- Joined
- Jun 11, 2006
- Messages
- 8,633
Some of you might know I have been on the hunt for a hardness tester for a while. Last year I got a old screloscope rebound tester. It works fine for what it is and its age but did not provide the accuracy I wanted. I found on the lower hardness stuff (50rc or less) if would be just about right on but once you got harder the tolerance opened up. It's still better then nothing as it would land me in a range of + or - 2rc. I found if I took 10 tests and averaged them it got me closer. So I can't fault the machine as its doing what it was built to do. Any way onto the matter at hand. Being that I'm in the great north west by the Canadian border it's hard to find testers here let alone at a good price. This meant I was out looking for one that would not kill me on shipping. I relized I wanted a Rams Rockford as thy are lighter and cheaper shipping. I have ran one of these at a previous job and thy work very well. In searching for one I came across this little gem in a crages list ad on Google.
I could not believe he wanted $96 for it. I contacted him immediately and he still had it. I asked if he would ship it and he said we would talk later about it. We went silent for days. I about gave up and got a call. I told him I would pay for shipping and kick him some extra for a convenience fee. We talked it over and settled on $160 shipped with $600 insurance. It did not have test blocks or a diamond penetrator but had all the anvils and the manual as well as a Rockwell B penatrator. So onto eBay I went and after spending another $115 I had a Rockwell Wilson diamond penatrator and 2 brand new phase II test blocks in 48.5rc and 63.8rc.
Everything showed up over the last few days and after a little cleaning of the main anvil screw it's a dream to use and hits the test numbers on the nose every time. The huge advantage is this thing is crazy light weight at 8lbs. So if you ever come across one of these buy it. Model is Rams Rockford 30-R, mine is a 30-R but the book says 30-B because it had the Rockwell B penatrator.
Here it is after calibrating with the diamond penatrator. The test block is 63.8hrc
The coolest thing about it is I bought it from a guy that lives in Rockford Illinois.
And it had this stapled in the manual.
So keep your eyes pealed and snag one of these if you see it.
I could not believe he wanted $96 for it. I contacted him immediately and he still had it. I asked if he would ship it and he said we would talk later about it. We went silent for days. I about gave up and got a call. I told him I would pay for shipping and kick him some extra for a convenience fee. We talked it over and settled on $160 shipped with $600 insurance. It did not have test blocks or a diamond penetrator but had all the anvils and the manual as well as a Rockwell B penatrator. So onto eBay I went and after spending another $115 I had a Rockwell Wilson diamond penatrator and 2 brand new phase II test blocks in 48.5rc and 63.8rc.
Everything showed up over the last few days and after a little cleaning of the main anvil screw it's a dream to use and hits the test numbers on the nose every time. The huge advantage is this thing is crazy light weight at 8lbs. So if you ever come across one of these buy it. Model is Rams Rockford 30-R, mine is a 30-R but the book says 30-B because it had the Rockwell B penatrator.
Here it is after calibrating with the diamond penatrator. The test block is 63.8hrc
The coolest thing about it is I bought it from a guy that lives in Rockford Illinois.
And it had this stapled in the manual.
So keep your eyes pealed and snag one of these if you see it.
and at 8lbs, i'll even pay the shipping!