Hornady Anvil Base Kit Won't Install Square

yo-yo · Dec 9, 2024

Is anyone else using the Hornady Base Anvil Kit for the non-moving arm/jaw on their calipers? I read that some people were having issues with the anvil not fitting square on the calipers, but I thought that might be due to the Amazon knock-off products out there. I ordered one (on Amazon) that is supposed to be made by Hornady and it came in original Hornady packaging.

The issue is...it does not fit square. No matter what I do, I can't get it square. I even tried to install a small set screw into the opposite side of the anvil, to try and even out the anvil when lightly tightening the hand screw...but no luck. The purpose of this device was to SAVE time with measurements, by having a larger flat surface for the back of the case. I'm messing around with this thing even longer than I work to ensure the back of the case is flat on the jaws of the caliper.

Anyone else have this issue? Is this a quality issue, or am I doing something wrong. Hornady doesn't offer any instructions with the device, so I can't imagine there's a lot to getting it right.

Without the anvil, the comparator is square and flush with the jaws of the calipers.

Thanks!

memilanuk · Dec 9, 2024

Attach both pieces, then clamp the jaws together with light pressure. Loosen the knobs but continue to apply pressure, let the pieces self-align, and tighten the knobs. Zero the calipers. Move on.

yo-yo · Dec 9, 2024

I tried that. I tried every combination of tightening down the components I could think of. Without fail, when the anvil base is tightened...it skews the orientation. I can tell this, by even the lightest pressure AFTER both components are tightened down, causes the calipers to shift from the zero point. Also, when they are both tight, and I close the calipers, with light pressure on the calipers to close the jaws, when I loosen the hand screw on the anvil base, the anvil "pops" back to a square/flush position. If that makes sense.

Baron23 · Dec 9, 2024

memilanuk said:
Attach both pieces, then clamp the jaws together with light pressure. Loosen the knobs but continue to apply pressure, let the pieces self-align, and tighten the knobs. Zero the calipers. Move on.

This ^^ 100%....if this doesn't work for you, then perhaps you have a defective unit but doing this ^^ has always worked perfectly for me.

spife7980 · Dec 9, 2024

Without the comparator middle, do the anvil and other side pair nicely?

If you swap it around with screws on the back of the caliper, does the gap follow to the opposite side?
If you swap it to the other jaws and repeat, does it continue to follow that same positioning?

RegionRat · Dec 9, 2024

A friend brought me the same problem once.

I found that the detail of the slot on the anvil was poorly done. The very bottom corner had a problem where it became more of a radius than a hard corner. That defect prevented the anvil from having clearance to the corner of the caliper blade and the anvil would rock on that corner instead of going flat along the caliper blade.

The fix was what we call a corner relief cut. This type of cut eliminates any chance of the bottom of the slot from having a radius or chamfer that prevents the caliper blade from tilting. The issue is that it requires a machine shop level resource to re-cut the slot in the anvil so that the clamp side of it has this type of corner.

Here is what this type of cut looks like in a section view.

yo-yo · Dec 9, 2024

Baron23 said:
This ^^ 100%....if this doesn't work for you, then perhaps you have a defective unit but doing this ^^ has always worked perfectly for me.

Yeah, that didn't work for me. I tried several other combinations too, but with the same result. Not sure what is happening yet.

yo-yo · Dec 9, 2024

spife7980 said:
Without the comparator middle, do the anvil and other side pair nicely?

If you swap it around with screws on the back of the caliper, does the gap follow to the opposite side?
If you swap it to the other jaws and repeat, does it continue to follow that same positioning?
View attachment 8564850

Ah good questions.
Yes, if I swap the hand screws to the backside of the calipers (I have to swap both the lower comparator section and the anvil base together though, because the slots cut in them are cut off-center, so they seem to need to be in the same orientation.

Also, yes, if I swap the anvil base to the "moving" jaw of the calipers and the comparator base to the fixed jaw, the problem follows.

I do, however, think the problem is not that the components aren't cut square...I think the issue is related to the hand screws causing a "twist" of the component on the jaws. I found that if I spend some additional time installing the base with two hand screws (I borrowed one from another device), and making sure the two screws are balanced once set, and started with the set "screw" on the comparator insert loose...it did even it out.

Having said that...I was trying to save time with this device, however the setup time costs more time than it takes me to use the thinner fixed jaw of the calipers without the anvil base.

yo-yo · Dec 9, 2024

RegionRat said:
A friend brought me the same problem once.

I found that the detail of the slot on the anvil was poorly done. The very bottom corner had a problem where it became more of a radius than a hard corner. That defect prevented the anvil from having clearance to the corner of the caliper blade and the anvil would rock on that corner instead of going flat along the caliper blade.

The fix was what we call a corner relief cut. This type of cut eliminates any chance of the bottom of the slot from having a radius or chamfer that prevents the caliper blade from tilting. The issue is that it requires a machine shop level resource to re-cut the slot in the anvil so that the clamp side of it has this type of corner.

Here is what this type of cut looks like in a section view.

View attachment 8564855

Ah, yeah, good catch! I took a look at mine and I think it's pretty square, without a radius cut.
You can also see here, how off-set the cut of that slot is in the anvil base.

vh20 · Dec 10, 2024

What brand of caliper is that? In this pic, the side of the upper jaw that the screw tightens against doesn't appear to be square to the top surface (or, parallel to the vertical axis). It might just be the angle of the pic though...

RegionRat · Dec 10, 2024

yo-yo said:
Ah, yeah, good catch! I took a look at mine and I think it's pretty square, without a radius cut.
You can also see here, how off-set the cut of that slot is in the anvil base.

The offset is intentional as it accounts for the idea that the caliper jaws are side by side to some degree.

