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good lubrication for this "thing"??

reible

Sorry but lots of brain clouds today so I don't even remember the proper name for this tool...

Anyway I found it tucked away in the father-in-laws shop and attempted to use it to get a pattern to dupicate a piece of missing molding. I think it sat to long.... I cleaned it up but it is still so stiff that it would work as a saw if you put that pattern on it.

So anyone have any thing they have used to get these thing sliding again? Got to be something that will not affect the molding or finish on the existing part to be copied.

Oh yea a picture of the tool:

john

Ed:

I have two of them but still don't know what they are called.:o

Other than getting some lubricant down in the guts where the wires slide through, I'm not sure what can be done.

Good luck.

John

mickyd

Contour gage.

robinson46176

mickyd wroteContour gage.

Yep.

I just use WD-40 but then I also use axle grease on my watch. :D

I suppose Johnson's Wax would work well too.

JPG

IF steel, try electrolysis like ya did the chuck. Maybe the reaction will clean the innards. Move the pins to one side before hand. Evaporust might also work.

Post processing, wd40/wax after cleaning the blox off it.

still_waters_43

I pulled the ends off and the whole thing came apart real easy (be careful though or the wires will fall all about the place). Then I cleaned the wires with WD40 and reassembled it. Works good now :cool:

joedw00

So what do you do with it, Hold it against what you want to copy, then trace it onto your wood? :o :confused: I have never seen one.

charlese

Hi Ed! I'd use WD-40 applied amply. After it gets cleaned up and slides fairly easily, spray on silicone, that will replace the WD-40 and give a better feel to the sliding. Also use a lot of the silicone.

After it is smooth - wipe it down well with dry paper shop towels. You Know - the blue ones.

mickyd

joedw00 wrote
So what do you do with it, Hold it against what you want to copy, then trace it onto your wood? :o :confused: I have never seen one.

That OR hold it to a lathe as a duplicator

dicksterp

You might try soaking it in Kroiloil for a day or two.

joedw00

mickyd wroteThat OR hold it to a lathe as a duplicator

[ATTACH]6318[/ATTACH]

Thanks Mickyd Nice picture, I have never seen one. Looks like a pretty neat tool.

curiousgeorge

I would just replace it with a new one. You can pick one up for about $10 or $11. Here is one for $8.99.

reible

Thanks for the responses!

And two hours later the thing is still a "little stiff". I have taken it apart and cleaned each wire (it wasn't all that dirty... and no corrosion).

Putting it back together was a pain which I will not go into but it didn't happen without the use of some additional tools. Much easier to take apart is an understatement.

This design is a lot different then the one I own. One thing I noticed was you can not take a wire out and put it back in... in fact if you get then a little to close they "drop in" and will require you to take it apart to put them back in working position. On mine you can take them in and out with little difficulty.

My guess is that it is now back to original condition and simply doesn't work well as mine (or maybe that is because I'm use to mine??). My guess is the father-in-law got it, tried it, tossed it in the bottom of the drawer. I'll take it back in the spring and put it in its rightful place after I get the profile I need off the molding.

The one on ebay looks a lot like it so I guess "they" are still out there. This one would be at least 15 years old as he has not been doing this sort of work for at least that long. He turns 94 tomorrow!

By way of a scientific sort of test... I put a 1" dowel on the bathroom scale then use the tool to do the shape and watched the scale. It looked to be just over 10 pounds initially and now is reading about 4. (The first couple of time after reassembly it was more like 6 but the more I used it the better it got so I pulled the higher numbers out of the averaging).

So I'd say case closed.

Ed