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Looking for advise re buying my very 1st dial indicator for centering in a 4jaw chuck

W

water~~~

Plastic
Joined
Apr 15, 2013
Location
Canada
Hi,

Just upgraded a lathe to a 4 jaw chuck and now looking for an indicator to help in centering with potential for more uses.
After reading a lot of reviews and forum conversations I concluded that Brown & Sharpe is the way to go.
Using Amazon as a search engine I found a couple that look like they should serve the purpose:

Brown & Sharpe TESA 0141760652 Roch Dial Gauge Indicator, 0-30mm Range, 0.01mm Graduation, +/-0.003mm Accuracy
Brown & Sharpe TESA 0141760663 Dial Gauge Indicator, 0-50mm Range, 0.01mm Graduation, +/-0.003mm Accuracy

Do these make sense for my purpose? (Don't really care if metric or inch - I can live in both worlds)
As I understand, they come with no holding bars or bases. How difficult is it to make one myself? (I don't have a milling machine yet)
The 'white on white' dial notches are taking me a bit aback - would they be visible under work light?

Appreciate all expert advise you can share.
 
Not really looking for DTI, only for DI (push type as you referred to them).

I can center within a thou by eye only, but it takes much longer than using an indicator. I just never owned my own.
 
I think thermite gave sound advice in choosing and using dial indicators. I find it invaluable to have at least two that I can apply simultaneously to a work piece, one on the face and one on the ID or OD respectively. I do lots of repair work where I need to align existing surfaces accurately. I have a heavy ground or cold finished bar that I can mount two mag bases to and set across the ways when doing alignments, and then set the whole assembly on the bench when I begin machining.
 
A cheap dial indicator is all you need to do most lathe setups. Harbor Freight has them for 9 bucks. Their stands are not the best and I would recommend you get a better base stand. If you are doing very precise setups you will need a tenths indicator but for most work the cheap indicator will work fine. You are bound to drop it or knock it into the chip pan sooner or later. Get a good indicator for when you really need it.


John
 
The specs on those two dial indicators omit one very important dimension... the diameter of the dial.
The larger the dial, the easier it is to read accurately, particularly under less than ideal lighting.

From the illustrations it appears that the first one (0-30mm) has a larger dial, since they're both 5" long.

I think you will seldom need a long throw (50mm or more). I have several DIs, most of them 1" throw, some longer.
I almost never use the longer ones.

DIs have a standard fitment, which is a lug on the back with a 1/4" hole.
You can use that or clamp the stem (DIs with shorter throws don't have an upper stem, but they all have the lower stem).

You need a magnetic base to support the DI.
NOGA brand is the best you can buy, such as this one: NOGA Dial Gage Holder Magnetic Base - Model: MG61003 AUTO POWER: On/off mag.base HOLDING POWER: 176 Ibs Heavy Duty: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
It has a single hand wheel that locks all of the joints simultaneously. This is much easier to use than other types.

One significant variable among magnetic bases is the strength of the magnet. That NOGA is rated 176 pounds.
Many, particularly the cheaper ones, are much weaker, and quite a few don't spec the strength at all.

- Leigh
 
Not much to add to what has been posted above on brand of indicator to use on a lathe.I personaly use cheap indicators for lathe work.Been in this trade for 28 years and shit still happens,no way I am gonna have a $50+ indicator body slammed into chip pan or floor by accidently knocking it off with chuck wrench or what ever.The high spec indicators work well were you NEED the higher grade of indication,like on a test stand for checking critical work,not so much on a lathe indicating in raw material.Even a cheap indicator will work just fine for chucking up and indicating a feature dead nuts,when the needle stops moving your there.

If you have about $150 to spend on a base go with the NOGA Leigh linked to and add a $30 SPI indicator to it...it's a great set up for lathe work.Sure a cheap $30 stand will work OK,but after useing a NOGA I personaly will never go back to a regular ole clamp kind of indicator base.
 
