As a retired metallurgist with many hundreds of hours using various hardness testers, I have a few comments. First, 100kg or 150kg is the load applied by the penetrator to the gage block or work being tested, not the sum of the weights hanging on the back of the machine- there is a considerable mechanical advantage involved here. ASTM E18, the governing specification, recognizes that moving a hardness tester- even within a building- can be traumatic. It's money well spent to find a hardness tester service tech in your area to clean, oil, perform minor repairs and verify your nice machine. He or she will check your conical diamond penetrators for chips that are virtually invisible. Speed of force application is just one important facet of hardness tester function- that will be checked out. While you may not be doing certified work, you'll want to treat the machine like any other fine measuring tool. On the Rockwell C scale, one division is equivalent to a penetration depth of 40-80 millionths of an inch! Rockwell testers cannot tell the difference between penetration and elastic deflection. It's important that the test piece be clean and dry and lay flat against the anvil. Workpiece camber can yield an erroneous (low) value and this is compounded by large diameter anvils. Hollow parts also can yield misleading numbers. You may have in your kit anvils with 0.25" or smaller contact patch. Smaller anvils are more repeatable and accurate provided the work is balanced. (Make sure nobody has performed a hardness test directly on the anvil). Don't depend on the preload to support a long workpiece. Outboard supports are often used. Hardness tests on round shafts require a V-anvil or roller cradle. Hardness values are corrected upwards- especially for softer materials and smaller diameters. Workpiece thickness should be at least 10X the depth of penetration. Minimum thickness and curvature correction charts simplify matters. Flip over thin parts and check the back for evidence; if you see a mark, the test is invalid. It is not OK to stack thin stock to build thickness. When performing multiple tests, make sure the test spacing is at least 2.5-3X the impression diameter. Don't test through mill scale, oil or grease. And get a dust cover over your instrument. A VCI emitter under the bonnet will keep surfaces rust free in your Florida climate. Anyway, congratulations- your shop auction haul was incredible!

Adam, NEVER back off the preload if you overshoot the zero. You will get low readings because overshoot pushes the diamond test point a bit deeper into the material. Since you can't rotate the dial to this new zero position, just remember the offset from the desired zero and add it to the final reading. Also the the bolts in the wood box are probably for bolting the tester to a stand. There are threaded holes under the machines base.

Nice job handling the hardness testing procedure! Retired metallurgist here from a career in industrial failure analysis, we put the hardness testers to use frequently...my only suggestion in observing your technique is that you did a nice job of avoiding crashing large anvil into the diamond cone indenter. It's heavy and typically when it releases from the last thread the operator tends keep lifting! If it's too close to the indenter...crash! Better the lower the anvil much farther away from the indenter of justt remove the indenter before switching anvils. An your are 100% correct in mentioning that the tester is simply measuring the depth of penetration of the indenter...good information for the viewers out there. Also the "C-scale" is for the diamond "Cone" indenter, the B-scale is for the hardened "Ball" (not rocket science). You might want to check the indentations on your test standard, if is says 94 it is most likely round ball indentations and the 94 is on the B-scale...i.e. softer material. Like I said, I'm a retired engineer learning the hobby machinist pass-time. I enjoy your knowledge and experience....I have a lot to learn! Thanks for sharing, it's great!

For those upset about the promo for KBC Tools. It's not that bad and you can skip over it. Keep in mind we don't know if Adam likes the guys and giving them a plug or it's a payback for some freebies. Who cares? It's his channel and it's not that intrusive at this time. I'm sure Adam knows where the line is and won't step over it. Consider all the hours of great video he has provided and measure that against him talking about a product for a few minutes. No comparison. Yes, the tour of the KBC Tools website was too much. I've never seen a website tour before and I'd rather not see one again but we don't know the reason it happened so let's cut him some slack, let things find their own level and see what happens as Adam finds his way in something that's new for him and us.

Great instrument Adam, I have spent 10 plus years on hardness testing machines, mainly Vickers and Micro Hardness (Knoop), but the Rockwell type are as you say for production sampling, each hardness test peice should state the load used, you only use the higher forces for harder materials. I'm sure you'll enjoy the added feature of testing parts before you start machining. Be careful when using it for very very hard materials. Thanks for sharing.

