A Very Nice Freebie

A friend who still works for the company I did up until my retirement phoned me to say that they had been clearing out some old cupboards and he had found something that I may appreciate rather than it go in the skip.

I collected it this morning, a very nice set of imperial slip gauges and far too good to see them going to the tip. I suspect that they are 50 years old at least, there is a calibration sticker on the box lid from 26 years ago (1993) and I,m guessing that they came from the original company (prior to the one I worked for) which started in the early 70,s.

Lucky B! Only possible downside would be that it is imperial - but that would not bother me one iota - especially at that price! I very much doubt it will bother you, either.

No, I,m fine ndiy with them in imperial and lucky I guess that my friend saved them from the skip for my safe keeping..

Edited By Ron Laden on 10/06/2019 15:37:58

Good result there Ron I've gone a bit green! I have an imperial set possibly even older by Matrix (Coventry) in a maroon bakelite case. Nothing wrong with imperial - I was weaned on it. I would not be without mine and use them constantly.

Rik

On the other forum that I am a member of (The Home Shop Machinist) that would rate a "you suck" and rightly so.

I have a set at the museum that required a little tlc before using, I had to scrape the rust off of 90% of them. Still they are better than nothing and I am glad to have a set.

Nice one

Far better than throwing them in the skip. I was given something the other day, a glass surface plate dated 1944. In a fitted wooden box. Looked on tinternet and it said glass surface plates were made during the war to save using metal.

Nice one. I did not know until recently that if you rub them together they should stick together and that it is a way of telling the quality !

Bri

Very nice!

I'm continually surprised by what gets thrown in skips, such a waste.

I recently retrieved a few face mills from a skip which were going to the recyclers (marginally better than going to landfill). 2 were brand new unused Kennametal, and the other was a 300mm Iscar complete with inserts (it'll probably just sit on the shelf but I couldn't bear to see it go to scrap).

A local motorcycle dealership closed down some years ago. The lad in the stores had a clear out and threw a few hundred of their Ducati desmodromic valve shims in the skip as he didn't know what they were. Each one was worth £15. I can't bear to think what engineering goodies get thrown out on a daily basis by people who have no idea what they are and what they're worth.

Unfortunately, keeping stuff has a cost too. And selling bits piecemeal is hard enough when its your hobby stash, for businesses it's often more cost effective to bin rather than sell. And that's before you consider what the accountants say.

I see that you are missing one item and - sorry - this makes your set absolutely worthless.

You may send them to me for responsible disposal.

The business had a closing down auction a few days later and the shims would have sold as a set (all different sizes needed when servicing). This is how the storeman's gaff came to light as people were asking if the shim set would be in the auction.

PS I'm an accountant! the shims had what we call a high net realisable value.

Your so lucky Ron to get a set of slip gauges, mine are imperial from 1964 and I use them all the time.

I cant seem to get anything today, a local firm on the internet on the web site stated that any material for hobby use will be willing to sell offcuts. I sent a email, and received one back asking what I was looking for, my reply was just any scrap that was going really, willing to pay. I sent a few photos of what I've made, so a idea what I need, and guess what, not a reply back, I even sent another reminder e-mail the next week. What did I do wrong?

" I did not know until recently that if you rub them together they should stick together and that it is a way of telling the quality ! "

It's called " Wringing " and in use, you always dismantle the stack after setting whatever as the blocks can " Weld " themselves together.

Only thing that looks to be missing is the piece of Shammy leather that covered them in the case also used to clean the block wringing faces.

Wonder how many, outside toolrooms NEED slip sets? A sine bar can be set using a screw jack and Mics/callipers. Not Nasa or RR standards but much cheaper, excepting the OP's set.

Regards Ian.

Imperial a problem ? Divide metric dimension you want by 25.4, Simples.

Edited By Circlip on 11/06/2019 11:14:23

Throwing away items of value reminded me of an engineering company that I worked at and the power of accountants. The company was established in about 1910 and produced many variants of its main product through the years but because of upgrades and redesigns there were requirements to supply customers with a multitude of different spare parts. The product was rotary lobe pumps and when a customer had a breakdown he needed his spares pdq. To cater for this service to the customer we made and held a number of spares for each variant of the product, the lead time for some items to be manufactured could be six to eight weeks so keeping finished items ready for dispatch was how we serviced the customer. We were taken over by a large engineering group and their accounting policy could not get its head round how we serviced the customers requirements for spares, their directive was that we had to move to just in time supply and that we had to drastically reduce the value of materials and components held on our balance sheet. The end result was that racks full of completed spares in our stock area were transferred to skips and dumped and the service we gave our customers who required spares for obsolete products went through the floor. The company was then taken over again a few years later and very quickly ceased to exist. I am afraid that I regard accountants as the enemy of engineers.

Dave W

That's the argument for keeping a stock of spares; it keeps customers happy!

But the dreaded accountant takes a different view: he asks 'what's the value of doing this'. To answer that question he compares the cost of doing stuff against the cash it brings in. Accountants care little about customers, engineers, salesmen, or public relations. They only look at the numbers.

In my experience accountants don't make business decisions. Instead they use a spreadsheet to show the boss which parts of his business are profitable and which are losing money. It's the boss who actually makes nasty decisions, and its very convenient for him to blame the accountant.  It is traditional to shoot the messenger.

On the shop floor and in the warehouse the lights may be burning bright, everybody convinced they're doing a good job. The balance sheet might tell a different story; maybe the business has been borrowing money to keep going for years. Maybe the company has to cut costs because they are suddenly competing for sales with someone who is more efficient.

Friend of mine got a high-paid job as management accountant to a moderately well-known furniture maker. Started with a quick tour of a bustling cheerful business with lots of new cars parked outside. In the canteen he got the first whiff of trouble when he overheard a chap moaning about not being allowed to replace some cheap kit. After lunch he looked at the books and within half an hour found the company was bankrupt, totally on the rocks, with no way out. He was in the job because his predecessor had jumped ship rather than manage the collapse. The brand-name still exists. Local rumour has it the firm was bought by a rival for £1.

Lesson learned, it's all about money.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 11/06/2019 13:25:30

The Customer is starting to get a look in with NPS. Net Promoter Score. Some companies are now using surveys of their customers to find what they think of the service and when bad service affects this magic number they can now link it to the loss of sales so do slowly start to take notice. There is still a downside. When the engineer suggests an improvement that will cost money and won't directly improve NPS it gets the thumbs down.

The quest to maximise profit is insatiable.

Dave W

I've been tempted to buy a set myself but then always ask myself what I would use them for in my home workshop.

You say you use yours constantly - what do you use them for exactly ?