New Toy To Play With

[TruckJunkie]

Stopped at a university surplus store on Friday and found this Wilson Mechanical Instrument Co tester sitting in with the stuff for sale. It all seems to work fine, but will need to be properly gone through and calibrated to find out for sure. Should make a good project and for $65 figured it was worth the gamble.

 

[930dreamer]

What does it test? Looks like a cool project.

 

[TruckJunkie]

It tests the relative hardness of metals using the Rockwell scales.

 

[Harley94]

It's a hardness tester. You have a ball on the spindle tip somewhat like a small ball bearing and exert force on metal at a given force, psi if I recall. Then you have a sight gauge that measures the width of the dimple you put in the metal and that tells you the hardness of the metal. You have to know what type of metal your testing to set psi to get am accurate reading.

 

[TruckJunkie]

Does anyone know where to pick up accessories for these? Penetrators, anvils, repair parts, or do you have to go to Wilson?

 

[ctdutro]

I used to work quality control as an intern and used one a few times a day, i still want to find a broken one and convert it into a beer dispensor by replacing the probe with a spout and the load adjuster with a handle, and the table would be perfect to adjust for pint glasses vs. mugs

 

[franzdom]

It's a hardness tester. You have a ball on the spindle tip somewhat like a small ball bearing and exert force on metal at a given force, psi if I recall. Then you have a sight gauge that measures the width of the dimple you put in the metal and that tells you the hardness of the metal. You have to know what type of metal your testing to set psi to get am accurate reading.

It's been a really long time but that sounds more like the procedure for the Brinnell hardness tester. I think Rockwell has a diamond and perhaps the machine measures how far it penetrates.

 

[ndoran]

I have a Rockwell hardness tester in one of my labs at work, it is used every day for materials testing in very specialised applications - I cannot imagine a situation I would ever need one at home I will remember your interest in this sort of stuff, I needed to dispose of a scanning electron microscope a couple of years back and could not find a buyer - next time I ill list it on the GJ Classifieds.

Rockwell can be done with ball or diamond cone, depending on the material. Tungsten Carbide and hard steels use the diamond. Brinnell hardness is done with a ball.

Anyone want to buy an air cooled 3kilo newton three axes vibration system includes head, slip table and controller table? we are looking to sell one LOL

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

Anyone want to buy an air cooled 3kilo newton three axes vibration system includes head, slip table and controller table? we are looking to sell one LOL

Strangely enough, I'd be interested if I had the money, heh. We've got a 12,000 force-pound Ling 540 three-axis at work I use a couple times a week at a minimum.

I'm wondering if that hardness tester came from a lab at the university?? I can't see a random person knowing enough about it to not toss it in the trash, but not enough about it to try and find someone who buys vintage test equipment.

 

[Flatintoone]

I have a Rockwell hardness tester in one of my labs at work, it is used every day for materials testing in very specialised applications - I cannot imagine a situation I would ever need one at home I will remember your interest in this sort of stuff, I needed to dispose of a scanning electron microscope a couple of years back and could not find a buyer - next time I ill list it on the GJ Classifieds.

Rockwell can be done with ball or diamond cone, depending on the material. Tungsten Carbide and hard steels use the diamond. Brinnell hardness is done with a ball.

Anyone want to buy an air cooled 3kilo newton three axes vibration system includes head, slip table and controller table? we are looking to sell one LOL

You couldn't find someone to buy an electron microscope??? That sounds like something I'd have WAY too much fun with.

Of course, I say that having no idea what the going rate for a used one is, how big they are, etc....

I don't know what I'd do with a Rockwell hardness tester, but my first impulse was to say "Cool!"

 

[Outlawmws]

Cool find! I have a small project to make a similar hardness tester for bullet lead. of course it take a LOT less pressure for that, so mine is a small grease filled hydraulic cylinder with a gauge on it and a specific size steel ball. clamp the thing in a vise, tighten to a particular pressure, and measure the diameter of the dent the ball makes...

 

[TruckJunkie]

I was not really looking for a hardness tester, but used to want one real bad when I used to play at making knives and speciality gun parts. Figured at the price it was worth the gamble to try and get it working and if it was too expensive to fix, could always part it out to keep others running. It has been 30 years since I have done much metallurgy though, so have a lot of re-learning to do.

Outlaw, your lead bullet hardness tester sounds like a very interesting project, hope you will post about it at some point.

 

[darkk]

Can't use it, but it's so cool looking I would have bought it anyways...

 

[beerdog]

Awesome find! Those things are soo expensive new. Don't be fooled by the age. It can easily be as good as it was on day 1. I have been in this field for 20 years. Take it to a calibration lab and see what they say before messing with it. It may be perfectly fine. If Wilson is still in business contact them for attachments. I forget if the attachments are standardized between manufacturers.

I went througha major gage manufacturer that made thread and pin gauges. They were using testers that were 50+ years.