About 30 years ago I worked in a heat treat shop and used a Rockwell hardness tester to check my work. Your video brought back memories, thanks Adam.

The 96 hardness standard was B scale, not C scale. 100 Rockwell B is about 20 Rockwell C. I'd suggest you try and Google a copy of ASTM E18 -- Standard testing methods for rockwell hardness. It explains the correct procedure, as well as conversion tables between different hardness scales and correction factors if you're taking the hardness of a curved surface.

Twenty seconds into this video, my wife asked me "Are you smiling back at Adam again!?" Ha ha ha! You've got a great infectious smile, Man! - It's even making my Mrs. jaloux. I love the shaper work; the finish on those soft jaws is beautiful.

One thing i have always loved about your machining and project videos is that we see basically every step and every cut. No skipping through or unnecessary fast forwarding. It gives much more satisfaction and i feel im there with you. I would gladly go through a job real time but obviously thats not practical for a youtube video. Keep up the awesome videos mate. Deren Australia

Hey Adam. When I was a tool and die maker in my grandfather's shop, we used almost the same model if not the same to check our die sections / tooling that we heat-treated in house. It was great seeing that tool ... brought back fond memories.

Man I just love the shaper. Milling machines are fine but that K&T just sings!! It seems like you've really nailed the art of grinding/honing the tooling. It makes all the difference in the world.

I never thought about the vise lifting the piece but your explanation makes perfect sense. I can see the movable jaw coming up, since the thread comes in on the bottom of the jaw. Good stuff, as usual.

I could watch the shaper all day. It always amazes me how such a large machine with such a long stroke can produce such consistently accurate and beautiful finishes, its a tribute to the men who designed and built it.

I love tap magic! I was first introduced to it working on my ship in a shipyard in for repairs. I was drilling grease ports in a stainless steel pin and wasn’t having much success so an old machinist passed by and offered to make it. I was determined to do it myself, so he came back with a diamond hone and a small tin of tap magic. I had a wire bur on my drill bit and the tap magic worked excellent.

Wow, another great Abom video to enjoy plus a coupon code for KBC. I've had a few minor items in my cart with them for a while and that extra $25 savings just pushed my to buy them. Thanks Adam for a great vid and some new parallels, edge finders and 123 blocks.

Thanks Adam, it's Sunday morning , and drinking my morning Dunkin Donuts coffee and I just watched this, I have to say it was great, the shaper really does a nice job. But seeing a hardness tester for the first time was "spectacular" thank you!

Adam Enjoy your channel and wish you the best . I am 40 years in the trade Toolmaker/Modelmaker and have made a lot hard tooling for our company.We have the exact same hardness tester. The small tool platen that was at the bottom of the box is the standard issue for the unit. The large diameter platen must be a optional attachment or ours is gone. Very nice to have a larger work surface. The standards that you showed should have markings that show HRC Rockwell C scale (diamond point- for heat-treated steels) others may say HRB Rockwell B scale ( 1\16 ball point - for softer -usually stock material non -heat treated materials). The HRB reading can help with determining speeds and feeds for different metals. I have read that when measuring round parts the reading can be off a little due to the sides curves away effecting the penetration.Thank you for sharing your expertise and knowledge and for all you do to promote this wonderful trade. Ps love the shaper work. Have a 7inch at my home shop -just does not compare to the stout machine you have.

That was cool, keep all the good videos coming Adam. I learn something new from your videos all the time and enjoy them very much.

Used the rockwell hardness tester in my apprenticeship and through the years handy. Thankfully a lot of prototype word is still done on human operated machinery before it gets to the CNC stage. Some trades are becoming lost arts. A trade keeps the brain sharp and the hands busy 😀😀😀

Another good SNS. Hardness tester is very interesting. And, again, I love the shaper. Beautiful finish. And hello Booth trio at the end. Thanks.

Very nice work on the shaper, that tap magic worked very well. I wish I had the room in my small shop for a shaper. Adam you have exposed people the another old school way of machining. Good for you!

