On Thu, 05 May 2005 23:15:30 GMT, "DeepDiver"
wrote:

"Zipper" zipper777ATcomcastDOTnet wrote in message
...
I'm looking for a tool that will let me check what kind of screw hole
something is. For example, I have a threaded hole on a piece of equipment,
what I want to know is what size screw would fit in there. I'm not looking
for depth, just for the thread pitch and the size of the screw. I could
just buy a bunch of screws of different sizes and keep them on a string,
but I was just curious if there was already some clever tool that would
make this process a little more elegant.


Hello Nebruin,

There's a guy on Ebay who's selling the exact tool you've described. It's a
bit pricey at $25 (plus $8 shipping), but that's the only place I've seen a
tool like that. The tool this guy is selling appears to be commercially
produced (as opposed to being made one at a time in a small shop), so
perhaps he invested in a large production of them and now has to recoup his
costs.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=4547155970

The one thing I don't like about his design is that they're all strung
together on a cable (just as you described). That would be handy for
checking the size of nuts, but I think it would be a pain for checking the
size of holes, particularly in cramped spaces. There is no quick and easy
way to remove and replace individual gages with his design. At least he put
a lot of extra slack in the cable for isolating an individual gage on the
strand for testing.

Of course, you could always make your own set, either by turning parts on a
lathe, or by using commercial fasteners.

- Michael

Ive seen in hardware stores a nifty board made by gluing nuts over the
approriate size hole, and putting bolts though a hole just below the
same sized nut. You can screw on a nut, or screw in a bolt.

Very simple

Gunner

Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends
of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli