New old hardness tester

quint

quint

Joined
Nov 29, 2011
Messages
1,396
Hey guys just picked this up. Paid more then I wanted to but its in good order or so it seems, just dirty with a tad bit o rust here and there. Came with a few of the anvils and 100kg and 150kg weights and the diamond looks good from what I can tell. Gentleman was gettin rid of some of his old machine shop stuff. Nice guy to deal with.

Now I need to find a manual and a reference so I can clean her up and get her dialed in.

Suggestions on anything welcome. Hope I can atleast get it somewhat accurate.

Oh and Patrice here is a pic of I think the little piece your missing on yours. Its just a straight pin with what looks like two little keeper washers on each side. Can get a better pic later if you have not gotten one already.

rockwell 4.jpgrockwell 3.jpgrockwell 2.jpgrockwell 1.jpg
 
Do you have calibration blocks for C scale? If not, you'll need some, or at least one, somewhere around 60 RC.
 
Nope, gotta get one or a set. I think MSC has them or I saw some on ebay.
 
I really only ever use the one that's 61.5 HRC from my set. Since I'm not testing anything other than knives, although it can be useful for calibration to have one higher and lower block by 10 points or so, to see how much the swing is, and make sure it's working correctly. Usually you calibrate (dial in) to the closest block to your target RC.


This is one area where I'd probably try and avoid any "ebay" blocks, unless they're from a reputable company.
 
Gotcha, sounds good. I may just see if one of the shops around town has one first and if its of quality or not. Need to get it cleaned up first anyhow. Guess finding a manual is a little more challenging then I thought it was gonna be.

Thanks for the help Javand
 
I agree with Don, very cool looking old machine. (older than mine)
Thanks for the pic, didn't think about a couple of keeper washers on there. I'll send you the manual I have as soon as I get your email addy.
 
Yeah she is a oldie. Got everything ran thru so far except for the actual head unit itself. The part that houses the minor load spring. I need to get a spanner wrench tube type to be able to get down into the part that holds it all together. Everything else got tore apart and cleaned last night. Looking better.


Don the weights screw into the bottom swing arm just forward of the gear set. From what I gathered without any is one setting, then there is the 100kg and the 150kg weights that can be added.
 
]Well here she is all cleaned up. Now gotta get her going somehow. Have a test block on the way.

IMG_0033.jpgIMG_0035.jpg
 
Oh man totally stoked now. Finally got it working. So tore the head unit apart again after looking thru the drawings in the manual Pat gave me (thanks again).Didnt realize because I have never worked on these before that the guide rod which goes inside the minor weight spring goes thru a housing/metal bushing assumbly which goes inside of the main bushing assembly that houses the spring and guide rod. Well this inner bushing assembly I thought was pressed in but after looking at it and reading that if the tester was reading high (like it was) that things were sticking in the head. Well took a punch and drove that out then did a bunch of cleaning and dremmeling with a little wire wheel. Got it all lubed and put back together.

So now the inner bushing slides which apparently is how it is suppose to work. Put it all back together and did the alignment as stated in the manual for the gage. All cycles properly now. Ive got my test block coming but tried it on a couple of blades that were in the same batch that Nick tested one of them and I am getting 61-62 hrc which is what he got on the other blade. Tested a few other blades that fell in the 57-59 which is what I am hoping I got.

Thanks to everyone who was a great help in getting this guy going (Don, Pat,....).

I can do a picture write up on how I did everything if anyone is interested. Will be a couple of days though probably. Or if anyone has any questions on working on one of these Ill do my best to share my experience.
 
Wow, you did a dandy job on the clean up!

I love old tools like that, they look like they wren designed by a sculptor.

Not only are they pleasing to look at they were made to last.

Greg
 
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