Space Micrometer Anvil Lapping 

ok, you gave me an excuse to tell my space story. my dad ran the model shop at aberdeen proving ground after ww2 for awhile. so they made some of the components for the wac corperal missile which was the 1st missile to break into what they called space, mind you i probably have the terms wrong, but at the time it was a 1st. they had a shoe string budget so on the way home one day he stopped in the hardware store and bought a 10 in stainless fry pan ($4.00.) they used that to contain the gyroscope. naturally he turned in the reciept to get reimbursed and they told him no money was to be had. so he said then i want it back. when they shot it (at white sands, and he was there as part of the team) and it came down and was recovered they gave it back to him, the lid was destoyed by weldment however the frypan was good after he put a handle back on it. this was in 52 i believe, i was pretty young, but every saturday growing up ma would cook kiebasa in that for our breakfast. it's too bad we still don't have it. after the folks died it got put in a pile for the goodwill. somewhere somebody is eating off the 1st fry pan that went to space. i never get to tell that story cause space stuff never comes up, so thank you sir!

Whilst Abom79 is taking .500 DOC on something, Tom is dealing in nanotechnology. I just love these guys Eric

"Pretty boring video, not much to see..." Me: On the edge of my seat, literally, wondering how he's going to get it perfectly perpendicular.

Boring?! This isn't boring at all! It's lapping! It's actually very interesting to me.

A quibble at 2:30 : Blue Origin's vehicle doesn't get into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), because it doesn't orbit. It pokes its, er, um, head out above the Karman line and will give the users 4 minutes of, er, em, ecstasy. This is something like 3% of the energy needed to get into orbit. Still, neat.

"Its hard to push a rope" will remain with me for the rest of my life.

My name is Carla Piaia and I had a one inch Mititoyou micrometers that had totally scratched carbide faces and I used to work at United air lines and they threw away this piece of metal, it looked like a almost like a gauge Cube and it was 1.000 square with just ground surfaces and I got some,three Micron diamond dust and putting it in an STP and I just sat there watching TV, lapping it. And it came out really nice I gave it back to the Metrology and they checked it with the three different thickness optical flats, you know to check it for flatness on both faces and they said yeah it looks fine. And then I told them I lapped it with "this",and I showed them the "cube" they said what!? You did this at home? I said yes.

Glad to see you back Tom! I hadn't had Monday meatloaf for two months...hungry for an Ox Tool video!

I gotta say, I love the look of that brass knob with the stainless(?) inserts starting at 6:11. That's some functional jewelry right there!

very interesting, enjoyed it - the squareness-guide for lapping the first anvil is a good idea. Instead of the disc one could probably also use a low-profile v-block with a clamp to hold the anvil for lapping.

Boring video? As a student machinests I feel like the more I learn the more I'll earn. You are literally putting more money into my retirement by uploading video's! No need to apologize, your videos are always interesting!

Nice work Tom! glad to see you back. Talk to you soon. ATB, Robin

Boring no. Lapping yes 😁. Thanks Tom. That's quite a involved process.

Thanks for allowing us back in the shop, to peer over your shoulder!

Thanks Tom I enjoyed that. Liked the quote by E. O. Wilson at the end. A good one for this day and age.

hi tom thanks for the lap dance.

That's a cool technique. I'm happy to see you on video again, Tom!

Nicely done, Tom. That's something I hadn't really though about before now but I'm suddenly examining all of my micrometers...

Hi Tom, it is nice to be here and learn what you are sharing. We both enjoy your talk about this tool. Like the optical parallels but share the concern about cranking results you wish to see. Lance & Patrick.

Thank you for sharing your wizardry with us and posting a very informative and amusing video Tom! Glad to see you are back at it again. Greetings from the Netherlands. Mark

Just the thing to brighten up a rain day!

Thanks for the video. It is fun learning something new each time

Great video on making surfaces flat and parallel.

Very nice video and exactly on time.

There is some real rocket science right there now !! Thanks Tom, Cliff

that's pretty friging cool Tom, thanx for sharing!

