By Don Wiederhold
You know what a pain it is to check pitch diameter using wires. It seems like you always drop at least one of them and the small diameter wires can be near impossible to find on the floor or in a pile of swarf.
The idea came to me to just drill some holes in a board to hold the wires in position for measuring over (Photo 1). When showing it to a friend, he came up with an even quicker and easier solution: just use some Styrofoam and poke the wires into the foam where you need them. Using foam is especially helpful with large diameters, as it is easy to rough cut the foam to fit the workpiece.
Thanks Don. Your subscription has been extended by an issue!
Please do us a tremendous favor and share this tip with your machining friends!
