Occasionally I need a piece of shim stock that is .0005", .001" or .0015" thick and maybe some of you out there do also. Slogging through Covid hasn't been any fun nor in any way entertaining but one discovery came to me. There is a good source of metalized .0015" shim stock and like two other things I'm going to tell you about this morning...it is in some ways free. Please see the first image below. That's right, it is the wrapper of a common Lay's small snack bag. Maybe the large bags are the same, but the individual sized bags are made with metalized mylar polyester which is .0015" thick and very uniform. If you need .001" you can straighten and use the wrapper of a Hall's Mentholyptus throat lozenge. Those are made of plasticized paper and are a uniform .001" thick. If you have any common wrapped starlight peppermints, those are often wrapped in .0005" thick cellophane. I'm putting this in the engine section, because that's where most discussions about machine work take place. If you think it needs to me moved please feel free.
I'm still watching for some common metalized item which is .001" or .0005" thick but haven't seen it yet. McMaster-Carr has it (stainless steel), but it is rather costly. And there are sellers on eBay with some but much of it is either paper-based or totally plastic. Okay...back to the low fever, chills, aches, coughing, runny nose, etc. Such fun.
~ Jon 1952 1/2 ton with 1959 235 | T5 with 3.07 rear end
