Woodworker's Best Friend

thingiverse

When woodworkers are setting up their machines, they are always having to measure height. There are quite a few gizmos out there for doing this, but many are just to complex or bulky to use. This is especially true when the woodworker is faced with adjusting and truing the bed rollers on a thickness planer. This device will make them smile. It can also be used to set the height of a saw blade or router bit in the router table. If yoy have a woodworker friend, this would be an ideal gift. The dial indicator is a standard 1” travel. They usually about $10 on line. An indicator with a flat foot works best for measuring rollers and pointy things (like saw teeth). The feet of the device have rare-earth magnets embedded in pockets. The pockets are designed for magnets measuring 0.5” in diameter and 0.125” thick. The magnets are glued in place before the two halves are glued together. Instructions Print the two haves of the object. Glue the two magnets in one half with epoxy. Put some glue in the magnet cavities of the other piece then glue the two pieces together using Acetone. Make sure the two halves are aligned, then clamp in a vice to dry. When the Acetone and epoxy have cured, ream out the top hole with a 3/8” drill bit. This is the standard size used for dial indicators. Insert a #8 nut though the hole in the top and press it into the hex shaped cavity. You can pull it into place using a screw from the outside. The clamp screw is a 0.312” long #8 socket cap screw. It has a press-on thumb screw knob. Clean and flatten the feet by place a sheet of 400 grit wet/day sandpaper on a flat steel or iron surface. Lubricate the sandpaper with some water and push the unit back and forth until the feet are smooth. Do not remove too much material the wall beneath the magnet is quite thin.