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Posted by BottleBob on August 4, 2006, 11:45 pm
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To All:
What's your favorite brand/style of dial test indicator, and why?
--
BottleBob
http://home.earthlink.net/~bottlbob
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Posted by John R. Carroll on August 4, 2006, 11:47 pm
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BottleBob wrote:
> To All:
>
> What's your favorite brand/style of dial test indicator, and why?
Interapid.
Quality.
--
John R. Carroll
Machining Solution Software, Inc.
Los Angeles San Francisco
www.machiningsolution.com
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Posted by PrecisionMachinisT on August 5, 2006, 12:13 am
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> To All:
>
> What's your favorite brand/style of dial test indicator, and why?
>
Bestest I kinda prefer for the "finger type"....
The others, like 0-1in, matters not so much, as long as they repeat don't
take a whole lotta force in order to get all wound up.
--
SVL
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Posted by D Murphy on August 5, 2006, 1:01 am
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> To All:
>
> What's your favorite brand/style of dial test indicator, and why?
>
Bob,
I've tried them all. Well most of them anyway. I own about five or six at
the moment.
I reach for the Brown & Sharpe BesTest 50 millionths one the most often.
But my needs are likely different than yours.
I like the size of it, the accuracy, and the reliability. They can also
be repaired fairly easily and parts are readily available. I have two,
one has been repaired twice. The other one I don't lend out. The downside
is that it's a little light construction wise, so if it takes a good
whack or gets dropped it will likely break.
Now if I wasn't using the DTI in small machines all of the time, I would
use a Compac. Hands down it's the best quality, plus they make extended
range .0001" indicators. They also make a large dial .0001" which is easy
to read. They are very solid and well built. But they are a little too
big and blocky for use in a small Swiss CNC. And they are the most
expensive.
Interapid - I have one of these and they are better than the BesTest as
far as construction quality. The downside is that they are made to be
used at a 12 degree angle. If you are off of the 12 degree angle it
doesn't read accurately. Again, I don't always have room to tilt off at
12 degrees, so I pretty much use this for surface plate and bench center
inspecton of parts.
Starret Last Word - Should be the last thing you waste your money on. If
you buy a .001", the Starrett isn't too bad for what it is. It's heavy
and will last, plus it can be fixed and parts are readily available.
Gem - Cheaper copy of the Starrett. If you need a beat aorund .001" DTI
either the Starrett or Gem will do. But so will a Peacock, Wilson Wolpert
or China brand. The Starrett will hold up the best, but it ought to for
the money.
Mitutoyo - They have several different models. The one that I have is the
narrow round body one. This indicator is very compact, it's accurate, but
the dial is hard to read and the construction is not robust. But there
are time where it's the only thing that will fit into where I need it, so
it's a keeper. I don't think it would hold up well to heavy use. No proof
of that, but it seems very light.
I've also used Peacock, Pic test, Wilson Wolpert, ans TesaTast. The Tesa
is the same indicator as the BestTest. The others are all low end junk.
I don't know if all this helps at all. I figure you are probably going to
be using it in a VMC and on a surface plate mostly. So a Compac,
Interapid, or BesTest in that order would be my choice.
--
Dan
Scopulus est usquequaque nefas
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Posted by BottleBob on August 5, 2006, 8:47 am
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D Murphy wrote:
>
>
> > To All:
> >
> > What's your favorite brand/style of dial test indicator, and why?
> >
>
> Bob,
>
> I've tried them all. Well most of them anyway. I own about five or six at
> the moment.
> I don't know if all this helps at all. I figure you are probably going to
> be using it in a VMC and on a surface plate mostly. So a Compac,
> Interapid, or BesTest in that order would be my choice.
Dan:
Thanks for your informative and extensive response. I've altered the
order of your comments to better respond for my needs.
First, let me say that I'm not really in the market to buy an
indicator. My question was motivated mainly by curiosity & a desire to
initiate an on-topic discussion and information exchange that most
everyone could become involved with, since we all use test indicators of
one sort or another.
