patrickrock Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 Maybe someone can help me. A couple of years ago I saw plans for a set of dividers that were forged all from one piece of steel. One of the legs was looped through another piece of itself if I recall. Am I crazy? Has anyone else seen this, and can you point towards some directions maybe? Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Hofi Dividers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrickrock Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 Right. I saw those. The ones I'm referring to are forged out of one piece of steel and don't have a screw/thread setup. One leg is forged out longer than the other and has a crook or somehting that traps the opposite (short) leg in such a way as that you don't need the arc/bolt/nut pieces. I'm making a hash of this explanation, but those dividers were the berries and I've been wanting to make a pair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrickrock Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 (edited) Ok, after thinking about it last night I sat down and drew a pencil sketch of them as I remember them: 1. You can see how rather than a rivet/pivot setup these are forged out thin at the top to act like a spring swage. 2. You can see that one leg is forged into the the arc need to capture the other leg. Has anyone seen anything like this before? And if so can you remember how the free leg is locked into place? In my mind there was some kind of clever friction fit, but I can't for the life of me remember, and I might be wrong completely. Edited June 4, 2008 by patrickrock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooseRidge Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Looking at your drawing, I would make a similiar bend in the "free" leg. However, this bead would be closed (basically a knob that traps the other leg.....) and perpendicular to the other bend, passing through the other bend... It would like the profile for a railroad rail.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrickrock Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 Maybe that was how they did it. That makes sense! Thanks MooseRidge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nett Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Ray Larsen has a nice one piece compass/scribe in his book Tool Making for Woodworkers. It's not completly one piece as there is a fastener used to clamp the pencil in place and the slide (bridge piece?) and locking screw are separate pieces as well, but the entire body is made from one piece of 16" X 1/2" X 3/16" AISI 1095 high carbon steel. It's a very nice clean crisp design that I like too. I tried to scan it but I'm not having a good computer day. The Luddite in me is rearing its ugly head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Actually I count it as 5 pieces: Frame, U bend, bolt through U bend, wingnut on bolt through U bend and bolt holding the pencil. Nice design; I'd probably rivit the ends of the U bend through that flat and make a square hole through the piece for the wingnut bolt and brad it in as well....tempting very tempting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nett Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Yes, five. Picky, picky, picky (In my best Pat Paulsen voice). LOL A pair of small clean rivets, small carriage bolt, and wingnuts would be the way I would go, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrickrock Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 NETT! That was it! I knew I'd seen it in a book. Although that's not really one piece is it. Funny how different that is from my drawing eh? Although I think my drawing would work too. Thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooseRidge Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I'd like to see you try the one piece version you drew.... The one from Nett is more compass than scribe/divider.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don A Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Same here, Patrick. I think the one you drew would be an awesome exersise for any of us. I think the key would be knowing which end to start from. Wrong end, and it could get tricky! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nett Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Compasses, scribes, and dividers are basically the same tool, only the points are different. A compass requires a pencil and a fine point. Dividers need two steel points. Scribes require the pencil and a round side on the other leg. Because the side is used rather than the point, scribes are often made from compasses by bending the last inch to better sweep the scribed surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooseRidge Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I'd start from the "short" leg.... Probably 2ft piece of 1/4 in round or 3/8 in square (have to see what's available...) 1/3 of bar for "short" leg Forge the taper for the leg, fold and form the nub, then the "spring" part.... Taper the entire section remaining section, then create the "trap"..... Taper the rest of the leg to match lengths and cut off any extra.... Probably would need to tweak the trap and nub after forged by light taps and squeezing with pliers... would need to be extremely tight along whole range to keep position ( the nub should be twice the size of the stock to give good purchase...) If I can get some forge time tonight (meeting night), might try this myself.... All this being said, have to try and see how close I really am.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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