Vickers Armstrong Hardness Tester

So I have a chance to get a Vickers hardness tester which is currently rusting in a car park. Selling it involves taxes and invoices and what not so I got told to make it disappear rather than actually buy it.

Didn't get to look over it properly but could see exposed metal has a thick rust layer and it doesn't appear to have any microscope section or weights. Probably never going to test hardness again.

Option 1 is sell it for all the £20 of scrap iron value it has

Option 2 is sell it on ebay as a hardness tester, its incomplete and obsolete I think so won't get much I think but eh

Option 3 is to tear it apart for parts, I feel like the body is a lovely base for a heavily built drill press but I don't know if the ram would be the right size for a spindle.

Option 1 is no, option 2 is practical but not as interesting.

Regarding option 3: Does anyone know how these machines work and whether they have parts that can be repurposed? Anyone here need a spare part that I can take off of the one I plan to get?

Not sure about Vickers Armstrongs - Just "Vickers Ltd"

BobH (Vickers Armstrongs - Weybridge apprentice)

Try selling it to a race horse farrier? One at work, about four decades ago, got used about every two or three years by a local horse shoe fella. It was nothing special, just a falling ball sort of thing.

There should be a pyramidical diamond indenter on the end of the ram. If it's still there I would give you a few bob for it to go on my Lammas Vickers type hardness tester.

Rod

Edited By Roderick Jenkins on 29/03/2018 19:27:58