this is part shameless shilling for an item I'm selling and part a generous
offer -

The shill part - I picked up (at an estate) a very pristing drafting engine,
packaged as a "aircraft protractor" - If any of you folks can add words of
insight to my auction description so this thing will make me wealthy beyond
my wildest dreams, please let me know - here is the auction link
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=300283573074. From the
Military order number and the fact that it refers to the army air corps not
the USAF, I am guessing that this is a 1942 vintage item - am I right?

The generous offer part - I scanned the manual pages, there are only three
pages, including an exploded view and installation instructions - if anyone
would like the files sent to them, drop me a note off the list, with a valid
email return address and I'll send the files to you - it's about 1/2 meg
total - these are probably of interest to WWII buffs as well as those who
might have a manual drafting machine kinda like this one.

The metal working part - the whole thing is non-magnetic - it's aluminum of
course, but the ball bearings are all berillium copper and the bands are
monel - of course this is important in an aircraft to avoid disturbing the
compasses, and would be unheard of in a ground environment. I really hadn't
given this much thought before, but berillium copper ball bearings can't
come cheap. all in all a very cool unit.

--
Bill
www.wbnoble.com

Bill,
One man's junk is another man's treasure. Yes, I would like the file. Please
remove the nospam from my address. I must ask the question. Where did you
find this?
Steve

"Bill Noble" wrote in message
...
this is part shameless shilling for an item I'm selling and part a
generous offer -

The shill part - I picked up (at an estate) a very pristing drafting
engine, packaged as a "aircraft protractor" - If any of you folks can add
words of insight to my auction description so this thing will make me
wealthy beyond my wildest dreams, please let me know - here is the auction
link http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=300283573074.
From the Military order number and the fact that it refers to the army air
corps not the USAF, I am guessing that this is a 1942 vintage item - am I
right?

The generous offer part - I scanned the manual pages, there are only three
pages, including an exploded view and installation instructions - if
anyone would like the files sent to them, drop me a note off the list,
with a valid email return address and I'll send the files to you - it's
about 1/2 meg total - these are probably of interest to WWII buffs as well
as those who might have a manual drafting machine kinda like this one.

The metal working part - the whole thing is non-magnetic - it's aluminum
of course, but the ball bearings are all berillium copper and the bands
are monel - of course this is important in an aircraft to avoid disturbing
the compasses, and would be unheard of in a ground environment. I really
hadn't given this much thought before, but berillium copper ball bearings
can't come cheap. all in all a very cool unit.

--
Bill
www.wbnoble.com

--Very nice. What's the distance between centers on the arms? FWIW I
just replaced my left-handed Mutoh which had served me for 35 years. Managed
to find its twin on ebay for around a hundred bucks. Curiously they're still
available new, but prices have gone up a bit since the seventies: the
equivalent right-handed unit costs over $1,300 and left-handed ones aren't
available. Wish I knew how to repair what broke: it's the metal tensioning
ribbon; probably needs to be spot welded then heat treated? Dunno.

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Never thought I'd live to see
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : our "iron curtain" crumble...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

I picked this up at an estate garage sale - the prior owner was a
non-degreed engineer who worked aerospace companies in the southland -
Northrup, Lockheed, Boeing, and so on - he was a member of the alpha romeo
club and built models and stuff - had some small machines. The folks
cleaning the house filled a dumpster with stuff - I went through the
dumpster and found a nice starrett square part, some material and several
other things that were of more value to me than much of the stuff they were
selling (mostly clapped out cheap tools) - there is a moral there for estate
sellers


"Steve Lusardi" wrote in message
...
Bill,
One man's junk is another man's treasure. Yes, I would like the file.
Please remove the nospam from my address. I must ask the question. Where
did you find this?
Steve

"Bill Noble" wrote in message
...
this is part shameless shilling for an item I'm selling and part a
generous offer -

The shill part - I picked up (at an estate) a very pristing drafting
engine, packaged as a "aircraft protractor" - If any of you folks can add
words of insight to my auction description so this thing will make me
wealthy beyond my wildest dreams, please let me know - here is the
auction link
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=300283573074. From the
Military order number and the fact that it refers to the army air corps
not the USAF, I am guessing that this is a 1942 vintage item - am I
right?

Bill
www.wbnoble.com

the metal ribbons are available still - this one is special since its
non-magnetic - for a "regular" unit, stainless steel will work fine - just
use a bandsaw blade welder to repair the one that broke and reset the
tension arms appropriately


"steamer" wrote in message
...
--Very nice. What's the distance between centers on the arms? FWIW I
just replaced my left-handed Mutoh which had served me for 35 years.
Managed
to find its twin on ebay for around a hundred bucks. Curiously they're
still
available new, but prices have gone up a bit since the seventies: the
equivalent right-handed unit costs over $1,300 and left-handed ones aren't
available. Wish I knew how to repair what broke: it's the metal tensioning
ribbon; probably needs to be spot welded then heat treated? Dunno.

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Never thought I'd live to see
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : our "iron curtain" crumble...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On 29 Dec 2008 17:25:16 GMT, steamer wrote:

--Very nice. What's the distance between centers on the arms? FWIW I
just replaced my left-handed Mutoh which had served me for 35 years. Managed
to find its twin on ebay for around a hundred bucks. Curiously they're still
available new, but prices have gone up a bit since the seventies: the
equivalent right-handed unit costs over $1,300 and left-handed ones aren't
available. Wish I knew how to repair what broke: it's the metal tensioning
ribbon; probably needs to be spot welded then heat treated? Dunno.


Ed, measure your bands center to center and Ill check mine. Ive several
Mutohs, and if the bands are not "handed", Id be happy to sent you
either the bands or a complete unit for just the shipping. All mine are
right handed of course...shrug. No scales...Im always looking for
scales....

Gunner

"Upon Roosevelt's death in 1945, H. L. Mencken predicted in his diary
that Roosevelt would be remembered as a great president, "maybe even
alongside Washington and Lincoln," opining that Roosevelt "had every
quality that morons esteem in their heroes.""

Bill Noble wrote:
there is a moral there for estate sellers

Estate sellers need to educate themselves or try to find someone that
knows about tools. I've helped out a couple widows when I stumbled
across estate sales laden with nice tools.

But the mentality of some sellers is interesting. I recently got a pair
of real nice Proto 6" Crescent type wrenches dirt cheap. I like the
Proto's as they are thin. Seller had some larger cheap (and I mean
really cheap) adjustable wrenches that he wanted $10 ea and more. But
when I asked about the Proto's, "Oh, those little ones? $1 ea." Sold....

Jon

Wanna swap a scale for a band? I've got at least one spare..

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Never thought I'd live to see
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : our "iron curtain" crumble...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

On 30 Dec 2008 16:38:38 GMT, steamer wrote:

Wanna swap a scale for a band? I've got at least one spare..

Who?


"Upon Roosevelt's death in 1945, H. L. Mencken predicted in his diary
that Roosevelt would be remembered as a great president, "maybe even
alongside Washington and Lincoln," opining that Roosevelt "had every
quality that morons esteem in their heroes.""