CUSTOM PIN GAGES needed... 6061 Aluminum, 26.5mm - 60mm by .5mm increments..

[squale]

I need to get a price from somebody to make me custom PIN gauges out of 6061 Aluminum..

-Sizes: 26.5mm thru 60mm by .5mm increments (70 pieces total), each piece 2" long.
-stamped or laser marked with the size
-Tolerance -.001", +.000"

shipped to northern, NJ.

Thanks

[Matt@RFR]

You can buy real pin gauges in any sizes you'd like from Mcmaster-Carr.

[Dualkit]

This one should be fun, anybody with a scrap value lathe can do it. On your stamping requirements would 4 characters be enough? 26.5,27.0, etc,etc
I would be curious to the low bid. First, who will pull 50# of aluminum out of scrap bucket and give it away?

[squale]

yup 4 characters would be just fine..

and McMaster doesn't have large 2" Pin guages

[universalfab]

HA, pin guages are high tolerance tools that normally hold millionths and are made out of hardened steel. Not anybody can make these things even at the tolerances that you said, I would definately be careful who you go with. We can do it and we don't use no scrap lathes here. If we were to do it they would also be laser engraved. Squale PM me some sort of price that your will to pay "if your willing too" and I'll see what we can do.

[squale]

why don't you just pm me a price to make these and we will see if it will fit in my budget

[Donkey Hotey]

The price might drop, or you might get more bites if you can loosen the diameter tolerance up to 0.005 or even 0.003". 0.001" is only half a thou per side. It could be done but, there might be a lot of scrapped parts. That's going to drive the cost of your quotes up.

How about a nice, 3/4" thick oak rack to hold them?

This reminds me of a thread a year or so ago where a guy wanted bolts with the sizes engraved on them. I wonder where that guy went.

[Donkey Hotey]

I just looked at Enco's catalog as well as doing a few back-of-the-napkin numbers from my normal metal supplier. I'd estimate that you're looking at $160-200 just for the aluminum to do this job.

IMO: you should consider using oil hardening drill rod if you intend to use these often. Aluminum is kind of soft to be used as a 'gauge'. Enco sells the drill rod in short enough lengths to do this job efficiently but, it'll push up the material cost about 30-40%.

I could cost-out this job but, it's not worth it. I don't think you want to pay $400-500 for this job and that's where it's going to end up even if done in aluminum. If somebody bids lower, grab it because they're giving you the material and working almost for free.

If this is a production need and you're interested in a real bid, PM me. I'll bid the job out of drill rod, engraved on the end of each pin, in an oak storage rack with a sized, dedicated hole for each gauge. It won't be cheap but, it'll be a set you can use for 50 years.

Edit: holy cow, I just ran detailed material numbers in Excel. Aluminum bar, in 0.25" diameter increments, works out to $350 just for the material.

[metlcutr55]

virtually nothing going on in my shop. just sitting here drinking coffee fooling with the calculator, im guestimating 2x Donkey's lot price, and thats with size being vibratory etched by hand. if that doesnt scare you, pm me for a firm quote.

[squale]

hey Donkey (greg) PM me a firm quote, also give me pricing on that wooden shelf. I put a RFQ up on that site MFQ.com and I got a ton of quotes from China people.. I would rather keep this in the USA.. lets help our economy! Anyhow, if anybody else is interested just PM me the quote.

Thanks!

[universalfab]

Originally Posted by Donkey Hotey I just looked at Enco's catalog as well as doing a few back-of-the-napkin numbers from my normal metal supplier. I'd estimate that you're looking at $160-200 just for the aluminum to do this job. IMO: you should consider using oil hardening drill rod if you intend to use these often. Aluminum is kind of soft to be used as a 'gauge'. Enco sells the drill rod in short enough lengths to do this job efficiently but, it'll push up the material cost about 30-40%. I could cost-out this job but, it's not worth it. I don't think you want to pay $400-500 for this job and that's where it's going to end up even if done in aluminum. If somebody bids lower, grab it because they're giving you the material and working almost for free. If this is a production need and you're interested in a real bid, PM me. I'll bid the job out of drill rod, engraved on the end of each pin, in an oak storage rack with a sized, dedicated hole for each gauge. It won't be cheap but, it'll be a set you can use for 50 years. Edit: holy cow, I just ran detailed material numbers in Excel. Aluminum bar, in 0.25" diameter increments, works out to $350 just for the material.

You definately must be small time if your buying matering from enco, grangers or any of the other tool dealers. Yeah I'm sure you are looking at $350.00 in material from wherever you get it. We go through multiple different large suppliers SQUALE and have clout with most of are suppliers so we are able to get a better deal on material. I'll be sending you a quote. If somebody bids lower I would highly recommend you pass. Most likely you'll get a pile of garbage, nobody is going to work for nothing. High tollerance peices of tooling out of materials that aren't the quickest to machine is going to cost money. $400-$500 is no a reasonable or reallistic price that any worthy shop that can do this work will charge, not to mention you want each part enscribed or punched. Most of these guys on here will not be able to make these things to where they will hold the tollerances that are meant to be held by any commercial pin guage. I think you should just forget about it and save your money if your not looking to spend the money to do it right, don't do it at all.

[twp]

does any manufacturer stock pin guages in this size already?