I bought these recently in a thrift store in New Hampshire where I've bought many tools. They're made by Starrett and each consists of a ball on the end of a knurled shaft.?
The balls are very precise. The small one is 1 1/2 thousandths
smaller than 0.5" (an amount that could easily have been lost over the decades). But the small ends of both shafts are swollen and scarred from pounding, so these were apparently intended to be pounded into something with hammers.
I have both a modern Starrett catalog and a 1936 catalog, and I don't see these listed,? either under measuring tools or punches and similar things intended to be hit with hammers. Also, they don't have part numbers, like most small Starrett tools.
Initially, I thought a previous owner might have welded or brazed the balls onto Starrett punches or something like that, but that's apparently not true. It's clear, at least on the large ball, that each ball and shaft is turned from one piece of metal.
Any ideas? These gizmos were so cheap that I couldn't pass them up, but I'm flummoxed about what they are and what they could have been intended to be used for.
They look like dapping punches to me.? These are typically used with a mating block with an assortment of different sized recesses.? You can make little dome shapes in sheet metal.
What I have used them for is to make a hole in sheet metal a little smaller.? This may not be the intended purpose, but it works if you have a hole that is just a little oversize.? You back up the sheet metal on a solid flat surface, center a dapper punch that is much larger than the hole, and give it a hit or two with a hammer.? This compresses the metal a little and, with nowhere to go except to the interior of the hole, the hole shrinks a little.
Charles E. "Chuck" Kinzer
On Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at 10:12:05 PM PDT, Miket_NYC via groups.io <mctaglieri@...> wrote:
I bought these recently in a thrift store in New Hampshire where I've bought many tools. They're made by Starrett and each consists of a ball on the end of a knurled shaft.?
The balls are very precise. The small one is 1 1/2 thousandths
smaller than 0.5" (an amount that could easily have been lost over the decades). But the small ends of both shafts are swollen and scarred from pounding, so these were apparently intended to be pounded into something with hammers.
I have both a modern Starrett catalog and a 1936 catalog, and I don't see these listed,? either under measuring tools or punches and similar things intended to be hit with hammers. Also, they don't have part numbers, like most small Starrett tools.
Initially, I thought a previous owner might have welded or brazed the balls onto Starrett punches or something like that, but that's apparently not true. It's clear, at least on the large ball, that each ball and shaft is turned from one piece of metal.
Any ideas? These gizmos were so cheap that I couldn't pass them up, but I'm flummoxed about what they are and what they could have been intended to be used for.
'Tooling balls" are usually used as part of making setups by creating referencing points.
Tooling balls have a precision ground shank.??What Mike has is not tooling balls because they have knurled handles.? This is for holding them with one hand while you tap them with a hammer.with your other hand.
If somebody wants an idea of what tooling balls are, and how they are used, here is a YouTube on it.
Charles E. "Chuck" Kinzer
On Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 05:37:45 PM PDT, Roy via groups.io <roylowenthal@...> wrote:
