Thin plastic shims

deepcreek

deepcreek

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Knight Woodworks said:
Nice Joe. Where did you get the horseshoe shaped shims?

John
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[member=15603]Knight Woodworks[/member]

I wondered if anyone would ask.

Twenty years ago, the only shims I knew about were the ones split out of cedar shingles or the pine packs from home centers.  I  have long since learned about these from glass installers.  They cost more but IMHO work much better.

I buy the 2" and 3-1/2" long 1/16, 1/8 & 1/4 shims through C.R. Laurence.  You have to set up an account but I pay by credit card.http://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/showline/offerpage.aspx?ProductID=4026&GroupID=12610&History=39324:2169:2261:2266:2261:2262&ModelID=12610&pom=0
http://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/showline/offerpage.aspx?ProductID=4032&GroupID=12612&History=39324:2169:2261:2266:2261:2262&ModelID=12612&pom=0

The yellow horseshoe shims are 3/16 and came from my tile supplier.  (DalTile)  Honestly, I think you can find them on Amazon and even Home Depot these days.

The flat shims (1/32, 1/16, and 1/8) are from Handi-Shim.  Available directly from the manufacturer or through Amazon.http://www.handi-shim.com/product.html

I also use composite tapered shims from time to time but they wouldn't fit in the trays.http://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/s...x?ProductID=25564&GroupID=49906&History=39324:2169:2261:2266:2261&ModelID=49906

 

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Richard beat me to it. McMaster-Carr carries them, no account needed. I was hoping you had a source for other thicknesses.

Thanks,

John 
 
I usually keep at least a couple sets of cheap feeler gages in the shop to take apart and use for shims as the need arises.

Ron
 
I also have a set of these that I picked up cheap on eBay.

They're more useful for shimming shop machinery into level/alignment than for anything in construction.

260 Piece, 0.001 to 0.125 Inch Thickness, Stainless Steel Slotted Shim Assortment
2 Inch Long x 2 Inch Wide, 5/8 Inch Wide Slot
Assortment Thicknesses (Decimal Inch) 0.001, 0.002, 0.003, 0.004, 0.005, 0.010, 0.015, 0.020, 0.025, 0.050, 0.075, 0.100, & 0.125
https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/02236800
 
I have the McMaster color coded plastic shim stock sheets in .005", .010", .015", .020" and .030" thicknesses. I can't tell you how useful the stuff is. The sheets can be cut to any shape you need by multiple passes with an Exacto knife. It's especially nice if you make a fixture/jig and need "just a little more height". The color coding is nice when you need different thickness shims that need to be changed out. Just pull out the yellow shim and put in the brown one.
 
Does anyone have a good source of metric shims in the US?  I'm thinking 1mm, 2mm, 3mm and 5mm would be sufficient (maybe a 10mm) would cover the bases.  Seems like these are easy to find in europe, but even McMaster doesn't offer them in the US.
 
This isn't US based, but these are the ones that Peter Millard uses:https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-PLASTI...ACER-WEDGE-/191888612557?hash=item2cad73dccd.  They're selling in 100, 150, and 240 piece assortments.  Maybe it's a little expensive when you factor in the shipping and exchange rate (though I'm not sure what the going rate for Imperial plastic shims is).

The US link that he provided for metric packers is no longer available on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...G83E&linkId=02d9a8abc2948a9c98a2779854e6be08.
 
Thanks!  I’ll save this and see if I can find another source before I cave and eat £18 in shipping.  [eek]
 
I guess those prices are a little better.  It looks like the shipping is only $9.43 to the US:

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The problem for me is that it doesn't include 2 or 4mm packers.  I wonder why they're missing.

I'm kinda interested in getting some metric shims myself.  I wonder if it might be possible to split an order with someone else to save on the international shipping, though I'm not sure how much extra it might cost to reship domestically.  That second shipping fee might eat into most if it not all of the international shipping savings.
 

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Thanks [member=3192]rvieceli[/member] !  That should be perfect.
 
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