Dividers And Calipers

Posted by Easy WoodCraft on

Mar 3, 2016

A spring divider differs from a com­pass in that both legs hold metal points instead of a single point and a pencil or pencil lead. The legs of the dividers are opened or closed by adjust­ing a knurled nut on one of the legs. Although you can use dividers to scribe circles or arcs, they are more commonly used for layout to "divide" (hence the name) or step out equal distances, often referred to as stepping off a measure­ment.

Stepping off measurements

Once you've set the dividers to the desired setting, you can easily "step off" equal measurements along a line by "walking" the dividers along the line. Simply pivot the dividers as you go by holding the post between your finger and thumb and moving the dividers from one point to another.

CALIPERS: INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

At first glance, a caliper looks very similar to a set of dividers. On closer examination you'll find that the difference lies in the legs. On a set of inside calipers, the legs bow in (photo below right); with outside calipers, they curve gently out at the ends (photo at left). Calipers are used primarily to take accurate inside and outside measurements so that these can be

transferred to another layout or to reproduce a part. If you practice holding the caliper so that your fingers can adjust the knurled knob, you can set it with one hand, leaving the other hand free to steady the work.

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