What is it? Set 246

[Sam Soltan]

1388 - Jib for motion picture or TV Camera.

1389 - Gang saw to cut fret slots on guitar fingerboard.

[Rob H.]

Just posted this week's set:

[kfvorwerk]

1387. mold to make lead hammer put handle in hole, melt lead in ladle and pour. Last couple weeks are relly hard. Karl

[Andrew Erickson]

weeks....

1387 -- Very strange cast object. Possibly used in a metal casting operation? Molten lead or whatever could be scooped (or melted) in the ladle portion, and scum and slag captured in the hollow cylindrical hinged portion by tilting the works slightly, then the purer metal poured into the mold. 1388 -- Googling "Brains and Pictures" reveals that it's an austrian firm specializing in camera handling machinery for television and motion picture use. It would therefore seem that this is some sort of a motorized camera positioning system. 1389 -- Clearly a multiple saw of some manner, seemingly used to saw grooves in or possibly strips of a sheet good of some sort. From the substantial size of the arbor, I'm guessing maybe its used for metal (Aluminum?). The sizes of the strips or groove spacing obviously vary; it's not clear, to say the least, what possible construction they may be used in. 1390 -- Spring compressor, maybe for valve springs on old engines? 1391 -- Early form of GPS navigator device, giving directions to the operator of a motor vehicle. Maybe used by drivers on a bus line. "Macadam and pike" would refer to paved roads or toll (turnpike) roads, presumably the smoothest, fastest, and best-maintained of the day. 1392 -- Clueless, but with a nagging suspicion I should recognize this. The cutout appears to be a bottle cap lifter shape, while the toothed bit looks like it should engage a bit of belting, two functions that generally don't go together.

[Stuart Wheaton]

1387. For casting a lead or Babbit hammer head on a metal handle. 1388. Aerial Camera Dolly 1389. Gang Saw for slitting sheet materials into strips 1390. Specialised C-clamp Brake or spring compressor? 1391. Trip directions on roads from Cinci to Dayton, probably for bus drivers or truckers. Directions could be used over and over. probably handed to the driver at the terminal or station when they are assigned the trip, second half of the roll gets the next driver back. 1392. Combination bottle opener and cork puller

[Lee Michaels]

for the frets in the neck of a guitar.

What is not clear though is if there is enough room at the ends to allow the two ends of the neck to clear the pillow blocks. Also, how does the neck slide under the saw?

I suppose that this devise could be mounted on top and the stock slid underneath it.

[Lee Michaels]

Thinking about this... I suppose that you could mount this underneath a table and slide the stock over it. Kinda like a little gang table saw. Providing the ends could clear the blades.

[Bruce in Bangkok]

The multi-saw is to saw fret slots in the finger board for a stringed instrument neck. The finger board is about 1/4" thick, usually rosewood or ebony, and is glued to the neck after slotting.

[Lee Michaels]

That I have not seen. The one I saw cut the slots into a full size neck. But what you are saying does make perfect sense.

How does this 1/4" material move over or under the blades? I keep thinking about making sure that the hand does not get near these blades.

[Stuart Wheaton]

The spacing makes sense, except that the cut off blade inside the two last frets seems wrong...maybe it was put together in different ways for cutting fretboards for different guitars? I would guess it mounts below a table and fretboards are clamped into a sled that passes over it. The end blades cut to length, and the shallow blades cut for the fret wire Since the cut is so wide, something must push it through evenly or it will bind and destroy the work.

[Steve]

The slotting operation is done before the fingerboard is glued to the neck of the guitar. The two blades that are slightly larger diameter actually trim the fingerboard to length, while the rest cut the fret slots.

--Steve

[Steve]

The fingerboard would have to be mounted on a sled of some kind, to keep it true and prevent binding.

I have a special saw blade that I mount on my table saw for this process - it cuts a .023" slot. I attach the fingerboard with double-sided tape to a template that has a notch for each fret position. I have a miter gauge with a pin that goes in those notches. I have several templates for different scale lengths.

--Steve

[Rob H.]

The owner of this saw said that the blade spacing was set up for a mandolin, the link below is to a photo that shows how it was used:

[Matthew T. Russotto]

1387: Signal lamp holder, minus lamp. 1388: Dolly for lighting or camera 1389: It's a saw. Don't know why it has that particular set of blades. 1390: A clamp which can be used to temporarily suspend piping from a beam 1391: It's a box containing a set of directions from Cincinatti, OH to Dayton,OH. Google maps does not return the same set of directions, even avoiding I-71, instead starting with a leg north on Main, then right at 7th to Gilbert, left on Eden Park, and only then to Reading.

I imagine it was mounted in a bus, or perhaps a delivery truck or similar vehicle.

[Matthew T. Russotto]

What about the two blades beyond the end of the upper large blade?

[Matthew T. Russotto]

Replying to myself because I missed the obvious clue: Perhaps it's for a mail truck. The first directions start "From P.O."...

[Lee Michaels]

"Rob H." wrote

got guitar in my mind and just did not think of anything else.

I should of got it because I have seen a similar setup for a dulcimer.

[Stuart Wheaton]

The dulcimer I built was a one-off so I just cut the frets in by hand with a coping saw.

Stuart

[Scott Lurndal]

Spares, or used for other instruments. It's clear that they can be moved around and respaced as necessary by removing the nut on the end of the shaft.

scott

[DoN. Nichols]

I'll start replying here where I have read only this discussion on one item.

And yes, I had thought of a saw for slitting the neck of a string instrument to accept the frets -- with a guitar being the most likely. The spacing of the blades matches normal fret positioning, and the blades are normal slitting saw blades for a horizontal milling machine.

I saw it earlier, but was not into my newsreader at that time, so I postponed posting.

1389 (out of order))

Since there is usually an ebony fretboard glued to the neck, I think that this is to prepare the ebony prior to gluing it in place. This explains the two larger diameter slitting saws near the ends. But why there are two more shallow cut slitting saws past the tuning head end of the fingerboard -- I don't know. Perhaps for cutting off pieces to use as nuts or bridges? But if so, why shallow cut blades instead of deep ones?

1387) A mould for casting a lead hammer head around a length of steel pipe to make a soft hammer.

1388) Hmm ... a portable short conveyer belt?

A small punkin chunker?

Views from other angles might help.

1389) (above)

1390) Perhaps for clamping woodwork, with soft wood held in the jaws to contact the workpiece?

Perhaps to compress a certain style of disk brake piston prior to replacing the pads? (It looks as though it would work for the disk brake cylinders of my old MGA at least.

1391) A pre-GPS route to mount perhaps in a commercial truck or a bus for an uncommon route so the driver can advance it as he progresses.

Obviously, you are at the mercy of whoever typed up the tape to go in it. :-)

1392) Well ... *part* of it is a beer bottle opener.

Something makes me think that the folding spiked part is for dealing with caught fish.

Not sure what the two lips beyond the bottle opener are for.

Now to see what others have guessed.

Enjoy, DoN.