I've used that hardness tester and the Olsen Stiffness tester when I processed sheet metal before the slitting process. It was important to know when stamping coils of steel for the manufacturer.

Hey Adam, The shop where I used to work, we adjusted the dial on the hardness tester after it was preloaded - I don't know for sure if it makes a difference on your tester but that's how I was taught to use the shops tester. You may want to give it the 3 turns to preload it and then try to adjust the dial to zero. (It may only work after it has some stress on it) Don't know for sure but, it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. Good luck, can't wait for a video showing everything that you won at the auction. Later

Hi Adam, paused the video when you mentioned storing your hardness tester info sheets in a filing cabinet. It occurred to me that you probably have a very valuable stockpile of very hard to replace documents. If you are not already copying these documents in a digital format you may want to consider it. The easiest way I have found is to take pictures of each document and have at least one back up of the pictures, two back ups would be better. Make sure one back up is off site in case of a fire in your shop. Another tip since you are taking video anyway is make sure you have video of all your possessions, business and personal, and store a back up of that off site as well. Invaluable in case of a catastrophe. Back to the video. Cheers from B.C.

Adam I have been using Tap Magic since the 1980’s for drilling and taping and on rare occasions for machining. It is a great product for both steel and aluminum. Keep up the great work buddy.

This is the fist QC Instrument I learned how to operate. In the beginning of our apprenticeship Heat Treating was learned and a requisite part our training , so we would test the material once it had been quenched and drawn to the correct harness. Since we were heat treating tool steel this was a critical part of the process. In a metal stamping plant there are a variety of tool steels required for manufacturing dies, gauges, jigs and fixtures and special machine tools.

The only guy in America that has perfectly machined soft jaws for his vice!!!! Nice!

Gday Adam, it is Sunday morning here in Australia and like every Sunday morning I am blessed with laying on the lounge watch SNS, life doesn’t get any better then this, absolutely fantastic, I really enjoy the shaper work and the viewer gifts are fantastic, thanks mate for making life enjoyable, Cheers Matty in Australia 🇦🇺

The sounds that shaper makes are so much better than what is considered "music" these days.

Adam, your Hardness tester reminds me of my years working both for Teledyne McKay and Thermadyne Stoody. Both were manufacturers of stainless and wear resistant (hardfacing welding alloys). Rockwell C and the Mohs scales were our meat and potatoes! Great buy and great video!

Excellent video . Very inforative . Made hardness testing much more clearer . Thanks Adam

It seems in Northern BC canada that a Rockwell Tester can not be found anywhere. Every once in a while I have to send a piece all the way south to vancouver to let me know what is what. What a great wall chart and sure enjoying the post today bud. Many thanks eh.

Glad to see you are taking some time with your self and Abbey.For sure life is short and not promised to anyone..

Very nice indeed. I love your approach to dedication for a work well done.

At one shop I work at had a Rockwell tester that worked on a whole different concept as that one. Can't remember the manufacturer but it was a quality overbuilt heavy casted machine. It worked by dropping a weighted carbide tip and you measured the size of dent it made with an optical comparator included with the machine. For all I know there may be many ways to test hardness. I think someone even makes a noncomplying rudimentary pocket tester.

man , that shaper finish is super nice , especially with the 0.01 stepower

What a beautiful finish on that aluminium!

I'm a big fan of that shaper finish, Wow!

Nice Togoshi Seiki Hardness Tester ! Nice finish on aluminum from Shaper cut !

I use a hardness tester very regularly for grading the quality of cane for the purpose of making oboe reeds. Any pieces softer than -14 are discarded. Saves time later because I get rid of bad material before spending more time on it. Mine is a lot smaller than the one you bought!! But the basics are the same. Mine is digital though. Cool stuff!

Adam, I have worked a couple of years in QC with a full set of Mitutoyo instruments. A CMM crysta apex, hardness test, projector etc... I know that sensation...measuring means knowledge. What a nice deal man!

Good video again, glad you mentioned ABBIE (hope spell it rite) haven't heard you mention her for a while. I worked for a steel forging works mfg. Axle shafts ,large trucks down to small cars ,after heat treated would check hardness with Brinnel) test different instruments for various metals I guess. Thanks.

