[Jewelry making - Article 00053] - Re: [Orchid] Micrometer

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>      I need to buy a digital micrometer that will read in gauges. 

    Harriet, I've never seen a digital (or analog) guage calibrated in
    traditional guages. I've two suggestions.  One would be to do as many
    smiths working in gold or platinum end up doing, learn to work in
    millimeters.  As a measuring system, It makes a lot more sense, is
    then consistant with the measurements used for stones,  and all in
    all will end up making your life easier.   Many of the rolling mills
    today have adjustment dials calibrated in millimeters in any case, so
    learning to work with that system of measurement will just make your
    life simpler.  Plus, I'd point out that if you're rolling your own
    sheet, you've no real reason to be making any one specific guage just
    because that's some decided upon number.  make your sheet the
    measurement you need, even if that happens to fall between guages. 
    Working with millimeter measurements, such adjustments are automatic
    and intuitive.  With the guages, they're not always so.  There's
    often a bit too much difference between guage numbers for comfort, in
    some types of work. 

    But if you must have an accurate guage to read B&S guages, I'd
    suggest rather than a digital instrument, get a decent dial type
    caliper.  this can also include the types sold for pearl
    measurements, or the leveridge style guages. With these, you could
    simply mark the additional information on the appropriate spots on
    the guage face with a marker, or if you like, open the front cover
    of the dial and mark the dial face itself.  then you'd have a custom
    caliper to do what you need.  You might also check the presidium
    version of the leveridge guage.  I have a dim memory that it does
    more than just millimeters.  might do metal guages or some such too. 
    but i'm not sure of that. 

    Easiest of all would simply be a nicely large type chart of guages
    and their millimeter equivalents.  The trick would be to make it on
    graph paper, with a linear measurement in millimeters along the
    graph, with the B&S guages arranged along it.  This way, you start
    with the digital millimeter guage measurement, look at the chart, and
    not only can see where it relates to the B&S guages, but since the
    chart is linear for the millimeter measurements, you get a visual
    clue as to where you are between guages, and how much further to
    roll, etc. And once you use that chart for a while, you'll soon
    learn to be more comfortable with just remember which millimeter
    measurements you need in the first place, bring you to my first
    suggestion, skip the guage numbers altogether (grin) 

Peter

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