What is this?

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

I found this box in a flea market. Could they be some kind of gauge blocks? The thicknes of the disks is not constant. But there are no markings on most of them. Also the box has no markings. What could they be?

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

They look more like calibration weights  than gauge blocks. The varying size of the central section could be their metric.

I would sort them into sets with the same size centres as a starting point, and see how many sets you end up with.

 

PS random thought – could they be a set of Go/NoGo samples for testing penny arcade slot machines? An old penny is just over 30mm diameter and comparing them with the 28mm circle on the cutting mat they look about that size.

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

The cetral section doesn’t vary too much. Also a lot of the disks don’t have a distinct central section. Their exact diameter is 33mm.

But I find some interesting clues. Very few of them have some markings. And it appear to be the thickness. 3.45mm in case of the one on the bottom left. Also on the two disks on the right you can see some round marks. I saw soemthing simillar on my rectangular gauge blocks.

But is not a bad design to print the size of the disk on the face where you should have the best surface finish? And the whoole design looks wrong to me. You can’t see the markings when the disks are in the box. And you can’t even remove one disk. You have to flip the box and then they all fall out!

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

They look as if they could be sections of bar that have been heat treated in some way – possibly case hardened.  Polished and etched on one side and then stored as quality control specimens.

They could also be some form of calibration target for X-ray Diffraction or some other high tech analysis ( high tech back in the 1950s !)

Rod

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

the circular marks look like wear marks?

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Bucket cam shims?

[bernard towers]

On bernard towers Said:

the circular marks look like wear marks?

Yes. My rectangulat gauge have also wear marks. My 1500kg milling machine has a slot where you could insert gauge blocks and I think that is why those marks are there. This is why I incline more to think that they are gauge blocks.

[martin haysomParticipant @martinhaysom48469]

bucket cam shims. as Bernard said.

[bernard towers]

On bernard towers Said:

Bucket cam shims?

Kind of,

You use them to set the clearances on the cams using these, then order the proper ones from the OEM.

[martin haysom]

On martin haysom Said:

bucket cam shims. as Bernard said.

Every day is a school day 🙂

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Roderick, I agree, I’ve never heard of such things.

Regards Nick.

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Did not know They had “kick the bucket” shims!

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

… as used with the Hillman Imp engine, of fond memory

MichaelG.

[Wade BeattyParticipant @wadebeatty78296]

Also Alfa Romeo engines

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

So not so usefull anymore. And since they are hardned I can’t even make a washer out of them.

[Michael Gilligan]

1. On Michael Gilligan Said:

   … as used with the Hillman Imp engine, of fond memory

   MichaelG.

   I think your memory must be failing, SWMBO had an Imp when I met her, I spent at least as long mending it as driving it. Nice car when it was running, but sucking cooling air from underneath wasn’t a bright idea, so we had endless overheating problems. As for setting thd tappets, taking the dngine out made it easier, fortunately you didn’t need a crane, and it didn’t need doing often. When we eventually sold it I poured a can of STP in to quieten the tappets

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I had an estate[*] and then  a Singer Chamois, Duncan … and loved ‘em both.

MichaelG.

[*]

https://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/reviews/hillman/husky/

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

well I suppose lack of quality control means every now and again a good one will get through, you were lucky

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

Yep, bucket cam shims. Looks like most are used examples. They are not gauges but the working shims. My experience of them is on Lotus 900 series DOHC 16V engines (Jensen Healy and 503 Elite.
Process is:
A. measure clearances
B. Remove camshafts
C. Note position of buckets and shims and remove them
D. Measure each shim
E. Calculate required thickness of replacement shim to give correct clearance for each valve
F. Reassemble shims, buckets and camshafts taking care thet the correct shims and buckets go back on the same valve stem.
G. Check clearances
H Go back to B if you didn’t get C,D, E or F correct…..

If you are lucky enough to have access to a surface grinder you can grind the replacement shim to the exact thickness required rather than the closest undersize you have or can order.

Robert.

[bernard towers]

On bernard towers Said:

Bucket cam shims?

They are 33mm diameter. Maybe we can have a sensible guess to the scale/capacity of engine that would need such a large diameter.

Cars mentioned so far probably do not have 33mm diameter valves let alone the stems of those valves.

 

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

the buckets are that size as they fit over the outside dia of the valve springs

[Patrick VallatParticipant @patrickvallat98682]

If I remember well,and the printed numbers ring a bell

80’s   Fiat/Lancia single and twin cam bucket shims, a special tool to push the bucket down and a tweezer to remove the shim, with use, the number would disappear and a micrometer was needed…

[howardbParticipant @howardb]

Fits Volvo and Volvo Penta B19/B21/B23/B200/B230

The old red block SOHC Volvo car motor.

From 2.70mm – 5.20mm with 0.05mm increments 33mm diameter – also fits some BMW engines.

They are overbucket shims, the cam runs on the shim, fit them with the measurement marking down, so the marking doesn’t disappear with wear.

https://www.kgtrimning.org/200-ser-1/engineparts/cylinderhead/ejb.html

[Paul Mills 4Participant @paulmills4]

Yamaha XS overhaed cam engines had valve shims about that size, although from what I remember tended to be at the bottom of that range

[An OtherParticipant @another21905]

The Jaguar XK engines also used bucket shims – I spent many hours setting them up. If the ones shown are 33mm dia, they are not Jaguar, as they were around 18mm dia if I remember correctly – still got some somewhere out in the garage.

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