Nice addition for metrology in the shop. Just as a note, try US Plastics Corp., they have any and all plastic bottles, containers, buckets and even barrels that you may find useful or need. Always enjoy your content!

Great video! I've wondered how the harness testers work and now I know. Thanks!

That was good that the hardness tester came with the complete kit and paperwork! By the way the copies of the instruction manual were mimeographs that is what was used before the days of copy machines.

That paper work looks like atleast 40years old and that hardness tester machine like brand new. Beautiful :)

👍👍nice addition to the shop. Watching in Alabama

I had forgotten just how good is shaper was. Thanks for the reminder.

That was a real treat Adam. Thank you.

I saw a MADE IN AMERICA Kershaw Leek pocket knife! I carry one every day! Thanks for another great video!

Thanks for the KBC discount Adam.

Adam, the finish left on those aluminium ( sorry I'm English lol) soft jaws does look as if it has been surface ground. A superb finish, but that's Mr perfection for you! Nice job mate.

Thanks Adam, another great SNS.

In all three tip-force-depth hardness scales, they use the inverse of the value calculated times a constant to give a number used as the output on the dial, with the higher this number (smaller the mark on the sample), the higher the hardness. Brinell, for example, was based on fully annealed pure iron sample at room temperature (ferrite crystals) being very close to 100 on its scale, with the maximum (pure cementite at room temperature for a maximum hardness steel quench) being roughly 700, though anything above about 650 or so starts deforming the carbide ball and accuracy goes down with those higher hardnesses (diamond tips in the Vickers and Rockwell "C" are good for practically anything that steel can give, no matter how it is hardened).

I used to takes a lot of measurements in electronic systems where, similar to your tester, repeatability was always a little off. I would use more than three measurements, but throw out the high and the low and average the rest. That helps get a more representative number. Oh, and the softjaws looked as nice as a surface grinding job to me!

Adam, you may have already taken care of the bezel-dial issue, but if not you can try this. On a dial gage there's often a notch in the outer edge of the dial that engages a small tab in the underside of the bezel. This allows the bezel to "carry" the dial as you rotate it. The notch and tab may have become disengaged, and if you spin the bezel all the way around a couple times you might get the bezel tab and dial notch to line up so that the tab can re-seat in the dial notch.

The new shop layout looks nice.

awesome, great to have when making tool bits, drill bits, taps etc

The big table you have on the hardness tester is normally in the storage box and the other one you were wondering about stays on the hardness tester. Unless one of the other plates/tables are needed. Nice find Adam. Ken

One of shops I worked at had one of this same brand. Punched a lot of hardness checks using it. Later replaced with a new Wilson hardness tester, nice! Won a eBay auction years ago for several grinding wheel dressers. Turned out to be diamond penetrators for Rockwell C hardness checking. Luckily, they haven't touched a grinding wheel! I'll have to see if I still have then here somewhere. Ken S

*_Damn bro, lookin slim!_* Keep it up, it's working.

Haven’t watched a video in a while. Man you look good.

The first reading on the hardness tester was off due to the back off on preload and the 94 block looked to be a B block with those deep indents

Soft jaws for Kurt vises are availabe from Monster Jaws on eBay for about $10 per pair machined on all six sides. Frank

Hi Adam, May I make a suggestion for tracking out what may have been the surface finish issue on the chill block versus the soft jaws? Do a hardness test on the chill block and on the soft jaws. That may tell you that the chill block was extremely soft (for machining aspects). I have often seen similar things occur when machining 6061-T4 versus 6061-T6 aluminum. The T4 temper is 'just barely' considered "machinable" by many. Great videos! Again, be safe, & keep the content coming! LOVE IT ALL! Ken

Love the hardness tester. I have always wondered them and now I have seen one in use :)

Awesome work Adam. Any chance you could get a mirrored of your logo so whenever you showcase the surface finish we can see your logo in the reflection?

I think I saw a pinion gear attached to the bezel ring rotating when you moved it.There should be a rack attached to the dial face that meshes with the pinion. They can be ran past and you will have to dismantle the bezel to get the gear teeth to mesh back up. I work with precision pressure test gauges and it happens to us all the time thanks to idle hands.

