Making a plumb bob

[Dimitris Polychronis]

Although that there are numerous digital tools for checking vertical alignment, a plumb bob still can be a very useful aid in the shop or home.
I used 304 stainless steel, copper and African blackwood.

Cheers
Jimmy

[Beserkleyboy]

Very nice work! Makes my grandad's beat up old brass number look anemic! I'm sure it is a joy to use. Cheers
Jim

[Phantom89]

Dang you do good work. I don't have a tool box nice enough for that. It must live in a felt lined custom box. 👍

[Jon]

Great material choice. This is one of the nicer plumb bobs we've seen, and we have 13 other ones listed: Homemade Tools: plumb bob - HomemadeTools.net

[mklotz]

One of the more awkward jobs to do accurately is marking the exact point over which a plumb bob hangs. Using the actual tip of the bob can damage it, especially if marking concrete, and is just, well, brutish.

One approach I've seen to this problem is a bob shaped like a horizontal washer with four arrow points that point inward to the center of the annulus. After the bob comes to rest it's lowered carefully onto the stuff to be marked and a pencil mark made at the center of the four points. While it might work, it seems a bit gimmicky plus it wouldn't work well if the surface to be marked is angled.

IMO, a much better solution would be a plumb bob with interchangeable points. Unscrew the normal, sharp steel point and fit a thin, ultra fine point Sharpie. Then simply lowering the stabilized bob onto the surface would leave a precise mark.

Maybe I'm overthinking things - a machinist designing a push broom. Perhaps nobody needs to mark the sub-bob point that accurately.

[Dimitris Polychronis]

Thank you Beserkleyboy! Although I haven't used it a lot - a couple times in the shop and 2-3 in home - it was a pleasure using it!

Cheers
Jimmy

[Dimitris Polychronis]

Thank you very much Phantom89! Actually lives in a small velvet lined jewelry box.

All the best
Jimmy

[Dimitris Polychronis]

Great material choice. This is one of the nicer plumb bobs we've seen, and we have 13 other ones listed: Homemade Tools: plumb bob - HomemadeTools.net

Thank you Jon! I don't know if you saw the video, but I'm sure that you'll like this also
Attachment 26326 Attachment 26327 Attachment 26328

this was my contribution for Keith Fenner's WIYB 2015

Cheers
Jimmy

[Dimitris Polychronis]

One of the more awkward jobs to do accurately is marking the exact point over which a plumb bob hangs. Using the actual tip of the bob can damage it, especially if marking concrete, and is just, well, brutish.

One approach I've seen to this problem is a bob shaped like a horizontal +washer with four arrow points that point inward to the center of the annulus. After the bob comes to rest it's lowered carefully onto the stuff to be marked and a pencil mark made at the center of the four points. While it might work, it seems a bit gimmicky plus it wouldn't work well if the surface to be marked is angled.

IMO, a much better solution would be a plumb bob with interchangeable points. Unscrew the normal, sharp steel point and fit a thin, ultra fine point Sharpie. Then simply lowering the stabilized bob onto the surface would leave a precise mark.

Maybe I'm overthinking things - a machinist designing a push broom. Perhaps nobody needs to mark the sub-bob point that accurately.

You said it very wisely, Marv. It is an awkward job, especially when the marking height is greater than our body height. As for the interchangeable tip would be a good feature (commercially made ones have this feature).

Cheers
Jimmy

[ranald]

VERY PRETTY. I'd be scared to use it, as it may end up like my dad's lead one which I haven't used for around 10 years. I also inherited my grandfather's :it looks like it has a large nail as a tip, probably to prevent damage due to less than careful use.