Individual Pin Gages on E-bay

[d.huber]

I've been thinking about buying some pin gages in order to face the shank after freehand drilling and came across an e-bay shop that sells individual pin gages for just a couple bucks. I've ordered 2 for myself and will report back once the transaction is complete.

Here are the direct links to his pin gage listings:

0.061 to 0.250
0.251 to 0.500

Hope you guys find this helpful.

[mredmond]

That's a good find. Thanks for sharing! I've been looking, too, but haven't been able to bring myself to drop the money for a set (or two) when I would probably only need a few sizes.

[Tyler]

I fear this might not be as helpful as hoped. I often try several pins to get the just-right fit I'm looking for. One of the great things about a pin gage set, versus just flipping a drill bit around and using the shank of the bit, is the very small incremental steps that let you get a perfect fit.

My sets came with each pin individually wrapped. I have a handy reference of how many pins I've used or tried pursuing the perfect fit: how many pins are unwrapped. I'll go count here in a minute, but its enough to make individual purchase at $4 a pop more expensive than the sets.

At the Briar Studio, when you unwrap a pin that's never been used before its declared your lucky day. In other words, even with a set that's got to be more than 5 years old AND USED EVERY DAY by more than one full-time pipe maker, they are still using new pins on occasion.

Edit: I've unwrapped 98 pins.

[mredmond]

Thanks for the input Tyler. I was afraid of that. I thought if I bought a couple larger and smaller than the sizes I needed, that might cover it, but .001 is a small increment.

[d.huber]

I fear this might not be as helpful as hoped. I often try several pins to get the just-right fit I'm looking for. One of the great things about a pin gage set, versus just flipping a drill bit around and using the shank of the bit, is the very small incremental steps that let you get a perfect fit.

My sets came with each pin individually wrapped. I have a handy reference of how many pins I've used or tried pursuing the perfect fit: how many pins are unwrapped. I'll go count here in a minute, but its enough to make individual purchase at $4 a pop more expensive than the sets.

At the Briar Studio, when you unwrap a pin that's never been used before its declared your lucky day. In other words, even with a set that's got to be more than 5 years old AND USED EVERY DAY by more than one full-time pipe maker, they are still using new pins on occasion.

Edit: I've unwrapped 98 pins.

Wow. 98? I wouldn't have expected that. Hmm... Hopefully I'll get lucky with the two I ordered, but if not I'll just spring for a full set. It sounds like this e-bay store would probably be best suited for what they advertise, replacements for missing gages.