I liked this video. However, you left out the interesting principle of operation. Hardness is measured by how deep the 200 Kgs can push the diamond point into the metal. Some viewers may not have seen this. Thanks. Keep up the good work.

You may use the Ball tip to check the Fireball tools Ductile consistency. Sometimes is needs stress relieving/annealing to stay in tolerance after machine work has been done. Cast iron is finicky. Very nice tester! Great score Adam

More shaper action! It's been too long. 😎👌👌👌👌 Lovely finish.

FYI, the big chart you show @9:33 or so says 'hardness conversion comparison chart' (koudo kansan hikaku byou), which I guess makes sense :) Thanks for giving me some kanji practice! Also you should scan that paperwork before you file it.)

Hi Adam Hilton here the Ali soft jaws could be a good product for Booth Machine Shop specially if you shape them square they look great

Thank goodness. KBC's website was such a pain prior to the update.

Maybe the first anvil with the small area is for testing dished objects that would deflect when pressed on a flat surface

Wow! Your hardness tester demo was something special. I imagine you are looking for a heat treating furnace. Maybe one with a vacuum chamber or one that can be flooded with inert gas? Digital control for ramp up, holds and cool down cycles is nice.

very nice finish on the aluminium. top job!

Adam, fantastic video. Quick question, the weights on the Hardness Tester, do they weigh that much or is that the weight multiplied and applied to the tip of the work piece?

The three major hardness scales for steels are Rockwell "C", Brinell, and Vickers Pyrimedal. The first and third use a diamond tip, the second uses a carbide ball (so it has a slightly lower maximum accurate hardness range than the others). They press the tip into the sample using a fixed specified force and note the depth (volume) of the dent mark made, with the smaller, the harder. There is also a somewhat less accurate, but quicker, Shore machine that uses a calibrated hammer that is slammed into the sample and how far it bounces off is the measurement, the higher the bounce, the harder. Shore does not put a mark on the sample and can be used in places where the others cannot, but, as you can imagine, it is rather crude and used as a first approximation usually.

Adam. Here in Sweden we often use methylated spirit as a cutting fluid for aluminium. It works great and no oil to clean up afterwards either.

Wow, what a handsome custom chart. Waxhaw is only 30 miles from my home in Charlotte.

Nice new toy man. Great video as always.

hey adam .... an old machinist here in germany told me the best cutting and cooling fluid for aluminium is methylated spirits.... i tried it myself and i have to say the results are penomelnal .. so if you want you can try it out (maybe in a video)

Ever try a bar of soap on aluminum for finish issues. I never used it on a shaper cut but have had good results turning and milling. Rub it on machined surface and tool bit or cutter. Has saved my ass before.

This time the clapper box is turned the right way, and that why the cut is much better, nice hardness tester.

Re shaping the soft jaws - Nice!

Adam looking good with the weight loss!

"That's money" would sound perfect coming from you whenever you complete an op that you're really pleased with.

Great video Adam. Cheers

This is what I like to do on my day off--watch Adam work!

Thanks Abom, next when you do some more shaper work could you show us the configuration of the various cutting tools!

I highly recommend you look into a Accu-Tapper. I’ve had one for around 20 years and would never do with out it.

Man, I can' wait to see the auction videos!

I wonder, when cutting Jody’s AL block on the shaper, if the cutting tool was catching chips on the back-stroke and friction welding or smearing them onto to the piece?

Looking great boss man! Keep it up

Adam, you must let the weight dwell on the part longer then you are giving it, the weight are is still moving when you disengage the weight.

Hardness tester is so cool, I learned something!!

Adam, when you were "letting it settle out", it looked as though you didn't give it enough time to actually settle out. I know on the third time around (with the closeup so we could see what you were doing on the 33.1 puck), the needle was actually still moving (slowly, no doubt) when you picked the load back up off of it. This could make your readings off. Just giving it a few more seconds might give you better results. Just a thought.

Fifths!! Thanks Adam! Was wondering how it works since you got it from the auction 😁😉. Good to learn

MAN I love that shaper !