What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Where are my glasses anyway? You wear some I think, can I borrow yours?

...I can come grab them tomorrow, at my age, it's already past my bedtime tonight.

 

I've never had a problem with mits, as long as they're used properly. In most qc departments at the large manufacturing companies I've been in it's mostly digital. When real precession is needed calipers aren't the way to go anyway.

 

I threw our QC guys digi Mits in a chip barrel once because he kept telling me my part was out of spec. Sure enough I used em and I got a different result each time, tossed em and told him to come back with something analog, vernier or dial IDC but even my nice SPI digis jump around. I stopped trusting all of em, its not a matter of whether QC or I could measure with something better, if its your go-to quick measuring device while making something it could still be the difference between a usable part and something for the scrap barrel.

 

Sounds like your qc guys didn't know what they were doing and or didn't have any schedule for verifying their tools. I've never had higher end calipers jump a tooth or cause me to make a bad part, that's always been on me... Analog can just as easily come out of calibration, all it takes is a bump. Proper care and technique.

 

My good analogs never had any problem staying accurate and were checked often. I didn't check the QC guys' tools because they weren't mine and weren't my responsibility. I didn't trust digital calipers because I couldn't find a set that didn't jump results occasionally or more often, whether my own or someone elses (and yes I was kind enough to tell them). If other guys wanted to buy em, that was fine, their parts aren't my problem. But more than one good part was ruined by digi calipers, no not cheapo ones either. At least when you check your analogs on standards they're fine as long as you don't feel something in the mech, the digis, well who knows what causes them to jump around. I stopped caring, they were more money for something that didn't afford me any convenience in an already high stress fast paced job, so I bought good quality analog stuff. Now if uncle grandad wanted me to measure his exhaust pipe diameter, yeah sure, lets pull out the ol set of Mitutoyo digi calipers, it ain't critical anyhow (one could argue anything measured with calipers isn't critical, but you know how it is in a job shop... or maybe you have a laid back take it easy gig I dunno)

 

So how do you measure something that has to be accurate, if not with calipers? I'm actually curious, given that I'm a woodworker and "super accurate" for me is measuring something to "a strong 32nd" on a tape measure

 

Mostly job shop and a bit of large scale production where everything has inspection plans, SPCs etc. Never had issues with digital calipers, have with mics though.

 

In a machine shop that's typically when various types of micrometers come out, that way you can get down to the ten-thousandth of an inch or "tenth". Machine shop life is all about chasing the right measuring tool for the job too, whether it be a thread micrometer or just a regular ruler haha, time to operate some of these tools was a factor. A typical low accuracy job in our shop was +/-.005", you can easily accomplish this with calipers. High accuracy that we would willingly take on regularly (you could get more accurate, but its costly in time and tooling) would be callouts for .0002", typically these don't have have the +/- because that's potentially .0004" of wiggle room, they might say either plus or minus depending on what direction there was slop for it to fit and occasionally you just had to hit it dead on (more rare than you might think). Depends on what the custs print called for. This would be a good campfire convo, cause I can go on all day about measurements, tools, and tolerances.

 

I don't think I knew anyone in our shop with digital mics, I'd give one a shot. I'm not opposed to the idea... I've just never seen the digital stuff produce reliable results. Occasionally an old fashioned flip style readout one would show up, that whole design is kinda annoying and they feel stickier. But really if you can't read a mic thimble quickly what business do you have operating one?

 

Like @Speedytech7 said tons of different tools, all depends on what type of feature you're measuring and the tolerance/call-out. When you get down to tenths a temp is usually specified. One of the best ways is a CMM, coordinate measuring machine, either with a stylist or light, can get down to half tenths.

 

Dial calipers aren't hard to read. Most anyone can be taught in minutes. If you're stuck in the old ways might as well go vernier.

 

I never said dial calipers were hard to read. They're my preferred. I have a couple of sets of vernier calipers, but they're both over a foot. Not really a daily use thing for me anymore

 

They're good for a toss around set, that's what I use em for. I'd it feel so bad pulling them outta the case in the garage. Anything nicer and the dial Mits come out, hut usually not in the garage haha

 

Added factory cruise control to the taco! Many parts are cross compatible with the third gen 4 runner except for some of the cruise components.. the computer and speed switch don’t plug and play as you can see.. although the actuator in the engine bay and stop light switch WILL work from a 4 runner!

 

could be. Your tip could be bad as well. depends on what you're using.

 

mine of those little butane irons. Convenient as hell.

 

Took this yesterday driving off into the sunset in the tacoma

 

Looks like you're already giving up on 2021

 

Behold the mediocrity of my HVLP painting skills.

 

Finished up my 2nd try on a

$659 SP9100 Switch Pros SP-9100 8-Switch Panel Power System With Concealed Mounting Hardware

SP9100 bracket. Turned out great.

Glad I tried to make this side work. The wiring isn't as clean as I wanted..but it's fine. Fits like a glove in there.

move the canister first.




Cardboard it up!











Fits good. Pretty happy with it. Uses 2 OEM bolt holes to mount. Leans on the fuel line which isn't great but this isn't an offroader so should be fine. I cut some vacuum hose to put on the end to keep it from rubbing it up bad.