>
> Interapid - I have one of these and they are better than the BesTest as
> far as construction quality. The downside is that they are made to be
> used at a 12 degree angle. If you are off of the 12 degree angle it
> doesn't read accurately. Again, I don't always have room to tilt off at
> 12 degrees, so I pretty much use this for surface plate and bench center
> inspecton of parts.
IMO, Interapid is definitely of high quality workmanship, and has great
durability. We have a few Interapids used as "shop" indicators, and
they stand up extremely well under the most adverse conditions of
handling and use. We've used other cheaper indicators, but they only
last about a year or so before they need to be repaired or thrown away
as unrepairable.
But personally, I don't like Interapid indicators. I don't like the
non removable mounting stem (my indicator sweeper is set up for a
dovetail), I don't like the angled dial, the 12° point angle requirement
for accuracy, and the dial needle rotates counter-clockwise (the
opposite of most all my other indicators), that last one is kinda
trivial but still, I don't like to have to stop and think about which
way is + and which is -.
>
> I reach for the Brown & Sharpe BesTest 50 millionths one the most often.
> But my needs are likely different than yours.
>
> I like the size of it, the accuracy, and the reliability. They can also
> be repaired fairly easily and parts are readily available. I have two,
> one has been repaired twice. The other one I don't lend out. The downside
> is that it's a little light construction wise, so if it takes a good
> whack or gets dropped it will likely break.
My favorite indicator is a Brown & Sharpe 1 1/2" Dial Blackface 1 7/16"
point length "Bestest". Most indicators have dial travels of 0-15-0,
the model of Bestest I have has 0-10-0, which makes the individual
increments wider and easier to see. Also, the dial moves clockwise no
matter which way the ball point moves beyond center.
>
> Now if I wasn't using the DTI in small machines all of the time, I would
> use a Compac. Hands down it's the best quality, plus they make extended
> range .0001" indicators. They also make a large dial .0001" which is easy
> to read. They are very solid and well built. But they are a little too
> big and blocky for use in a small Swiss CNC. And they are the most
> expensive.
I have a Compac tenth indicator, 1.575 dia dial, 0-2-0 reading (where
most other tenth indicators are 0-4-0). It's a little "twitchy" or
"touchy" however you want to put it.
>
> Starret Last Word - Should be the last thing you waste your money on. If
> you buy a .001", the Starrett isn't too bad for what it is. It's heavy
> and will last, plus it can be fixed and parts are readily available.
I completely agree with your sentiments here, IMO, Last Word's are
dinosaur indicators.
>
> Gem - Cheaper copy of the Starrett. If you need a beat aorund .001" DTI
> either the Starrett or Gem will do. But so will a Peacock, Wilson Wolpert
> or China brand. The Starrett will hold up the best, but it ought to for
> the money.
>
> Mitutoyo - They have several different models. The one that I have is the
> narrow round body one. This indicator is very compact, it's accurate, but
> the dial is hard to read and the construction is not robust. But there
> are time where it's the only thing that will fit into where I need it, so
> it's a keeper. I don't think it would hold up well to heavy use. No proof
> of that, but it seems very light.
I have a number of Mitutoyo indicators, both horizontal and vertical
for sweeping purposes. Their dovetails are cast into the body and are
not as durable as screwed on steel ones and tend to wear and distort
over time, but they have lasted for 6-7 years with daily use.
>
> I've also used Peacock, Pic test, Wilson Wolpert, ans TesaTast. The Tesa
> is the same indicator as the BestTest. The others are all low end junk.
I had a Tesa tenth indicator, it was a quality piece that gave years of
daily service when I was a Die-Maker apprentice and beyond.
I remember having an indicator that had a "pear" or "tear-drop" shaped
ball point to compensate for cosine error, I believe it was a Fowler but
I'm not sure.
--
BottleBob
http://home.earthlink.net/~bottlbob
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> What's your favorite brand/style of dial test indicator, and why?