- Joined
- Jun 15, 2017
- Messages
- 525
I ordered a Federal Testmaster. We'll see how well it works.
Anyone here have any experience with Fowler indicators, plunge or DTI?
Fowler once relied heavily on English imports such as Verdict indicators. These were about as good as English weather. Nowadays they rely more heavily on Swiss made gages but also offer look-alikes in their effort to remain competitive. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing: they offer a pathetic imitation of the Bestest indicator and an Interapid look-alike is made in China and sold under the name Xtest. The best mechanical test indicator which Fowler offers is the Swiss made Girodtast. Fowler recently imtroduced Ultra-Tast indicators which are made by Kafer in Germany. It is a respectable manufacturer but has been known to outsource to China. Repairs and spare parts may be hard to come by. A five-year warranty sounds great but it is against manufacturing defects. Any defects would be noticed within the first few weeks of use and not likely after four-and-a-half years. When shopping Fowler, if it doesn't say "Swiss Made" or "German made": Buyer beware.
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Thought I had quite a few, but the ones in the green boxes are Federal TestMasters (one is a Fowler), blue plastic boxes are my Fowler's. My Fowler's are in 0.0005", 0.01 mm and 0.0025 mm resolutions. I haven't had any issues with repeatability; I've only used them for checking run-out on a continuous surface. I have not touched on a surface, moved off, and returned for a repeatability check.I don't have much in the way of expectations when I pay $20 or less for an indicator. All my plunge indicators are offshore, and in light use, they all do fine (I have 4 or 5) A ll my test indicators are name brand, Mitutoyo or Interrapid. Knowing guys with indicators that had problems, I think these are the tradeoffs:
If you are going to be a light user, going cheap won't hurt you. However some DTIs work fine, until they don't. If you go cheap, get a few gauge blocks to check the calibration if you suspect something is wonky. I've stayed away from inexpensive DTIs because one way to make them cheap is with injected molded gears in the gear train, which gives rough readings, and shorter life. If you have to replace them once or twice if they age out, it is still a lot less than buying one of the Big 3....
Anyone here have any experience with Fowler indicators, plunge or DTI?