What an incredible score. Can’t think of a better guy to get ahold of that.

I never thought I would see another one of these out in the wild. I have serial 340 manufactured 33rd week of 44. My gage blocks are missing as well, the empty spots are for a 4 inch Cylinder square and a small granite deburring stone.

My dad started as an apprentice machinist in 1940. After serving in WWII he returned to his old job but the apprenticeship program had changed. Before the war apprentices spent time learning every machine the company used. Some people would then specialize on a particular machine but all of them could be shifted around as needed. After the war apprentices were trained on just one machine, and given that the company already had a reputation for retaining workers, they still had some employees who had worked there since the company was founded in the 1920s, Dad could see the possibility of being stuck operating a surface grinder for the next 20 or 30 years. He threatened to quit and was sent to night school and became a tool designer. I still have his wooden machinist’s tool box, as well as drafting board and drafting tools.

A wonderful piece of history. Made by craftsmen, used by craftsmen, and now in the care of another craftsman. Just as it should be.

I saw the thumbnail saying, "80 Year Old Machinist's Box," and immediately thought, "Why does Steve have Mr Pete's box?" Then I realized it was the box, not the machinist.

@SteveSummers

Жыл бұрын

😄

@johnridgeway6718

Ай бұрын

That's a 10 ! ! ! LOL

We always called those square bars with the handles "master straight edges"

Steve, exceptional piece of kit! Oxtools and Professor Lipton are salivating for sure! 😁

Super awesome find! ! ! I've never seen monochromatic light in combination with an optical flat, thank you for sharing, Steve!

Steve, the basic box could have been made by Gerstner. Pull out the two bottom drawers and check inside, on the bottom of the box. There may be a Gerstner stamp there, indicating the species and manufacture date of the box. Thanks for the video, and GREAT FIND! Jon

Very cool!

I was a machinist at Caterpillar Tractor Co. back in the late 1970's at the Mount Joy Iowa plant (Davenport Ia). Darn now I have told my age. Sure brings back the memories as I had a box just like that one. . Nice truck! I watched all of the episodes of the restoration and enjoyed all. I enjoy all of your shows for that matter. Keep up the good work

Cora is such a sweetheart. You for fortunate to have her!

It is so interesting to find those hand written notes from years ago. Especially stuff from that time in history. Imagine what Lawrence may have been working on? Great find Steve. Joe

Very cool stuff, Steve. In a very odd coincidence, those missing gauge blocks were sent to be checked on the same day that my late parents were married in Austin, Texas a few months before my father shipped out to England for service during WWII. It is amazing how many of the tools that you and others like Keith Rucker and Keith Fenner still use were originally made to support the war effort during the 1940's.

@doug.ritson

Жыл бұрын

Made at the time the Allies were liberating Paris.

That is fantastic and a great video. Cora the shop dog adopting you and being so obviously crazy about you always makes me smile.

Hiya Steve

Great video

Cool Video! Thanks

Wonderful presentation. Love seeing some historical equipment still valid today.

OH MY, What a wonderful set to add to your inspection and measuring tools. A couple times I had to use gauge blocks to measure a bearing seat for a 4 ft gas pipeline input coupler from a 747 Rolls Royce gas turbine. Both vertically and horizontally on a 16 ft Berthiez boring mill. I was 20 at the time and in 7TH heaven every day Almost 50 years later I still remember that shop and all the huge equipment. Right beside me was a 10 ft master service radial arm drill that had a 4n ft dia post. It could drill 8 inch holes in cast steel all day long. Oh to be young again, LOL.

really cool

Great video again, i think you should of shown us the lines when the glass is put on a surface that isn't flat, it would of been nice to see the difference.

Morning all from Dorset, 🇬🇧

cool

Great to see those old tools and how they were used. It would have been nice to see another 'not so flat' object to see the patterns the optical flats made. Keep up the great videos.

Happy Saturday Steve, Cora, Family, and Grits! Wow what a piece of history and excellence. It amazes me to see the state of technology in past years. I can think of no more proper home than you who will use and appriciate them. Thanks for sharing! God Bless.

Very, very cool. I'd never heard of such a thing as an optical flat, let alone seen it demonstrated. Thank you.

I have never seen such parallel lines at that magnification. WOW!!!

