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Adding a pen or pencil to your engineering dividers

hughie

hughie

Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
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Location
Sydney Australia
I often use a 12" pair of dividers to layout some of my pieces and it was always a hassle to adequately secure the pencil to the leg of the dividers. I t has to be secure and rigid and yet quickly and simply changed. So I can up with this as down under there didnt seem to be much available. Machined out of standard aluminium and locked onto the leg with two m4 locking screws, readily adjusted or removed.

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I have a very large compass I believe I bought it at harbor freight, don't know how big a circle it will draw but my lathe will only turn a 20" blank and it will draw that, wasn't much...just a thought
 
Marvin Jones said:
I have a very large compass I believe I bought it at harbor freight, don't know how big a circle it will draw but my lathe will only turn a 20" blank and it will draw that, wasn't much...just a thought
Click to expand...
Marvin Harbour Freight doesn't really exist out side the US, some of their product are available in other hardware stores.
 
hughie, you obviously have some technical skills beyond woodturning. That looks like a well engineered and handsome piece of hardware. If you were in the states, I'd ask you to make one for me.
 
Clever solution to the problem!

Made me think of either a split bolt like used to splice power line (available in the big box hardware stores), or a ground rod clamp (the type that presses the wire against the rod with a screw to tighten it down and hold everything together). Wonder if one of those might work. They come in assorted sizes. Next time I am at one of those places I will grab some parts to experiment with :)

If I had the necessary materials (and skills) I would consider one like you made. It is a pain when you do not have a compass you need and try to press a pair of dividers into service. I have been known to creatively (ab)use language when needing to do that! :cool:
 
Tim Starliper said:
Clever solution to the problem!

Made me think of either a split bolt like used to splice power line (available in the big box hardware stores), or a ground rod clamp (the type that presses the wire against the rod with a screw to tighten it down and hold everything together). Wonder if one of those might work. They come in assorted sizes. Next time I am at one of those places I will grab some parts to experiment with :)

If I had the necessary materials (and skills) I would consider one like you made. It is a pain when you do not have a compass you need and try to press a pair of dividers into service. I have been known to creatively (ab)use language when needing to do that! :cool:
Click to expand...
I started out with masking tape, but it was never really secure . When I was kid growing up you could get a wooden compass that held the chalk for the blackboard this memory got me going.
 
Tom Albrecht said:
hughie, you obviously have some technical skills beyond woodturning. That looks like a well engineered and handsome piece of hardware. If you were in the states, I'd ask you to make one for me.
Click to expand...
Hmm I dare say you could work something up in wood. But thanks for the compliment its well appreciated.
 
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