Great video Tom glad to see you back. Matt C.

The 6th digit has officially arrived! Bully for you! The nerd side of the world prevails! Totally enjoy the content Tom. Keep the content coming!

This is totally fascinating

Using the steel balls to check parallelism of the two anvil faces reminds me of your Bash Challenge last year. I was amazed at the sensitivity of the feel of the dividers moving over cylinders having only 0.001” diameter difference.

not boring, i love lapping videos. great job bro

Thanks for the video.

interesting stuff. good to see you're back!

Never boring when there is something to learn. Glad you are off hiatus.

Every time there's a new Oxtool video it kind of feels like christmas, especially since there's some time between videos nowadays. ;)

Fantastic video. I am learning a lot. PS: I have an identical micrometer. It was my first mike and was a gift from a friend's father. It also could use some work on the anvils and you have given me the courage to try that. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.

Thank goodness for a new video from you Tom I was starting to have OX Tools withdraws

enjoyed as always.

I am really glad to have watched your excellent video Tom, it enabled me to identify what a set of Hilger and Watts optical parallels were that came with a number of items of test gear I obtained from an auction!

that's so weird.. I literally was JUST thinking about your channel and then this new video popped up. I'm clearly a wizard.

Wow, thanks for sharing your play time. Your on high level mind blowing measurements.

That lapping puck is similar to what I used to use to terminate fiber optic connectors. Except way bigger

Handy video thanks

Very interesting process

Keep up the great work !

Glad to see you back! I was beginning to fear for your health.... BTW, I haven't seen a B&S mic since the 70's, when I was loaned one by Mr. Chevrolet, when I had a summer job at his Spring&Bumper factory.

Thanks, entire process was very interesting. At my old company, we had an optical fab shop where they lapped glass optics before thin film coatings. Other engineers were " goto " for help. I got in there once for a electrical control problem the tech couldn't figure out. They always were too busy to just drop in and be nosey. Different animal than hard metal surfaces. I did see a contractor come in to fix the ways on a model maker's lathe. he was there like 12 hours + . Got to look in a few times as you didn't want to bother him, but curiosity was a driving force. Was perfect when he left, he looked like a out of work plumber from Russia. He was the go to guy. timing was like 2001 - 2002 ish.

Glad to see toms alive

Good video.

Very interesting

Thank you Tom for the interesting video. I have a very cheap micrometer that I got for 5 buck but the anvils are horrible. Now I know how to properly get them back into shape.

Very nice 👍🏽

Try using painter's masking tape to lay down some guardrail lines outside of the area the lap covers, with marks on the tape to indicate where the foil-tape boundaries are.

That micrometer was out of this world...

While it is a bit like watching paint dry, I do appreciate the video, one more interesting tidbit taking up space in the ol grey matter!

Nice work! Holding the micrometer steady when you were using the optical parallel would be a good job for a vice on a ball swivel mount, if you had one 😉

Glad to see you’re still alive. Im guessing that you would just inspect your cast iron parallel lapping block and lap it back to flatness every so often?

micrometer moyel hey good stuff never seen an optical parallel but because of watching previous meatloaf episodes i would have known by looking at the thickness's what they where for. learn alot from watching your show tom thanks

Great stuff as usual! Needed an Oxtoolco fix! Regards from Australia.

yea! He's alive!

Should you have used a little fluid on the surface not being lapped? Cuts out chirping, and vibration maybe???

Great episode! Question: what's the wear on the cast iron lapping tool? Will it need reconditioned?

very cool, thanks for all your effort, I know it is tough to video, thanks again,

Cool! A space mic.

question: when lapping the fixed anvil, would lubrication on the opposite face of the lap influence the precision of the result?

I love the quote at the end. We should all listen to the real ant man.

Very high class weight, Tom. Stainless Swagelock union. Tom

I miss the intro music. And is there a reason you didn't put any lubricant on the back of the lap when lapping the anvil?

With all that precision I am wincing as you're moving that disc by hand. I know once we start splitting atoms we have to split atoms to sharpen the atom splitters but maybe if that parallel lap disc was an oblong shape, rotating it on 2 (or between 3) very flat wheels would result in a more precise lapping motion?

