Indicator questions for first time buyer.

Pinresto

Pinresto

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Hi All,
I'm new to my hobby machinist adventures and need a little guidance. I have a X2 mill and will be buying the lathe to match very soon. I'm focusing on tooling up at the moment but my wish list is getting longer by the day. I want to buy some indicators next but with so many things on the wish list I need to watch what I spend. Decent, entry level quality will be fine for now. I'm not splitting any hairs yet. I love old tools so I always look at the older stuff when its smart. Indicators are a deep subject for a noob. So I have a couple questions. First is brand. I'm familiar with the big names and I've heard many of the smaller ones but I don't always know who is known for better quality. Below are the main brands I see when looking. Anyone care to put them in order of quality starting with the best?


The other question is a hypothetical. If you were buying a noob 3-4 indicators to get started with what would their characteristics be? Dial, test, travel, graduations, etc? I see so many variations I'm not sure what would suit me best. I want to buy 3-4 indicators to cover the lathe and mill. Ill be making small parts for my pinball machines and tooling projects to start with. I see them from .01 to .0005 and with very short to long travels. Different styles and sizes.
Thank you for helping. It means more to a noob than you think.

Another thought,
should I buy new igaging, enco, etc indicators or a used better brand like Starrett?


Enco
harbor freight
Fowler
Starrett
Igaging
Federal
Interapid
Mitutoyo
Westward
Westhoff
Brown & sharp
Standard
Mueller
Peacock
 
What the "best" brand is opinionated. It's mostly personal preference. One brand might be "better" than another for a particular measuring tool but it could be vise versa for a different tool. Most any quality name brand will be good.

I personally like Mitutoyo so most of my measuring tools are Mitu. I have very few Starrett and the ones I have are older used. I can't recommend you on what brand you should buy for measuring tools but I for one would rather buy used quality name brand than new China.
 
my 2 C, pretty much a matter of how much you got to spend. i've done enco for a few things, fowler is good mytu is also good. but higher chines stuff is also good. i've purchased a raft of different mfg's tools and its really a matter of $$$$$ for the most part. i figure why put a $10 saddle on a $2 horse for many things. . . .
 
If you can find Interapid at a good price you cant go wrong. I have dropped mine twice on a concrete floor, no damage still accurate and very sensitive. Conversely I made the mistake of buying a Chinese test indicator that went **** up in weeks of delicate use. Penn Tool has Interapid at good prices every so often.

michael
 
Thease are my most used indicators.



the mercer one with the cracked glass(plastic) is used for clocking table or sadle movement a lot. It reads 0.001 inch divisions.

the mitutoyo with no clock on it i use for 4 jaw set up it reads 0.01 mm /div

The finger dial is a brand i cant read, its been better than the previous finger dial i had as it auto reverse, I was always knocking the revers lever on the old one when i didn't meen to or set it up and realise it was the wrong way after getting it into possition. The range on this is so small it's sometimes infuriating.

the finger dial indicator is used for indicating on a bore, inspection type stuff and occasionaly 4 jaw set up. It's 0.002mm /div

I've purchased all my indicators second hand and gone for decent brands , miti mercer starrett. I've only had one arrive that was damaged(stupid packageing). And one i got as a "do er upper it "has 4 inch travel. Needs a gear replaced/fixig.

i have a nice mitutoyo digital clock but i don't use it a lot and when i do it's just for measuring on the surface plate, the digital ones arn't handy if ur trying to use for axis measurement as i don't get the same fealing with looking at numbers compared to concentrating on the rev count and zero mark.


Stuart
 
Check Ebay for the best deals on used indicators. Interapid is #1, B&S #2 and my surprising pick for #3 is Peacock. I've been using the same Interapid since 1981, still maintain calibration on it. My high precision indicators (.0001 & .00005") are B&S. We use Peacocks at work, they are extremely tough, easy to repair (factory workers are hard on measuring equipment) and hold calibration very well. I've bought Interapids at flea markets for $50, steal of the day!
 
don't forget to check pawn shops I have got a few good deals there to
 
Pinresto said:
The other question is a hypothetical. If you were buying a noob 3-4 indicators to get started with what would their characteristics be? Dial, test, travel, graduations, etc? I see so many variations I'm not sure what would suit me best. I want to buy 3-4 indicators to cover the lathe and mill. Ill be making small parts for my pinball machines and tooling projects to start with. I see them from .01 to .0005 and with very short to long travels. Different styles and sizes.
Thank you for helping. It means more to a noob than you think.
Click to expand...

Id recommend you buy them in this order.
1) 1" travel 0.001" graduated dial
2) 0.03" travel 0.0005" graduated test
3) 0.125" travel 0.0005" graduated dial
4) 0.03" travel 0.0001" graduated test

1 & 2 will get you through almost any project, 3 & 4 come into play when you really need to nitpick something.
 
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