GAUGE BLOCKS & SINE BARS, HOW TO CALCULATE & ASSEMBLE JOE BLOCKS FOR ACCURATE ANGLES, MARC LECUYER

[@lfljvenaura]

Your videos are absolutely outstanding and will be valuable to me for many years to come. I look forward to every one. I was not aware of proper gage block care, now I am. Thanks for all the fine work you do bringing top notch machining techniques to everyone following your KZbin channel. Again, merci beaucoup. Lawrence London Chapel Hill, NC, USA

[@FisVii77]

Thank you, I really enjoy your videos. You are truly a great teacher, I just wanted you to know that your time and efforts are appreciated.

[@THATLAZYMACHINIST]

Thanks Mike, I do this for fun and I am having a ball! Knowing that my videos are helping makes me feel good so thanks for letting me know. Marc L'Ecuyer

[@lamar7327]

I love your videos. They're helping me feel more confident in my workplace.

[@freemcn]

Thanks for taking the time to teach us! Good stuff.

[@nlo114]

Thanks for the sin bar explanation. I know my trig, but have never had the practical demonstration. Cheers!

[@swarfrat311]

Thanks, Marc. You have a way of making complicated things (like the sine bar and gage blocks) simple and understandable. I took 2 years of algebra and a year of plain geometry in high school, but that was 50 years ago. One tends to forget after all those years! Geometry is a little different than what you are doing, because you don't have to prove anything using postulates and theorems. It's merely calculations. Thanks again! Regards, Dave

[@hakimmic]

Hi Marc. Thank you for the very educational videos. George

[@jimfairbanks3799]

Hi Marc, Great Job, keep up the good work. Thanks Jim

[@turningpoint6643]

Very well explained Marc. I had to first find the information then teach myself everything you just showed in this video long before the internet and KZbin were even invented. I can safely say it took a lot longer than 24 minutes. :-)

[@artmckay6704]

Thank you for teaching us that stuff. Very informative! Much appreciated! :)

[@cdbflynow]

Useful information well presented. Thanks

[@ckvasnic1]

Marc, Can you give some insight to the classification of joe block sets? Thanks again. Chuck.

[@shinli1961]

Dear Marc, thank you very much Lesson: 14

[@JamesGMunn]

Nice video, thanks for the hard work to help educate us KZbin learners. Could you do a video on the differences between a test indicator and a dial indicator or are they the same thing? Maybe cover the different types of test indicators there are and their proper and improper use. What you used here looked like a test indicator. Also covering the various types of mounting of these things to holders would help. Sorry for such a basic question but I think people who are used to them don't think to cover this topic.

[@oxtoolco]

Hi Marc, Great video on gage blocks. What is that disc that is your surface plate? Looks like some kind of engine part. Kind regards, Tom

[@THATLAZYMACHINIST]

Hi Tom, the mystery disc is an old drive wheel/gear of a cut off band saw. About thirty five years ago, I (apprentice) was assisting Dick Steward (supervisor, departed) replace this warn out gear. I was looking for a good flat and stable surface plate for someone who had just got married and didn't have enough money for lunch. It fit the bill and I have used it ever since. Thanks for watching, I love what you do at oxtoolco and I am looking forward to finding out what Abom thinks of your aluminum box! Very funny stuff. Marc L'Ecuyer

[@rudybraylen9325]

Instablaster.

[@sherryshayan3149]

Life savour!! Thank you very much!!

[@RanjitKumar-pk3mn]

thank you sir for clear my point again thanks

[@dhineshkaran9546]

if i am getting some variation on final inspection in dial indicator what should i can do to offset the deviation to get accurate angle

[@WilliamVG]

Hello, can you help me out? how do you determine the Angle for a 5" sin bar when the height of the joe blocks is given. 1.8981" is given for the jo blocks. Thanks.

[@EmmaRitson]

thansk Marc. always my go to guy for useful stuff like this!

[@robertgiovannucci7144]

Well, I should know better! My Jo Bloc set was stolen years ago, so I didn't remember it had no 3/8 bloc. Second, regarding the math, thanks for the videos; they're helpful. Where did the numbers representing tangent and cosign come from?