Neat LIGO sticker; my pops worked on that

I am watching this great video for the third or fourth time to pick up the details. I am particularly curious about the aluminum foil tape you used on the surface plate for lapping. I found many versions, brands, and widths of this on the web. Can you describe what you use any better? It seems that one thing that may be of interest would be the consistency of the tape's thickness. Standard aluminum foil is very consistent in thickness, but does the adhesive add any additional concerns?

Really interesting video thanks. How did you make your cast iron lap?

Consider using Kydex to make a cover for the Traveling Squareness Comparator, it's so easy, there's no reason not to.

So when do you need to roll the abrasive into the iron? And when do you allow it to float?

So you have some connection to the Blue Origin project but do you have some connection to the LIGO project?

Perhaps a drop of lube on the non-lapping side of the lap would cut down the chatter (at least by half) and lessen the friction?

Awesome technique. Your methods for bringing things back true are very ingenious but why do you opt for using softer metals such as cast iron for lapping surfaces of hardened steel? Obviously I'm sure there's a good reason but I'm just curious as to why.

The .0062 thickness increments of the optical flats represent 90deg. rotations of the spindle.

Very interesting ! Thanks again Tom ! Just a small point...Why not use the aluminum foil on the cast iron lapping disk to prevent abrading the disk ? Have you tried to measure the change in the disk center after a lapping procedure?

OK so now I have to know how to make a small disk of metal both perfectly flat and parallel on both sides.

Just bought your book. I love your videos, especially because your demonstration of this level of precision. I won''t need this kind of knowledge until I perfect that inertia compensation device, but I do love knowing its possible. Do you by chance have a method to determine quantum parallelism? That could come in handy due to all that uncertainty Hindenburg introduces...

I need to learn lapping...

I always enjoy a Monday Meatloaf. I appreciate learning how measuring tools are made to such exacting specs. One question, when you used the Iron disk would adding the Aluminum tape to the disk have helped any. More Videos!

Where did you get that metal lapping disc? I need one!

Hey Tom, any idea where I could find a low pressure sodium light like the one you have for my russian optical flats?

Have miss you in the chef hat man meat loaf with precision always a tasty combo

isn't the cast iron lap getting a dent ground in it's center as well ?

It looked like there was some play in the anvil spindle 27:00 .(Hard to tell as everything in the shot was moving some) Wouldn't that make it both difficult to lap properly and to get parrallel since it would be a constantly moving goal post?

While the Blue Organ rocket might be slightly reminiscent of something you see in a bedroom toolbox, the New Gland vehicle is much more streamlined.

How much does the lapping of the mic effect the flat?

mic laps I saw are actually quite small.... Also what will laps with different thickness do when it comes to correcting squareness or the spindle? Average is the name of the game

Silly questions x 2: Why did you not apply Alu tape to the little cast iron lap? Why didnt you lubricate the moving anvil so it didn't sqeak like fingernails on a blackboard?

Cool video. Ever thought about being a hand model like George Costanza?

how do you make that parallel lap to be really parallel?

If lubricant is liquid love, does that imply that lapping compound is liquid hate?

Was your squareness fixture done solely on a lathe or was the hole finished on a jig grinder? Cool video. Thanks.

hey Tom could you do a video on how to disassemble a micrometer

Hey Tom. I find myself referencing back to this video after acquiring a set of old J.T. Slocomb mics from eBay. I've restored them to good working order, and I'd like to lap them in as a final touch. However, I'm unsure how to lap the larger mics (1-2, 2-3, etc.). The idea I've had so far is to lap the spindle using a fixture similar to the one you made, then use an appropriately sized gauge block (with aluminum tape on the faces) as a parallel lap for the fixed anvil. Does this seem like a viable method (that won't destroy my gauge blocks...)?

No not boring.. metrology is at the heart of machining. btw why not make a jig for the lapping disk?

Good job Tom. I was wondering how you were going to get the spindle flat perpendicular to the axis. Simple solution.