tech; business card size bolt circle size finder

Well, I don't intend for this to be judged in tech week. But it seemed the right time to post this.

I didn't invent this; it's not an original idea; many folks have done the same thing in the past. What I'm doing is giving you the opportunity to have this for your own that you can save to your computer and always have available.

This 8 1/2" x 11" sheet contains ten business card size bolt circle size finders. I created this in AutoCAD so it is perfect in scale if you print it 1:1.

I have also saved it as an Adobe file (.pdf). It prints to exact scale from Adobe, too.

If you pm me with a request and include your e-mail address I'll respond with the AutoCAD file and the Adobe file that contains this sheet attached to the response. You can then print off as many of these as you like. Cut them apart and pass them out to your friends or just keep them for your own use.

It works best to print to card stock. If you can laminate them then that's more better good. I've heard that Wally World sells sheets of laminating material you can use yourself without having a laminating machine.

AutoCAD file is 42kb & Adobe file is 31kb.

edit: I thought that the sheet would show up as a picture, but it doesn't. Just double click on the link and it will come up in Adobe. And if anyone out there can tell me how to make it show up in the post please let me know.

Also, is there anyplace I can host the files to that you folks can download yourselves without me having to send out e-mails?

 

Very cool...the little lady is going to laminate mine....thank you.

 

The proper scale for this would be;
From START to 5 1/2" = 3 3/16"
START to 4 1/2" = 2 5/8"
Just in case someone tries to print it as it shows.
Adjust the scale accordingly.

 

hey this will be handy to put in your wallet and when the time arises then whip that baby out and you good!! great for swap meets when you dad runs off with you tape measure to look at something else.

 

OK, obviously I don't have to e-mail you if you want it in Adobe, 'cause you've got it when you click on it. Just save for yourself. If you do that, you can still print it out without having to do the scaling as eaglebeak suggested, although i****ume that that method will work just fine.

Open the file;
Click on the pull-down "Document" tab
Check the "Remove White Margins" box
Click "OK"
Print

It should come out perfect.

 

Mike, Nice job. Now I can prove to my wife what 5 1/2 inches really is. Next time I'm at the VA I will give you a shout. Keith

 

If you have winzip, you can attach any kind of file you want to your posts.

Cool idea, BTW.

 

groovy, thanks for sharing

 

Wow, I never thought about posting it as a tech but I created almost the exact same thing. It's pretty crazy how identical they are. I even had the file reproduced on sheet metal with a turret punch press (a govt. project at work) and they turned out real nice. Here is the file if anyone has AutoCAD to view. I keep one in my wallet at all times. -Jeff

 

Pretty cool, Thanks

 

if you print this correctly the resulting cards will be EXACTLY 3.5" x 2.0"

 

20 +years ago i found this type of tear outcard in the back of someones mag wheel mfr catolog... i have since worn it out but have saved the info by transfering to other cards .. now when i get my new MSRA membership card i transfer it to the back and laminate it ... even if its off a little its gives the closest dimension to the wheel circle..
thanks for doing this .. this is the first time i have seen any one with this in 25 years

 

I like that. Thanks!

 

Great find, thanks for sharing, good wallet tool for the swap meets and for parts hunting!!!

 

I got it saved on my box.
I will distribute to my friends.

Thanks,

 

thats really cool mike!!!thanks for postin!!!

 

Email me the files and I'll post them on www.tikicult.com

- Joe

 

I got the "created with an incompatible version of Autocad" message.

I have r14.

 

"I got the "created with an incompatible version of Autocad" message.

I have r14."

Here Johnny, try this one.. i saved it as a version 12 dxf. - Jeff


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Didn't work....try "save as r12" and as a "dwg" file.

TIA

 

sorry, guys. this is an AutoCAD 2008 file.

note: i was able to save it in R14/LT98/LT97 (.dwg) and R12/LT2 (.dxf). don't know why i had to go to .dxf for the R12 version, but that was my only choice. these were the oldest versions i could save it into.

 

Mike....that worked. I saved the "dwg" file.

 

Hello all.

I started this 13 years ago. I was at work then and had AutoCAD at my desk. I retired 7 years ago and don't have ACAD at home. I do, however, have Adobe. When I retired I printed about 20 sheets of this and brought them home with me. They are all gone now except the one I carry in my wallet.

Can anyone with ACAD resave this as a PDF and post it up here? Or send me the file in a conversation?

Thanx.

EDIT: I had tried to open the pdf version from my original post above and it wouldn't open. I tried it again after I sent my response and now it did open. I printed it but it's not the exact scale as the one in my wallet. As a matter of fact it's quite a ways off. Anyone know how I can change the scale in Adobe?

 

I couldn't copy what it looks like directly so I did a screen print into MSWord and copied that here. So this is what the sheet will look like (then you cut it into ten pieces):

 

Mike found this thread interesting and useful so have posted it on a couple of forums over here.
Paul

 

I just looked this up again as I'd like to print some more of these. As I said above (see response #23) the actual dimension of the cut apart card should be 2.0 x 3.5 inches. When I opened and printed the Adobe file I put into my very first post it printed something WAY off of what it should have been. Can anyone make adjustments in this and post it here.

 

I just printed it out from the file on post #1. It came out perfect. Thanks. I'm gonna see what I have to print it on that's a little more substantial. Card stock, label stock, or maybe plastic of some sort?

 

I just measure the bolt circle with my eye.

 

This is a great idea. It's funny some thirty years ago or more I was at a local tire shop buying some mags when the guy behind the counter pulled out this very worn bolt circle gauge that was torn and twisted. I was working in a machine shop at the time and asked the guy if he could photo copy the gauge for me. I took the copy back to the shop and built a mold from it. Over the last thirty years I have sold a couple thousand of them at swap meets and last year just sold the last few I had left.

 

Thanks for refreshing this thread. I used to make a template for swap meets, if I was looking for a specific bolt pattern that weekend. This is handy. I printed the file from Post 1 as well, opening it Full size, not fit to page, or zoom, and it comes out spot on.

Thanks.