[@charleshendry5978]

Once again, excellent, and thanks. Quick question about your mention of 'wear' blocks, are you referring to 'sacrificial' blocks that are rubbed on the surface plate and\or rubbed against surface gauges, micrometers, rulers etc. that would be 'The-bread-part-of-a-sandwitch', that is the stack of gauge (joe) blocks? Too that end, do gauge block sets come with a couple of 'extra' same sizes for that purpose? Regards, Charles

[@THATLAZYMACHINIST]

You are right Charles, the wear blocs are the outer part that protects the inner blocs. They are no different than any other joe bloc in the set but have been chosen to meet abrasion head on. Most joe bloc cases have two spare slots (in the video look at the eleven second point) for wear blocs, the 0.1000" blocs are usually bought separately. Thanks for watching! Marc L'Ecuyer

[@fredfarnackle5455]

Hi, thanks for the video, I enjoyed watching - however I'm a bit confused. Firstly you tell us to clean the blocks' measuring edges and be careful not to touch them because of acids and then later you say to use some 'forehead grease'. Doesn't that also have acid? Most other videos I've seen say to make sure the blocks are very clean before wringing.

[@pierrecousineau5012]

Salut Marc. ma question est : si l'empilage de cales n'est pas le bon puisque l'angle n'est pas celui attendu, quel est le truc de machiniste pour ne pas faire trop d'essais et d'erreur et d'arriver rapidement au bon empilage de jo blocks ?

[@karlborko3774]

Phenomenal! Thank you!

[@ckvasnic1]

Marc, Very nice video. Thank you. I have always heard the blocks referred to as "joe" blocks. Any idea where the name came from. Did Joseph Block invent them in 1692? (Ha.) Thanks for sharing your time and talent. Chuck.

[@davedigs]

thanks marc good lesson i believe there is an app for your smart phone called gage block calculator if you cant be bothered to do the math but nice to have the knowledge thanks Dave

[@THATLAZYMACHINIST]

Hi David, if you look behind me in the video you will see on the wall a black helical wire! That is as smart as my phones get! I am sadly behind as far as technologies go but I have resolved to catch up, this year I might try chatting! Or does that even still exist? Marc L'Ecuyer

[@robertgiovannucci7144]

Also, please show the complete algebra expression in detail. I got lost and still don't know how you arrived at the side opposite dimension.

[@THATLAZYMACHINIST]

Robert Giovannucci Hello again! This is a link to a little KZbin video I produced on trig and triangles, it may help since I explain a little more about basic shop math. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5LJoIGpabB5e9EI hope it helps? if not get back to me! Marc L'Ecuyer

[@Fallsculinary]

Marc, I'm a newbie so forgive my ignorance, but won't the lazy susan gizmo you're measuring on have to be flat to a large degree too in order to get your last part of the video, the 20-degree angle to measure out to zero?

[@THATLAZYMACHINIST]

Hi Dough-Joe, you are right and it is flat. The disc is a hundred year old grey cast Iron gear that I machined and lapped flat many years ago to serve as a surface plate. Forty years ago I was into recycling, not because it was the "in" thing to do but because I had very little money. Now that I am at the other end of my life I have the money to afford a nice surface plate, but that old one works well and it contains so many memories! I think I will keep it. Marc L'Ecuyer

[@alexwttc]

and tungsten carbide gauge blocks too bro

[@AmarSingh-wl7be]

Please tell anyone.... How to measure centre distance between rollers of sine bar

[@JSAnstock]

I recommend looking at Stephan Gottswinter's series on making a small sine bar. He demonstrated perfectly how he achieved this measurement.

[@whitecaps775]

Thank you, very good 4 me.

[@robhillstrom3283]

So, why no wear blocks on this one?

[@THATLAZYMACHINIST]

Hi Rob! You may be a little disjointed with my answer, but the reason why I am not using wear blocs is that my set does not have any. Some day I will get my act together and order some. Marc

[@PhilsProjects]

Merci !

[@muhammadasyhraf7275]

Great vid

[@barumman]

Excellent, even a dumbo like me can understand it. Thank you.

[@mikegee9284]

Hi .That was great and whilst I had an appreciation of how it's done, this really nailed it for me, due to the way you built up the lesson gradually, ending with a fully worked example using all the skills learnt along the way....great teaching technique. I can now see how to inspect and check angles on items I already have, but it would be a great next step to see some practical examples of how to use the sine bar when setting jobs up on the mill? And now a question. I played around a bit with the sine function and have come to the conclusion that for occasional hobby machining (not tool room) that given an accurate 5 inch sine bar and no gauge blocks, the following is possible: Up to around 20 degrees, then if you can machine a solid stack to within 1 thou then an accuracy of around 100th of a degree is possible and the worst case scenario of 45 degrees can be achieved with similar accuracy if you can hold the stack to within half a thou. Am I doing the maths correctly? To calculate this I simply looked up the sine of 20 degrees and 20.01 degrees, multiplied both by 5 and then checked the difference in the stack length. cheers mike

