This is a Pinching Rod that I made for checking squareness of boxes, drawers etc. It's range is 21"- 34". You check both of the inside diagonal corners to see if they match. If they do then it's square. Obviously if they don't you aren't square. I'm going to make a smaller one as well.
Without using several pairs of these, at varied lengths, I would be forced to actually do measurements with an often misread tape measure. Something everyone would benefit from having. Set them to touch between 2 points, and they remain constant until you change them. Check and recheck cross angles for square, widths, depths, and lengths. Any measurement between 2 points.
Great post Rick, these are something I think many are unaware of, and yours fit the description to a T.
Thanks GeorgeWest & SplinterGroup. I made these fairly recently. I've always known about them but never had any. Now that I've made them and find how useful they are I can't believe I didn't make them sooner. They are very handy! The brass knob is a 1/4-20.
Petey ... the thread is 1/4 - 20". I tapped right into the maple. I got the knobs from Lee Valley. They are hand plane knobs. But I doubt you can get them now. Do a search on Amazon "small brass 1/4-20 knobs". Also in the parts bins at HD. Another good option is to buy a 1/4-20 brass hex bolt, mount shaft in you drill press and spin and file down to a round.
They're great little aids... and I commend you in the degree of supplied parts MrR... When I was introduced to them, I never considered making my own from scratch and the availability of those brass knobs... Aussie supplies were (and still are) limited. Many years ago (15+) when I still lived in the big smoke, one of our stores had a swag of Veritas hardware to make them marked way down in their reduced clearance bin and I bought out the entire bin's contents (around 1 doz.), to hand out to buddies... I was more amicable back then...
I retained 4 of them with the last small set made not that long ago for small projects,
For anyone contemplation making a/some set(s), may I suggest, for outside measuements, some small dowels into the tips to remove any need to make "hook tips", (my hardware came with brass pins).
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
For any shoppers, Veritas has what I feel are the very best ones for peeps not wanting to do metal machining. They call them 2 different things. One they call pinch rods. The other they call bar gauge heads.
Pop WWing has had a few articles on how to make them over the years.
Out of wood. I can no longer find the meatal made one. Perhaps they had to withdraw it due to whoever REED is??? First I saw this name was on the Wood by Wright site. See below.
Wood by wright has some he sells, but also kind of illustrates the roll your own method if you read between the lines. Same as the older Pop WWing look, at 3/4" square brass stock, your piece is chopped off to 1' or 1.5", drill a 1/4 - 20 sized hole and tap it to whatever thread pitch you can find with the biggest, easiest to grasp head on it, and Bobs yer Uncle. A pair is easily made in a short time.
Using that there are a few easy to follow You tubes of the doing what I just described. Most all of them have broken the 10 minute rule, but if you follow along, you might want to nudge that progress bar if they start into too much blah blah blah.
I have absolutely no idea where I got them, but I also have a set that has several tips, pointy, chisel shaped, and some hooks that run off of 3/8" diameter rod, so you just cut to length, and I have another that provided the rod. Not sure if those are still out there, mine are 10 years old or so.
Making your own hardware you just need to plane down some stock, so 2 pieces can lie atop each other, JUST loose enough so they also slide easily, but not sloppily. Lengths can be what you want, but you will sooner or later find out that you will at least need a short set, and a longer one if you start using them all the time. I have a ton of those dreaded tape measures, I only use them anymore for rough length cutting. Way too many times a 3 and 11/16 has turned into chit, and 5/32s. Not really that bad, but if you have done much of this, you have messed up a measurement, or applied it incorrectly to the board you are cutting.
Using story sticks of a project, and these rods to measure inside, you will find there is nothing to read, and everything will be tighter, and a lot easier.
Sounded from the responses you started a lot of folks toward getting a pinch rod or 3 for themselves. I just figured I would share what I knew about where to source the hardware, and I think Duck was too, plus he did a bit of a review. Hopefully all helpful to anyone setting down this path.
You kicked the ball off though with your great project post, so thanks to you too.
Are you guys just letting the 1/4-20 thread stick bite the moving portion of the punch rod? Or is there some sort of a clamping block inside the mechanism?
I’m considering totally geeking out and milling down some brass for the whole locking assembly/slide retainer. Dunno. I’ve got some trees that need trimming before I can get into the shop…and adding the brass takes this from a fun 1-hour diversion to a proper project.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
I would imagine some form of clamping shim/block would be required to keep the slider from developing bite marks after a lot of use. If the screw catches the edge of an old bite mark, it could cause the slider to shift slightly when the screw tries to settle into the old mark.
Even a thin piece of brass bent into a "U" to wrap around the block enough to keep from falling out would work.
All.... my modus operandi was to keep this simple. My locking knob protrudes ever so slightly to bind against the sliding arm. (See the photo. I removed the sliding arm so you can see the maximum screw protrusion) Will it dent. It hasn't yet but likely over time. I don't over tighten. Just enough to clamp it. You get a feel for it. It will be a long long time, if ever, that I would have to replace the arm. It's fast enough to just make another. Like I said....I wanted to keep it simple.