Also, that corner isn't cut sharp enough on either the anvil or the other part of the tool, so part of the tilt can come from either or both sides.

To see if the corner radius is bad or if the whole thing is cut at an angle, place two layers of Scotch Tape on the side opposite the screw and leave a tiny gap above the corner of at least 0.020" to simulate a relief cut. do this on both tools and clamp the screws very lightly just to see if the corner is the problem.

If that makes the tools mate better, then the corners are the problem. If it doesn't then one or both are cut at an angle.
Good Luck.

yo-yo · Dec 10, 2024

vh20 said:
View attachment 8565407
What brand of caliper is that? In this pic, the side of the upper jaw that the screw tightens against doesn't appear to be square to the top surface (or, parallel to the vertical axis). It might just be the angle of the pic though...

It's a Mitutoyo brand (Absolute model). It's a higher grade tool, compared to a lot of them on the market. It's probably the funny angle of the pics. I did check them closely, to see if there was an issue, but then are consistent with measurements without the Hornady Anvil base add-on.

yo-yo · Dec 10, 2024

RegionRat said:
The offset is intentional as it accounts for the idea that the caliper jaws are side by side to some degree.

Also, that corner isn't cut sharp enough on either the anvil or the other part of the tool, so part of the tilt can come from either or both sides.

To see if the corner radius is bad or if the whole thing is cut at an angle, place two layers of Scotch Tape on the side opposite the screw and leave a tiny gap above the corner of at least 0.020" to simulate a relief cut. do this on both tools and clamp the screws very lightly just to see if the corner is the problem.

If that makes the tools mate better, then the corners are the problem. If it doesn't then one or both are cut at an angle.
Good Luck.

View attachment 8565604

Ok. Thanks for the detailed annotation. I will give this a shot and report back. Thanks!!

Holliday · Dec 10, 2024

I quit using mine ages ago. I decided it was another thing introducing variance.

I close the caliper jaws on my SAC comparator and put a marker line where the center of the hole meets the opposing (bottom) blade.

I center that on the primer hole on that line, then center the blade on the brass base the other 90° direction.

After a while you develop muscle memory and get consistent results quickly and repeatedly……

I do mark my SAC tool and the insert held in with o-ring, so they always are aligned the same way.

vh20 · Dec 10, 2024

yo-yo said:
It's a Mitutoyo brand (Absolute model). It's a higher grade tool, compared to a lot of them on the market. It's probably the funny angle of the pics. I did check them closely, to see if there was an issue, but then are consistent with measurements without the Hornady Anvil base add-on.

That is the brand to use, so probably just the pic angle. Not that this will help you right now, but if you give up on the Hornady, I am super happy with the Area 419 set. They have a lot of cool features built in (like not having to deprime to get accurate shoulder bump measurements) and are designed to give the same measurements from set to set (others aren’t). Also REALLY like the stand (sold separately) that allows one-handed use and allows gravity to be used as constant pressure for every measurement. They only work with Mitutoyos, but you’ve got that covered.

6.5SH · Dec 10, 2024

The Anvil base is garbage. There is a 3rd party one made by a member here listed in the PX

yo-yo · Dec 10, 2024

Holliday said:
I quit using mine ages ago. I decided it was another thing introducing variance.

I close the caliper jaws on my SAC comparator and put a marker line where the center of the hole meets the opposing (bottom) blade.

I center that on the primer hole on that line, then center the blade on the brass base the other 90° direction.

After a while you develop muscle memory and get consistent results quickly and repeatedly……

I do mark my SAC tool and the insert held in with o-ring, so they always are aligned the same way.

Interesting. Thanks for the commnet. Yeah, I will likely go away from this as well. I have achieved "getting a good feel" for using the calipers now, without the anvil base. Too bad though. I'm finding a lot of these tools are not to my liking. I'm pretty particular though, as I use the same measurement process for building engines, and there isn't a lot of room for error there - especially if the engine is a high performance application. I'm getting better with how I hold the tools and components, and I'm getting more repeatable results.

yo-yo · Dec 10, 2024

vh20 said:
That is the brand to use, so probably just the pic angle. Not that this will help you right now, but if you give up on the Hornady, I am super happy with the Area 419 set. They have a lot of cool features built in (like not having to deprime to get accurate shoulder bump measurements) and are designed to give the same measurements from set to set (others aren’t). Also REALLY like the stand (sold separately) that allows one-handed use and allows gravity to be used as constant pressure for every measurement. They only work with Mitutoyos, but you’ve got that covered.

Oh wow! I just looked those up! Crazy! There seems to be many more manufacturers of these items than I realized. I have grown accustomed to buying things in big box stores, so I can return them when they are junk, but if I was getting quality stuff - I suppose I could buy them elsewhere.

Crazy how much this stuff starts costing though. I'll have to really consider if I want to spend that much.

. I'll have to see how much shots start landing on the target with the subpar tools I already have.

yo-yo · Dec 10, 2024

6.5SH said:
The Anvil base is garbage. There is a 3rd party one made by a member here listed in the PX

Yeah, I read people were having issues with these before I bought it. I thought it might just be the knock-off version sold on Amazon, so I avoided those, but something is certainly amiss with these too.

. I'll look in the PX. Thanks!

Holliday · Dec 10, 2024

yo-yo said:
Interesting. Thanks for the commnet. Yeah, I will likely go away from this as well. I have achieved "getting a good feel" for using the calipers now, without the anvil base. Too bad though. I'm finding a lot of these tools are not to my liking. I'm pretty particular though, as I use the same measurement process for building engines, and there isn't a lot of room for error there - especially if the engine is a high performance application. I'm getting better with how I hold the tools and components, and I'm getting more repeatable results.

The SAC comparator is worth the investment.

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