I bid on a SPI combination square, and got it for $50.
Now that is a pretty good deal. Looking in the machine tool catalogs, I found it for $148,$151, & $158. So, I can’t have any complaints for $50, heh?
OK, this is the Hardened Steel 4 piece set with the square head, the center head, and the protractor. It also has the Engineering scale on the ruler, which has the 100th inch scale rather than the 64th inch of the carpenter’s version. Just what I was looking for.
But, with my eBay luck, it arrived missing the centering head (on the left in the above photo). I contacted the seller, and he said he was sorry, and promised to send me the head. Today I received the center head, so no problems, heh?
Well, you forgot my eBay luck, he sent me the cheaper cast iron head instead of the hardened steel head that comes with the set. The cast iron set is about $30 cheaper than the hardened steel head and if you drop the iron heads on the shop floor they tend to break. Maybe, if I send it back he will send me the correct one, but I am real tired of hassling with eBay sellers, so I guess I will just keep it as is, and put this seller in my list of folks not to buy from again.
On a more positive side, I got some stuff I ordered from amazon.com, including a dial indicator set that has the magnetic base a 0-0.001 dial indicator with a 22pc head set (I do not know what I need that for), and a 0,015-0-0.015 dial test indicator (I do know what to use it for).
You use it to show variations in a measurement. In this photo you can see it measuring the runout on that shaft. The shaft there has a runout of -0.0 to +.0005 of an inch. about an inch from the chuck. Pretty good, but not phenomenal. However, it is small enough that you can not see any wobble at the end of that 5″ shaft when you turn the chuck.
PayPal decided against me on the lathe deal, I had asked for a $135 refund. off the $370 I paid the guy for a supposedly working lathe. The $135 was what I had to pay for the parts needed to put the lathe back into working condition. I did not ask anything for the approximately $250 worth of work involved. I would have been far better off buying a brand new lathe from Harbor Fright for $499 + $6.99 shipping. At least this was a “live and learn” situation, rather than the guy outright deliberately cheated me.
Now, with amazon.com, if something is wrong with what you buy, they will provide a prepaid return shipping label, and as soon as they have the tracking number, refund your money or ship out a replacement. They are a joy to buy from.