Thread: Interesting new touch off gage for CNC tools

YouTube - Pro Touch Off Gage.m2t

For $60 dollars I am gonna give it a try.

His google banners have been showing up in the forums. The guy talks in his video on the lathe centering tool. Not quite as good a speaker as the guy from Glacern. Still, his products are selling like hotcakes on ebay.

Bob

I bought one a short while back, and i would have nothing but good things to say about the product, and service. They answered all questions and e-mails with in minutes, and where very helpful. The product has been a great addition to my set-up(Seems to be very repeatable, also saves time if a tool breaks during an operation), and seems to be very nicely built(its heavier then i thought it would be). Not to mention it was at my door in 2 days flat.
I should also mention, i'm just a first time customer of theirs, no personal connection what so ever.

I use a model from Shars. The Shars unit is nice because it is only 2 inches tall, it has a magnetic base, and it has a built in gauge system to set the indicator dial.

The Edge model appears to have an aluminum plunger. I think it would get scratched up over time.

The Shars unit is $54. I'm sure it is 100% Chinese made.

shars.com - Precision Magnetic Z Axis Setter 2quot Height x 0001quot

I do really like the looks of the Edge vise stop. I will be ordering one soon.

-Wes

The Shars unit is available elsewhere for under $50, like here - Precision Z Axsis Setter Gage Guage 2" 0.0005" Grad - eBay (item 360288594813 end time Aug-15-10 22:24:21 PDT)

I tried one as an experiment to rough set Z lengths on a teach lathe because it was magnetic. The internal gage length facility fell apart fairly quickly.

I learned early on that Shars was NOT the place to buy anything from, even if you understand what your getting. I bought quite a few things to get me started, did another one piece order after that, and that was it. I got something that was way defective, it was the second of the exact same product i bought from them, the second being 10x worst. I called to return it, and the kid on the phone said "NO problem". Took all my info, set a date for me to have the replacement and everything. After a 1 1/2 weeks past the date i was to recieve the replacement and still nothing, i called them. Well, he apologized up and down, and said he would ship it "Today" and e-mail me a tracking# right away. I said OK, and hung up the phone.
A few minutes later i recieved the said e-mail, except it was to tell me they where NOT going to be replacing anything for me. I called them right back, and asked why. He said the "Manager" wouldn't OK it. I said but you told me that they did, and it was suppossed to already be here. Ends up ther "Manager" is a chinese woman who doesn"t speak very good English, or really care about customers. Her first question was "Does it LOOK worn, is it resellable"? I told her NO, it's defective, you can't sell it to someone else. She would have nothing to do with it. They lost a customer, and i learned an valuable lesson that's saved me many headaches i'm sure. One that many members here echo on a regular.
I looked at the chinese versions that are somewhat similar. But for $10 more you get a solid product, from a fellow American, and good service from people who value your business. What else can you ask for?