Starrett 196 Dial Indicator Disassembly? Advice?

[Freemanz]

An older machinist friend of mine gave me a box of old/broken Starrett 196's. Id very much like to try and get them working. A few needed the easy cleaning fix of solvent and working the plunger. A few need more than that but I'm unsure of how to get them apart correctly. Please give me some direction here as I cannot find any videos or anything on the 196. Thanks in advance!

 

[awander]

I don't have one in front of me, but IIRC the "front" bezel is held onto the case by friction; you need to pull it off, and then take the hand and dial off to see the mechanism.

 

[guythatbrews]

Don't just pull the bezel off. There is a small radial hole on the side of the bezel. You've got to stick a pin in the hole and depress the wire retaining loop. Once depressed the bezel should raise away in that spot. Then you can work it off from there. The needles are pretty tight. You can pop it off with 2 1/8 straight screwdrivers and shims to protect the dial. Weha makes a little tool that looks like a mini pickle fork that is curved like a pry bar for stuff like this. I got one but haven't used it yet.

Starrett is ok to get parts from over the phone. They never answered my emails. Exploded views online of a lot of stuff. Most prices seem reasonable. If you order new crystals be sure to tell them if they are flat or domed. The newer ones are flat and will not interchange.

 

[Freemanz]

Don't just pull the bezel off. There is a small radial hole on the side of the bezel. You've got to stick a pin in the hole and depress the wire retaining loop. Once depressed the bezel should raise away in that spot. Then you can work it off from there. The needles are pretty tight. You can pop it off with 2 1/8 straight screwdrivers and shims to protect the dial. Weha makes a little tool that looks like a mini pickle fork that is curved like a pry bar for stuff like this. I got one but haven't used it yet.

Starrett is ok to get parts from over the phone. They never answered my emails. Exploded views online of a lot of stuff. Most prices seem reasonable. If you order new crystals be sure to tell them if they are flat or domed. The newer ones are flat and will not interchange.

Thanks! I just didn't wanna tear one up sure enough getting inside it. I have enough of them to hopefully piece a few together out of all of them. I appreciate the response and help big time.

 

[Freemanz]

How about pressing the needle back on? Any recommendations?

 

[guythatbrews]

How about pressing the needle back on? Any recommendations?

I hate to say I just jammed it back on. Hopefully somebody will describe the correct way.

 

[Freemanz]

I hate to say I just jammed it back on. Hopefully somebody will describe the correct way.

Yeah, that's what I did lol managed to get one back together and it seems to work decently. Every now and then when pressing the plunger it doesn't return to the same spot but it's within a thousandth or two. Definitely worth the time of just fooling with them instead of just chunking them.

 

[Freemanz]

Now to figure out a couple pair of brown and sharpe dial calipers ..gotten into them but can't figure out why it's still slipping so far.