- Joined
- Jan 22, 2014
- Messages
- 578
I have a double-ended 1/2" edge finder, electronic finder and a wobbler set. They all have a place in the grand scope of things. I sort of prefer the laser finder for quick setups to zero the DRO's.
-
Welcome back Guest! Did you know you can mentor other members here at H-M? If not, please check out our Relaunch of Hobby Machinist Mentoring Program!
Edge finder,do you use one?
- Thread starter Ken from ontario
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2013
- Messages
- 2,487
I made an edge finder a while back with 0.2 diameter on one end and 0.5 on the other end. The other day I decided
disassemble it and heat treat the ends. When done, I decided to measure the ends and found them wider in diameter
by .0015 on each end. It's possible I made them oversized but I don't think so. Anyway, I thought it worth mentioning.
I have somewhat of a distrust for the laser units as I would think that if the collet wasn't perfectly true, one would get
that much error in the readings. I like the manual ones and usually use my DRO to set centers and edges as that has
been proven to be quite accurate. Also, I just made a wobbler but havn't had much experience with it so far, an interesting
tool. Maybe someone in machinist land knows if case hardening causes parts to expand slightly.
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2014
- Messages
- 156
I use edge/center finder from LMS. I am happy with the edge finder part which works fine. My attempts to use the center finder have not been the best however. I think I achieved accuracy within 2 or 3 thousandths and I want it to be better. Recently I watched a video series by Dan Gelbart, and in #15 he shows a laser edge/center device that he made. As a hobby machinist I thought it is an interesting project for making in my little hobby shop. I am working on it. I have gathered the laser and the electronics. I hope to finish the machining part of it soon.
Link for Dan Gelbart's video is here.
Prasad
Eastern PA
Link for Dan Gelbart's video is here.
Prasad
Eastern PA
Last edited:
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2016
- Messages
- 2,023
That man (Dan Gelbart) is a wealth of information, I sometimes wish he was my neighbour, I would be pestering him every day.lol.
Let us know how your laser edge finder build goes.
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2014
- Messages
- 758
slightly off topic, I have an edge finder Sterrett with a pointer cone on one end. I have used this to place in a center punched hole and and then feel around the fit up of the cone to the cylinder and move the table till I no longer feel and miss alignment to the cylinder and cone. Also have used in while spinning to hover over a scribe mark to find cross of the scribed marks. Am I wrong in the way I am using this end of the tool.
I've tried mechanical edge finders, and just cannot get repeatable results from them. I bought a cheap electronic one, and it isn't much better. Bought a Fowler and get the results I need. I get the two sides and let the DRO calculate the center. As an aside, on my Grizzly mill/drill (G1007), the Y axis dials are very accurate. They match the DRO almost perfectly over a couple of inches of travel. The X axis dial is absolutely useless for trying to measure anything. Without the DRO, I'd be completely screwed.
You're doing just fine. You can also stick the point in an existing hole and use like you do with the center punch. But you must be sure that any deburring or countersink is on center with the hole to do this.
Over decades of teaching machine shop I have found mechanicals to be very useful. When using in a drill chuck the spinning compensates for any runout.
First time I used an electronic I turned on the spindle to use like with a mechanical and ruined the tip since it was not hardened.
I prefer the ones that are assembled with a small wire clip through the tip connected to the spring. These tend to be more forgiving when you forget to raise the quill before moving to the workpiece to a required hole location. They also have more travel of the tip sideways when finding an edge and are repairable in case of an unfortunate event. Those where the tip and spring attachment screw was one piece have less travel and are not repairable.
A recent development by Brown & Sharpe is a small flat ground on the contact tip. This makes an audible ticking sound when the edge is found. Especially useful for 68 year old eyes.
I use 800 to 1000 RPM. The higher speeds seem to make the movement of the tip more fluid. But a speed much above 1000 RPM could make them fly apart.
My students often bought imports with strong springs or less than smooth sliding faces which resulted in stiff movement.
First time I used an electronic I turned on the spindle to use like with a mechanical and ruined the tip since it was not hardened.
I prefer the ones that are assembled with a small wire clip through the tip connected to the spring. These tend to be more forgiving when you forget to raise the quill before moving to the workpiece to a required hole location. They also have more travel of the tip sideways when finding an edge and are repairable in case of an unfortunate event. Those where the tip and spring attachment screw was one piece have less travel and are not repairable.
A recent development by Brown & Sharpe is a small flat ground on the contact tip. This makes an audible ticking sound when the edge is found. Especially useful for 68 year old eyes.
I use 800 to 1000 RPM. The higher speeds seem to make the movement of the tip more fluid. But a speed much above 1000 RPM could make them fly apart.
My students often bought imports with strong springs or less than smooth sliding faces which resulted in stiff movement.
Even without the clicking, it's still a very good tool. BTW I find that my right ear has better hearing than my left LOL. (Probably the result of rifle fire early on.)