Need help with finishes on C96

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by John Sabato

Alvin keep your eye on Harbor Freight sales. They often offer digital calipers that are plenty close enough in accuracy for reloading work.

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-di...ngs-68304.html

John, this is the same calipers that I bought from Harbor Freight a couple of years ago. There is an offset of the claws that do inside measurement, when the O.D. jaws are zero. But I compensate by locking the travel down on an I.D. and measuring the claws' spacing with a micrometer. Mine also gradually began to lose its consistency, as in when drawing the jaws apart, an extra 1/4" or so adds itself to the displayed dimension. I am inexperienced with the electronic calipers and suspect a weakening battery?

[Olle]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

John, this is the same calipers that I bought from Harbor Freight a couple of years ago. There is an offset of the claws that do inside measurement, when the O.D. jaws are zero. But I compensate by locking the travel down on an I.D. and measuring the claws' spacing with a micrometer. Mine also gradually began to lose its consistency, as in when drawing the jaws apart, an extra 1/4" or so adds itself to the displayed dimension. I am inexperienced with the electronic calipers and suspect a weakening battery?

Weak batteries can play tricks on you. The digital readouts on my mill will start changing to metric by themselves when they get low, and you can see that the display is a bit dim as well. It's just their way of telling you that they want a new battery.

I have used Mitutoyo's "solar" calipers ( http://www.amazon.com/Mitutoyo-500-4.../dp/B001C0ZPUW ) for years, and I'm very happy with them. They are a bit more expensive than battery powered calipers, but you never have to worry about running out of battery again. They are high quality and will last for a long time, so the higher cost will more than likely be offset by the money you save on batteries.

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

John, this is the same calipers that I bought from Harbor Freight a couple of years ago. There is an offset of the claws that do inside measurement, when the O.D. jaws are zero. But I compensate by locking the travel down on an I.D. and measuring the claws' spacing with a micrometer. Mine also gradually began to lose its consistency, as in when drawing the jaws apart, an extra 1/4" or so adds itself to the displayed dimension. I am inexperienced with the electronic calipers and suspect a weakening battery?

If you have not changed the batteries several times in two years,
it is the battery. I don't get more than a few months out of a battery!

But it would depend on how often you leave it on.

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by DonVoigt

If you have not changed the batteries several times in two years,
it is the battery. I don't get more than a few months out of a battery!

But it would depend on how often you leave it on.

Don, I use it rather infrequently so far, but time does slip away, as you know. It came with a spare, but it is pooped out, too. My list for tomorrow already has the button cells on it! Thanks for confirming my suspicions. I was a little afraid I'd wasted my $14.95 or whatever!

Originally Posted by Olle

Found a web site that explains this quite well: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/201...at-bluing.html . One of the pictures shows the colors you get at different temperatures, and here you can see that nitre bluing and strawing is the same type of process, just different temperatures.

Olle and Alvin, the great news is that all these colors can be accomplished in your toaster oven! The difficult part is setting the dial for the correct temp to get the desired color, but once established , after a bit of experimentation, mark the dial and you can reproduce any time. A pan of clean sand that's deep enough to immerse the part is left in for a good long time to stabilize its temp. After pre-heating the sand, snuggle the polished, degreased part down in and leave in the oven for a good long time so the part is thoroughly heated through to that temp.

[Olle]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

Olle and Alvin, the great news is that all these colors can be accomplished in your toaster oven! The difficult part is setting the dial for the correct temp to get the desired color, but once established , after a bit of experimentation, mark the dial and you can reproduce any time. A pan of clean sand that's deep enough to immerse the part is left in for a good long time to stabilize its temp. After pre-heating the sand, snuggle the polished, degreased part down in and leave in the oven for a good long time so the part is thoroughly heated through to that temp.

I do it in the oven now and then (when wifey is away...), but I just put the parts on a piece of aluminum foil. Sometimes I suspend them from makeshift wire hangers. This allows me to see the parts and abort when they have the right color.

IMO, the most difficult part of it is to get a nice, even polish, and to get the parts clean enough to take on an even color. Do you get a uniform color when you use sand, or can you see small marks where the sand has been touching the steel?