I have one of these, B&S branded Kafer, and it's fairly inexpensive. I can highly recommend it. I ought to buy two more and retire my Federal and SPI.

132 : MW216 and MB216 dial indicator spare parts

I bought the white dial and it's easy for me to read in about any light. I really like the "speedometer" rev counter when using it as a travel indicator. One thing, I didn't realize the back stem cover was just soft plastic. I made a steel cover to use with a holder. If you order one ask if a metal cover is available and have it shipped at the same time to save postage.
 
The dial indicator I use all the time is made of the good parts of many different damaged indicators pieced together into one working unit. It started out as a cheapie (MHC I think) and works fine for indicating work and as a makeshift digital readout (positioned against the back of the tool post). It's a 1" travel, .001" resolution, with a 2" face. I like to keep it leaned to the right a little to keep those hot chips that land on it from melting through the face. You won't need anything better than a cheap throwaway until you have to start splitting tenths. After all, zero is the number you're shooting for in most cases, and you can get things dialed in within a few tenths if you're good at it
 
water~~~ said:
Hi,

Just upgraded a lathe to a 4 jaw chuck and now looking for an indicator to help in centering with potential for more uses.
After reading a lot of reviews and forum conversations I concluded that Brown & Sharpe is the way to go.
Using Amazon as a search engine I found a couple that look like they should serve the purpose:

Brown & Sharpe TESA 0141760652 Roch Dial Gauge Indicator, 0-30mm Range, 0.01mm Graduation, +/-0.003mm Accuracy
Brown & Sharpe TESA 0141760663 Dial Gauge Indicator, 0-50mm Range, 0.01mm Graduation, +/-0.003mm Accuracy

Do these make sense for my purpose? (Don't really care if metric or inch - I can live in both worlds)
As I understand, they come with no holding bars or bases. How difficult is it to make one myself? (I don't have a milling machine yet)
The 'white on white' dial notches are taking me a bit aback - would they be visible under work light?

Appreciate all expert advise you can share.
Click to expand...

No one else seems to have mentioned this but I don't believe for a second that a mechanical indicator dial with a range of 30 or 50mm can be accurate to within ±0.003mm.

For a top notch Mitutoyo electronic 50mm indicator dial (and they certainly aren't cheap at over $1,000) ±0.003mm is the specified accuracy.
 
Gordon B. Clarke said:
No one else seems to have mentioned this but I don't believe for a second that a mechanical indicator dial with a range of 30 or 50mm can be accurate to within ±0.003mm.
Click to expand...
Nobody else made that comment because ±0.003mm is the published accuracy for those products, making the comment incorrect.

The products suggested by the OP are not cheap, being respectively $157 and $199.

- Leigh
 
The real Leigh said:
Nobody else made that comment because ±0.003mm is the published accuracy for those products, making the comment incorrect.

The products suggested by the OP are not cheap, being respectively $157 and $199.

- Leigh
Click to expand...

Care to explain further? Do you believe the published accuracy of ±0.003mm?

For the accuracy claimed the prices you mention are cheap.
 
What's to explain? Look at the products yourself.

I did not write the specs, not did I set the prices.

Further off-topic responses will be deleted.

- Leigh
 
The real Leigh said:
What's to explain? Look at the products yourself.

I did not write the specs, not did I set the prices.

Further off-topic responses will be deleted.

- Leigh
Click to expand...

I did and that's why I asked.

002 : About Standards and Specifications

055 : Mitutoyo 1" travel dial indicator

I'm not questioning you or what you did or didn't do. What I am questioning is the validity of an accuracy of ±0.003mm (3µm) on a 50mm mechanical indicator dial.

You've probably calibrated indicator dials so what is your personal experience?

The OP is looking for advice so I don't get why my post is off topic.
 
I could not verify any of the claims using B&S catalogue, as the p/n on Amazon is not found there (and I could not find a way to contact the seller).

0.003 mm is just 0.0001" or about the accuracy of the DTIs. It is weird that these 2 are about 10x more accurate than the rest of DIs.
 
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