Last month I bought myself a pair of stair gauges made by Starrett, Once I got them in the mail I noticed that one of them weren't true with the blade of the square, so I contacted starrett by email and they agreed with me that one of them weren't correctly manufactured.
So they sent me a new pair free of charge that they promised to be true.
This Friday I got the new ones and to my surprise both of them are incorrectly manufactured..
Now I own one correctly made and three incorrectly made gauges, I don't think 1 correct out of 4 is a good sign for starrett, I can't even imagine how many they sold that are incorrectly made.
I made a video on YouTube that I will send to starrett so they will understand what I mean.
You can watch it here if you like:
Now I would like to know if anyone else owns a pair of starrett stair gauges, If so how is yours manufactured?
I would expect the same quality that Starrett is known for....being off 1mm is a mile in comparison with other Starrett tools I own. When the error can be seen obviously with the naked eye, someone didn't do their job....they ASSUMEd it was correct, and I'm sure everyone knows the old adage about assume'ing ;-)
I only expected them to be made as stated in the description, and consider the price tag of $40 these are supposed to be top of the line. Because that's how they advertise themselves.
And in my opinion it should be a quick fix to make them the way they were intended to be made.
And when I get these response from Starrett what else would you expext?
"I am been able to secure a new pair of gages that have been manufactured correctly."
You would think someone would check the replacements. It's seems nothing is well made anymore. That's why I'm happy buying Chinese tools. At least they are cheap.
That's not a good sign. I recently ordered a pair of "professional pliers" from one of the top "Made in the USA" tool makers and received one with the nose misaligned by 1/16 of an inch. They did send me a non-defective replacement. Production mishaps happen all the time, but allowing these sorts of mistakes to get past quality control and into the wild makes you wonder. I'm sure Starrett will make it right. Thanks for the video.
FWIW I have a set of the round model. regardless of the style, I would do this precautionary step regardless. I ALWAYS calculate the hypotenuse of the rise/run triangle, and mark that repeatedly off the edge of the stringer. The I use the square with gauges and get the alignment as close as possible to those marks. you will be much more accurate this way, then not.
for a test sometime, run off a set of marks using the hypotenuse method, and one without - then compare.
the round-over on the stringers edge, un-evenness of the surfaces just don't help when trying to use the gauges solely and reliably.
So I have some news in this matter, they just replied to my latest email, here it is.
"Hello Andreas
Sorry to hear about receiving a second pair of gages that are not correct. I have sent your email (along with the you-tube link to our tech support team and chief inspector for their review and thoughts.)
At this time our options are limited as we have no units in stock to send you. There is a production lot going in the factory, but that lot is just beginning and will be some time before we have these units available. I am waiting to see what we have for a delivery schedule for these new sets.
I will have some more information for you as soon as possible. sit tight. we'll get this issue cleared up as soon as possible.
Than you for your video and patience in this matter.
Normally, the gauges are not placed on a mark or lined up with any graduations. Whether or not they line up when clamped face to face as you showed in the video shouldn't make any difference. You simply place your square on the work and line up the marks of the square with the edge of the workpiece. Hold the square steady then slide the gauges up to make contact with the workpiece. The gauges will allow repeated positioning of the square once set up. The gauges are only stops, as long as they register the same on the work and stay put, nothing else matters.
I have a pair of Starrett gauges like yours, except I bought them about forty years ago. To be honest with you, I've never put them on the square like you did, back to back. Basically all they are, are bump stops. But I agree, coming from Starrett, they should be machined right. I'll have to check mine when I go out to the shop tomorrow. I have several other measuring tools of theirs, and they are only a few years old. They are right on the money and all made in the USA.
Mike Hawkins:smile3:
Great to hear Mike, you are the first one I've heard from that owns a pair of these,
It will be interesting to hear how yours were made even tho it was forty years ago, really looking forward to it.
Ok, I took a look at my old gauges, and it appears they line up with each other pretty good. Here's a pic and I'll post a couple more in the next posts. iPad only lets me do one at a time.
Mike Hawkins:smile3:
Yes indeed yours look like they are properly made, flush with each other and flush with the square just as they should be.
Thank you for the photos Mike!
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