

not questioning your manual dexterity, but i made one years ago using phenolic to fashion the v-blocks. it started life as an arrow straightening jig, then when i changed to carbon shafts i repurposed the parts.

the key to getting mine repeatable was to use a finger tip to roll the case, while also putting a little pressure backward so the case head stays firm against the stop.

otherwise, try a cabinet hardware supplier (other than home centers) or woodworkers catalog outfit?

 

[mousegunner]

Hobby shops carry some bearings that could work.

 

[kohai133]

Epoxy some ball bearings on your blocks and you have the Sinclair gauge, which either presses or glues them into the blocks. If you wanted to go the route of rollers, like 21st Century or Accuracy One, they would need to be high quality to ensure zero run out themselves.

As for consistency of rolling the cases, I use a fat heavy rubber band on a small file to roll the cases. Think of it like using a violin bow across the strings.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[chop house]

^^^ good one

 

[Tucker65]

I made this using some hardened dowel pins and a scrap piece of aluminum. I also roll the case with a big rubber band wrapped around a flat piece if wood.

 

[Ggmac]

I've made dozens , ranging from wheels from toy cars like the size of matchbox and others just using hardwood oak with a pocket clip to hold the case in the route red v groove .
I'll sent pics . I found no difference in using oak or aluminum as the base . A way I found to spin the case is with a long thin kite string wrapped a few rime around the case pull slowly on the string to rotate . Of course you'll need to remove some metal or wood to make room for the cord .
The cord needed two hole drilled thru the base , the string was feed thru the holes on the base and pulled to rotate the case . Of course the base also needed raised so the cord could be pulled

 

[fguffey]

^^^ good one

A few years ago I needed a run out gage that was 260" long, the closest gage was in Houston some 150 miles away and they had no intentions of loaning it to me so I had to make one. 260" is a little awkward to handle, to use it on ammo I made a short one.

F. Guffey