General Tools General, 523, Trammel Set, Stainless Steel

Perfect. Exactly as described.

Work well. Came improperly assembled, but then again General Tools isn't known for being high quality. Has all the necessary qualities of a decent trammel set: The points are asymmetrically ground for fine tuning your distance. The thumb screws have a spring in between them and the small clamp that holds the point down to provide pressure until you lock them in place. And all thumb screws move smoothly.

Good value and easy to use with steel bar or wooden shaft of various sizes. Holds a regular pencil, but nothing larger. (Wish it would hold a fine point Sharpie, but it doesn’t)

The styluses are not as thick as regular pencils, therefore, trying to get a pencil to fit in one clamp when you want to trace a circle is a bit hard. Otherwise, these work very well.

excellent tool for very large circles and arcs

I have used plenty of General Tools measuring and scribing tools over the years and they are not bad, but they do not compare to Starrett. The trammel points will do the job, but they are disappointing because a little more thought in engineering/manufacturing these could have made a real difference.Upon delivery, one of the trammels could not hold the scribe point tightly. After a bit of investigation, it appears the the spring inside took up too much space when fully compressed so the clamp couldnt tighten down fully. Removing the spring solved the problem. Not sure why the other trammel did not have same issue, but that just demonstrates inconsistent manufacturing.Also, the clamp can just barely open wide enough for a classic #2 wood pencil with a hexagon shape, but it wont hold a round pencil. If it was made just a little larger, one could use many other marking instruments such as a clutch pencil or a Sharpie.

The only limit to the size circle that can be made is the length of the beam you provide. My only criticism is that the point diameter is smaller than a pencil. I usually use it with a pencil and one point. I remove the nut that holds the point being careful not to remove the cap and the spring under it and then firmly push a wood pencil in it’s place. It might be better to sand the pencil so it fits more easily. When replacing the nut I turn it over so more threads will catch more firmly. The beam dimensions can vary. I use 3/4” x (3/4” - 1 1/2”) x whatever length you need. A 26” beam will allow a 4’ diameter circle.

Used to layout Grambrel Roof Trusses for Shop Shed.