For the manner in which men live is so different from the way in which they ought to live, that he who leaves the common course for that which he ought to follow will find that it leads him to ruin rather than safety.
-Machiavelli

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Making Norris adjusters

My Norris adjusters are nearly done. As with anything I do, it takes forever!
The components for two adjusters before final machining. The length of main stem will be decided after it is fit into the plane.
The working end of an adjuster. The thread on the main stem is 1/4-28. The small thread is 8-32. The small stem still needs to be trimmed for length. The small ring on the bottom will be inset into the plane handle and the adjuster will pivot on it. The small thread needs to be fixed either into the main stem or into the ring. I haven't decided on that yet.

The pivot assemblies.
Just another shot of the adjuster, this time with the pivot installed.
Now that the adjusters are in a fair state of play, I can work on finishing the handle of the plane. They need to be inset into the handle after the bed angle is finished. The screw for the back iron will either need to be turned down or replaced. If I had made the ring to fit the screw, it would be too large to allow for any lateral adjustment of the blade. After that, I will cut the main stem to length and add a brass knob.
If I were to do this again (which I imagine I will), I would make the main stem 5/16" diameter, and the small stem would be a 10-32. These feel just a little dainty.

4 comments:

  1. Mark - I've been using Ray Iles adjusters in my planes (www.juanvergara.net) and am not wild about them. How did your adjusters turn out? Do you have any for sale? Juan Hovey juan@juanvergara.net

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  2. Juan- My first adjusters turned out to be a little too light weight. Right before I got in my accident in April I was getting some new material to make a better version. I'm just now really getting back on my feet...3 months of rehab and lord knows how much more! Anyway, I want to get back to that project. I will definitely make more than one, and I've been considering making some to sell. I'll keep you up to date.

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    Replies
    1. Mark - Good. Keep me posted. Meanwhile, get well. JVH

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  3. Juan- I just had an idea. Do you want to e-mail me your requirements for an adjuster (bald68d@gmail.com)? Size of the chip-breaker screw etc? What don't you like about the ones you're using? I've never seen a Ray Iles adjuster. I have a genuine Norris to look at, and a small LV adjuster for reference. I'm thinking I can prototype one and we can see how it works for you.

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