Fantastic, what a superb set of instruments. Those were the days when not only equipment was precision made but presented in pleasing to the eye cases. The crackle finish was the norm. Took me straight back to teaching young students how to measure the wavelength of light and also to have applications in the science field. That was nearly 60 years ago. Also with applications in high resolution macro photography. Makes me cringe when I handle some stuff today, fresh from the injection-moulded box. Best wishes from a UK dinosaur!!.

Karma, history meets exact right person to preserve and share it.

Bless you for taking in that dog. what a wonderful addition to your channel..Where are the tree rats? haven't seen them in a while.

very cool find, the craftsman inside me has always been in awe of the quality & accuracy (+ personal touches) our predecessors created w/o the aid of modern electronics.

Greetings from Germany. I recently discovered your channel and I think it's really great. I am in the process of building a small workshop and am currently learning to use my milling machine and lathe. I hope someday I have a workshop like you.

Wow. Thanks for posting, I've learned stuff. Heard of optical flats but never seen one. Some gauge blocks and surface plates and height gauges were in my Dad's effects but I never saw him use them and didn't know how. I'm an ecologist that messes with machinery - I learned a lot from Dad, but not that. Now I have some clues. Thanks especially for 'valuing' the do-all box and contents in the terms of the time in which it was produced, rather than today's money. I recall bidding on the gauge blocks and height gauges at dispersal auctions on Dad's behalf (far to 'excitable' to bid himself) and remember how pleased he was to get them. Best wishes from the UK.

It looks like a Gerstner box. You might find a makers mark under the fold down panel if it is and they still make replacement hard ware for all of their boxes if it is. Or you could have them replated or polish them up. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and have a good week to come.

OH MY ! What a wonderful piece/pieces. The quality of tools back then was second to none. I can think of no other that can appreciate and care for this set. Measuring with standards always appealed to me. The adrenalin flow when making that last cut is great. Then the result of all that careful measuring and knowing the machine doing the cutting makes for a great day behind you when heading home. Nailing the last finish cut right smack in the middle of the tolerance allowed on the print is another feel good eh. This one was short and sweet but never the less as entertaining as all your posts are. Thankx a bunch my dear friend. See you next time eh.

Absolutely stunning. What a box!!!

Amazing technology. One has to be impressed by those that thought up and created these precision tools. Those long rectangular pieces with the handles are Straight Edges. Thanks very much for sharing.

This was probably made for the WWII war effort, paid for by all of the sacrifices everyday people made not buying sugar, flour and other items. Nice to see that that sacrifice bought something so incredibly well made (as well as victory) It also highlights the skill and organization of the machinists who made it in Minneapolis.

Very cool. I can’t imagine there’s too many of those floating around.

Hi Steve, That is an amazing find in such great condition. We use interference lines when making flats for reflecting telescopes. Very tedious work, but rewarding when the lines are straight indicating a very flat surface. You and your family stay safe.

Steve that is an incredible find! Not jealous....

I am impressed by the wood maker who crafted the boxes. My Bro. had a wooden tool box that had the same green felt liner

While the tool is awesome, Cora is the real score. You have found a friend that will give their life for you. That is something you don't find but a few times in your life.

Way special. Glad you have it!

One hell of a find. Those days are long gone when those analogue tools could be made by hand. Bogles my mind the skills back then. Hopefully you'll be able to replace the missing items with a period correct set. I'm sure there's still an old boy out there that has one in the shed.

Thats the kind of haul you build a metrology lab around. What a great find!

Amazing old Technology there.

You are into Tom Lipton world now!

:) A very piece of History

Great item Steve. Look at the bottom of the interior drawer . Possibly the makers mark or name will be found.

Wow ! That's an amazing find, Thanks for sharing Steve !

Brilliant what a treasure

Amazing find! Thanks for sharing!

Good morning Steve. Nice piece of inspection tooling history. Looks like Union Tool Chest made chest for other companies, including DoAll. DoAll was one of the first companies to make machinist/toolmaker "gauges" for use with their bandsaws and blades. They offered a complete array of inspection equipment. Very well known at the time for accuracy in the millionths. (Thank you Wikipedia)

0:17 is worthy of a special award, how many times did you two have to rehearse to get the “jaw dropping” work so well with her jaws holding onto the stick 😂

Thanks!

This could hve been part of the war effort. Sure a neat old piece of history.

What a find! That is some awesome industrial history right there. Also, since it is in such good condition, in the right hands, is still usable and highly accurate today. A little slower than a CMM but hey, probably a lot cheaper. And again, MUCH cooler! Hope your grandkids can use them someday.

looking at the materials and construction, I would think Gerstner made those boxes for Do All.

