Are they accurate and worth the money

Make your own. 2 25$ indicators 2 hours and you have made one customized to your machine.

In word, no. They are gimmicks. They work very well but like many expensive washday products there are many common solutions costing far less that work as well. I use an Indicol myself but for years I used a piece of bent drill rod with an indicator.

The trick to tramming a vertical head is more procedure than expenive gimmicks. Set the nod and tilt to the ndex marks. Dial in the nod. Dial in the tilt. Go back and forth a few times until you get the tram your wish. I follow the indicator around with a 1-2-3 so the ndicator doesn't stumble in the T slots. It's a cheap 1-2-3 block I belt sanded entry ramps on so the undicator doesn't catch on an edge.

Yes, I don't see the point at all. What's the supposed advantage?

what the hell is the point of those?

buy yourself a universal mag base and a dial, AND you can use it for other stuff to.

The point is I formerly did it like Forrest with good results. But I was slow. So wanting instant gratification I made one similar to the retail ones and after initial setup can now Check alignment quickly and Set it quickly. 5 min. max...

In one of the other threads, you guys were talking about tramming to the table movement instead if to the table itself. Can you elaborate on the process for this simple caveman?

I saw those two and thought it would be easy to just make one. Do they work accurately? I was running my dti all the way out to the end of the table with on of these gizmos:



Seemed like the lesser reach would limit accuracy, but the plate in my head is getting rusty so what do I know?

These have been around forever. I built one as an apprentice 45 years ago. I currently have a commercial one, with .001" indicators, and one that I built with .0001" indicators.

The dual-gage versions rely on the shaft being accurately perpendicular to the ground gage face, which is used to zero the indicators on a surface plate.

Use them with a brand new collet, undamaged by use, and you'll get very good results MUCH faster than with any rotated single-indicator solution.

They're also a whole lot faster for tramming nod. Adjust the quill as needed to achieve clearance, and adjust for equal readings on the two indicators. You don't care what the actual value is.

For really precise tramming I use a .001" indicator on an 18" tramming bar with a pair of 25µ"/ft granite parallels. I find that the dual-gage tools provide results that are quite close to these, in much less time.

Of the three that you show, I would only consider the middle one. It has the ground gaging surface at the end. You put that on a surface plate and adjust both indicators for zero. This sets the accuracy of the product.

The first one you show does not have this ability, so you would jump through many hoops to confirm its readings.

The single-gage version with the level is total sales pitch IM[-H]O, since the machine does not need to be level in the first place.

- Leigh

Build one with four indicators if you are really lazy. :-)

SCOTTIE

I see the idea behind it, and I believe that it works. It just seems that a lot depends on the tool being set right to begin with, then hoping that it runs 'true' in the collet. I'd be second guessing it all the time, but that's just me.

I like the Indicol concept, per the photo shown in Knudsen's post, because I often have the mill table covered with rotab, adj angle plate, and vice. What the indicol type approach means is that

a) Collet, cutter, boring head or whatever can remain set up in the spindle (esp good if you don't have a power drawbar)

b) You can reach down to the table alongside the vice and sweep round the back of it (a bit more than 180 deg) - my turret mill head doesn't nod, so you mileage may vary

I built an indicator holder to my own design, quicker to make, more rigid and simpler to set up than an Indicol, but it's probably of limited interest because my Toolmaker spindle nose (unusually) has two ground spanner flats set into the OD at 180 deg, and my design engages with those.

The indicol concept is also nice for 'clocking up' a hole: makes it easier to set the clock face horizontal so you don't need to torture your brain with a mirror

Scottie I am lazy

Leigh they are self checking just rotate 180. You need to just to set zero in the first place. Then it is as accurate as your indicator 0.001 or 0.00001 (less bearings of course)...

I made my own. It works just fine. They have similar ones on ebay for $49.95. When I get around to it, I'm going to make one with two identical indicators just for fun.

Yup, I think the Indicol will be my preferred choice now. Much faster to set and remove

Indicol works for me.

Tom

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I extend the Quill and use a machinist square to rough it in.....You would be amazed how close you can get it! Then I use a single indicator. I use a 8"dia bearing race to keep the indicator to out of the "T" slots

IMHO, they're potentially worse than using a single indicator because there is an assumption that both indicators are zeroed when the quill is perpendicular, which is a pretty big leap of faith.

I have always used an indicol with 1-2-3 blocks as Forrest does, but DUHHH... I never thought to put the lead on my cheap 1-2-3's...going to do that right now...thanks Forrest!

Indicol with interapid indicator, only way to go.

I made a simple bar for my boring head that holds my indicator, it can be set up in many different ways and I use it just about as often as I do anything else...