[@turningpoint6643]

I went a long time without proper gauge blocks until I could afford a known good quality set (Mitutoyo) In the mean time what to use. I tried machining separate blocks for any angle I wanted to set my sine bar to. Generally I got somewhere within + - .0005" with a mill, sometimes a bit closer but that was about average. Started doing some thinking about all the time used up anytime I wanted a new angle and that it wasn't all that accurate anyway by gauge block accuracy standards. I also have a set of adjustable parallels and good micrometers. If your careful you can partially tighten the parallels locking screws and tap either end of the parallel on a soft wooden surface to make small size adjustments and keep measuring with a mike until you hit what size you want within at least few tenths. Still not perfect but much faster and more accurate than machining your own blocks to size each time. A good set of Starrett, Mitutoyo etc adjustable parallels still isn't all that cheap, but if your needing fairly good accuracy a very well made set isn't really optional in my opinion. Those adjustable parallels are a versatile and handy tool with multiple uses. I hope the idea is of some use to you. To answer the math question and I had to consult my Machinerys Handbook sine table constants to do so. To go from 0 degrees, 0 minutes, 0 seconds, then to make a 1 minute adjustment would take a block height of .00145", or rounded off about .0015" per one minute change with a 5" sine bar. If your stack height is within .001" of being correct then you'd be within about .66 of a minute. I'm sure you know that .00145" per second doesn't hold true as the angles get steeper, but it's close enough to answer your general question. So yes you'd be pretty close, but only you can decide if the numbers would work well enough for what your doing.

[@christianbuzio9468]

Thank u so much! I try to learn some in italy but seems machinists are extinct! So good sharing and speech even dumb foreigner like me can understand. Just a question how do u write the other name for gauge blocks? With respect and warm gratitude from Italy😁

[@marclecuyer9930]

Thanks Christian! "Gauge blocs" are also often called "Joe blocks" in north america. If you wish you can check out my free website THATLAZYMACHINIST.COM it is an easy way to find all of my videos in English and in French. The site is under construction so some pages are bizarre but it is something that I do for fun as a retirement project and I am always happy to know that the videos are appreciated. Marc

[@easyboy1950]

What I think you are looking for is, "Joe Blocks" (short for Johansson Blocks)

[@christianbuzio9468]

Blueman thank you for answer😁not always so easy to go from pronounce to written form! I heard infact joe as jaw! And asking why blocks should bite me😂😂😂 thx again my friend

[@robertgiovannucci7144]

There are no 3/8" Jo blocks in your set? You have too many blocks in this set up!

[@THATLAZYMACHINIST]

Robert Giovannucci Hi Robert, I am using a standard 83 bloc (81 without the wear blocs) decimal gauge bloc set. There is no 3/8" bloc in these sets. Thanks for watching and for commenting, Marc L'Ecuyer

[@Info-at-Newtech-dot-bike]

👍👍👍

[@nitroglicirin]

all world know english but 90% people dont know inches)) think about that

[@turningpoint6643]

I was taught inches, feet yards in school a long time ago so chose to keep my shop measurement systems in that imperial measurement. But I know how to mentally convert almost any metric unit that's used in any KZbin video close enough and fairly quickly to the imperial I think and visualize with. Having a basic understanding of how to do so doesn't take long and isn't that hard. Many drawings in old books etc were done in imperial measurement. What would you do if you wanted to build something from one of those drawings? Give up? It's a few key strokes on any calculator. 24.5 mm = 1.000" inches. Or any inch measurement multiplied by that 24.5 will give you the metric size. Imperial fractions are just as easy. 1/4" for example, always take the first number and divide by the second number. It works for any fractional inch based measurement.1 divided by 4 equals .250" to convert that to metric simply use .250 x 25.4 = 6.35 mm. Yes almost all the world is using and understands metric, but it's easy to convert one system to the other and metric dimensions used in any KZbin video doesn't bother me enough to even think about complaining it's not in imperial.

[@robertkat]

All obsolete now. Gone with teletypes and dial phones.

[@nelunicoara4483]

As everywhere wrong explanation of using the sine bar. It's a fact. No ofense.

[@nelunicoara4483]

I will. Not in this evening but i will. I apreciate your atitude. No arogance, no defiance. That's why i promise that.