Edge finder from a pin chuck.

[olderdan]

Easy to make wobbler or edge finder from a standard pin chuck, this does not alter the pin chuck and so it is still available for its original purpose.
Mine is an Eclipse No 160 chuck but others may suit, for the pivot ball just soften a ¼ ball bearing and drill for the arm , soft solder or adhesive to a shaft with your preferred end shape, I have used a .200”dia for both styles as all my equipment is imperial. 4mm would be good also, one barrel or ball shaped for flat surfaces and one parallel for diameters.
I have used this for thirty years and it will repeat to better than .0005”.

[Paul Jones]

Olderdan,

Thank you for the tip for using the Eclipse No. 160 Pin Chuck. I have always liked the old UK manufactured Eclipse brand tools and started buying these in the 1960's when these were available in the USA. My favorite was a very small tap wrench with a beautiful mottled-brown finish from the color casehardening process, and ground-finished handles. I think the name for the UK Eclipse company was taken from a famous British racehorse Eclipse from the 18th century that had the saying "Eclipse first and the rest nowhere". Very appropriate for their tools but not sure if the UK company still exists.

Regards,
Paul Jones

[garage nut]

Thanks for the idea.
My ignorance made me do a Google search as to what is a "Pin Chuck"

Is a "Pin Chuck" and a "Pin Vice" the same thing?
So one will just not use the inserts and if you buy a cheepy you will have to cut off the "Jaws"

[DIYer]

Thanks olderdan! We've added your Pin Chuck Edge Finder to our Measuring and Marking category,
as well as to your builder page: olderdan's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Pin Chuck Edge Finder by olderdan

tags: edge finder

[olderdan]

My interpretation would be a pin vice as having flat jaws and a pin chuck is for holding round items, if you are to copy mine you need removable collets as in your bottom picture.

[olderdan]

Olderdan,I think the name for the UK Eclipse company was taken from a famous British racehorse Eclipse from the 18th century that had the saying "Eclipse first and the rest nowhere". Very appropriate for their tools but not sure if the UK company still exist

Thanks for the background to the Eclipse name, always nice to learn something new.
I think the company is now under the Spear & Jackson name and the quality has gone, I am very fond of my old tools and my favorite tap wrench is a Chatwin from 1944 and is marked with the Uk war dept arrow and is a joy to use.



If you want real quality tools at reasonable prices you have to go back in time and buy them where you can find them.
Regards
Olderdan

[mklotz]

My interpretation would be a pin vice as having flat jaws and a pin chuck is for holding round items, if you are to copy mine you need removable collets as in your bottom picture.

Pin chuck may be British terminology. Here in the USA, the term pin vise is used for handheld devices that take collets and hold cylindrical items.

As a check, I searched for "pin chuck" on the Micro-Mark (a major supplier of model maker tools) website and got nothing. Searching for "pin vise" produces lots of hits.

A handheld device with flat jaws is usually called a "hand vise" or "jeweler's vise" in USA terminology. Both of those terms return results on the Micro-Mark page.

It's another example of two countries separated by a common language.

Actually, "pin chuck" makes more sense given the use of the word "chuck" with lathes, drill presses, etc. plus the fact that small "pin chucks" are often used to hold small drills in larger chucks that can't close tightly enough to hold the drill directly.

[mklotz]

I don't know if Amazon ships to South Africa, but they're not that expensive to buy...

https://www.amazon.com/Wiggler-Cente...ds=edge+finder

[garage nut]

unfortunately it appears they do not ship to SA.

I will have a search on AliExpress, they have no problem shipping to SA it only takes about 60 day.

[garage nut]

Looking at the tool again perhaps I can just make the back part and use my small "T" tapping wrench front part and save some time in making the whole tool.