Hey Steve, that is a really cool set. Makes you wonder what they used it for. Thanks for the video!

Those should be in a museum

@Hoaxer51

Жыл бұрын

Their in a good place, but they are museum quality.

Pretty cool piece of history there. Thanks for sharing.

@SteveSummers

Жыл бұрын

Good to see you Tom 🙂

Really nice! The do all machines you have have are in really nice shape! The ones I have come across are not near in as good of shape! I made plywood boxes for my camping cast iron and stoves. After 25 years the cast iron and two burners stove are in just as good of shape as the day they were cleaned and oiled!

Hi Steve I have used this type off gauges, to check the flatness of carbon seals, that ride against a steel very smooth part to seal seal a fluid off from going to a other side in a part.. the optical part is put on the carbon seal and under the light to see how flat the seal is. If the line where straight is was good and if they bend you had to polish the part more to get it flat Both parts are checked is way, When is was overhauling the seal in a fuel separator for S61 helicopter.

Thanks for sharing.

Morning Steve 🙃 Nice find.

Wow, really nice Steve. Glad it fell into your hands. I have a very, very similar style box that I purchased from a guy. It is full of really nice precision measuring instruments in near perfect condition, mostly Starrett, Brown & Sharpe, and Lufkin.

Wow. Amazing set!

Thank you for sharing. Very nice.👍

Pretty special indeed!

Great find Steve thanks for sharing

Amazing bit of kit

Very cool! Thanks for the history lesson Steve! Really really interesting.

The optical fringes you showed are there because one edge of each flat has been raised a bit, making a wedge of space between the flat and the metal surface. On the second one the edge has been raised more. so there are more fringes (as you observed you can count them, multiply by half the wavelength to find out how much the edge of the flat has been raised. I'm not sure if what is raising one edge is a deliberate feature of each flat (a tiny bump on the rim) or just a speck of dirt you trapped there, but it seems to be rotating with the flat. It is often useful to have such a wedge. Without it the errors in the tested surface will show as a bunch of rings and other contour lines, but without the wedge, you can't tell which side of the contour is the high wide, e.g. if bull-eye rings are a bump or a hollow (or perhaps a hollow with a bump in the middle, or...). By adding a spacer deliberately under one edge you can tell which side of each contour line is the high side.

Hi Steve! OMG! That box is from Minneapolis Minnesota one of my favorite places Ever! I am absolutely going to love this video! Hi to Elizabeth!❤️

Very cool old war time inspection tools

So very interesting. Thanks for the education

I guess you don't know what flat is until you have a master flat 🤔 It is an incredible set and I'm glad you took the time to show us. Luckily, I guess, I never had to use this kind of precision.

Absolutely fascinating!

learned a lot today, thanks.

Awesome as Always... That is amazing.Love the History

Good stuff

This box looks to be exactly the same pattern I bought at a swap meet 23 years ago. Mine was made of walnut and full of tools from the 20's

We enjoy your videos

What a great score on that old inspection/metrology kit, I can almost smell it! There must have been thousands of those sets produced during WWII when precision engineering was going full tilt, aircraft, vehicles, armaments etc. With all the care taken by DoALL to manufacture and package that equipment it's a pity they spoilt it by miss-spelling 'gauges', still, there was a war on........ All The Best from Somerset, England.

Great vid. Love to see a follow-up to know what belongs in the spaces adjacent to where the gauge blocks live in the bottom drawer...

that dog couldnt be more content, love ur work steve

Super cool! Congratulations!

Thank you for sharing! This is an amazing set of instruments suitable for any lab or process control room. Probably the gage blocks were a smaller set than yours but a master set of which a ffacillity would have only one. All other gages would be checked against the masters. Tom Lipton must be green with envy.

That's some cool stuff!

nice find steve, have a great week

Very nice Steve

Keep up the good work awesome

@SteveSummers

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the support 🙏

cool tools

Steve, you should raise a bump on the steel flat by putting your finger on it and heating it up for a minute, then put the optical flat back on and look at the fringes.

Really nice find

I have used this type equipment when resurfacing the faces of mechanical seals used in pumps in the nuclear power industry.

Steve, please keep that drawer square on the table. The bulk of the weight is off the table. Not to mention Cora liking to put her paws up to see what you're doing!

Would have been interesting to see the optical flats used on something less flat.