Gauging the height of the flatwork

[ti479]

How do you guys gauge the distance from the bottom piece of flatwork to the top when pressing in magnet rods ? I had been using a plastic shim I made that wrapped around the alnico rods and used that thickness of the shim to gauge the distance. what do you guys use if anything ? Does anyone make a pro set of gauges for this purpose ?

[copperheadroads]

I have spacers cut to an accurate height that i use to get the correct coil height . i also have flatwork jigs that do this as well

[John_H]

I've made several different wooden spacers for various pickup models. I use a rubber band to hold them together against the magnet/poles in between the flatwork pieces.

[DoctorX]

Clamshell jigs made from aluminum or brass...much like a large pair of parallel jaw pliers.

[DoctorX]

Used with a small arbor press. The "pliers jig" is mounted to a baseplate which has a relief milled into it the shape of the lower forbon piece....the upper forbon piece fits into a relief milled into an upper plate mounted on the ram of the arbor press. Magnets get positioned in the pliers, jaws close, ram lowered, magnets and top and bottom forbon pieces are assembled.

[big_teee]

Pictures of all these methods you guys use, would be nice.
As the cliche "A picture paints a thousand words"
Here's one method using a drill press, or similar press.
There are scads of ways to build flatwork.
No more than I make, I beat them in with a mallet, and measure the height with a caliper.

[kayakerca]

I also use clam shell style bobbin assembly jigs with guide pins and a top section that presses the top flatwork on. The assembling itself is done on a 1 ton arbor press. I do them up on the milling machine which makes for a pretty accurate setup. I know, not every shop has a milling machine handy. . .

[DoctorX]

variations on a theme, but that's basically it. Depends on your design / fabrication skills. learn how to MIG weld (TIG if you have the $)

[DoctorX]

A great book to have on your bookshelf: Die Design Fundamentals by Vukota Boljanovic - 2nd or 3rd ed. Will describe what / how to build production quality tooling, even if you are a small shop. Time is money....

[DoctorX]

In other words, the book details how to make punches and dies to punch your own forbon top and bottom pieces. The techniques can easily be applied to a bench mounted manual or electric punch press, or....use the punch and die set in a (large enough) arbor press.