# Cleaning Dial Indicators



## porthos

i have a bunch of dial indicators; most are old. federal, standard , brown &sharp and starrett. some have sticky plungers that take a while to return to "0". how can I clean these to loosen them up. I was thinking of lighter fluid or naptha. any advice??? and afterwards; lubrication???

porthos


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## awander

it's best to carefully disassemble them, clean the sticking surfaces, and reassemble with a non-gumming lubricant.

I've heard that a small ultrasonic cleaner filled with odorless mineral spirits can be used on a fully-assembled movement, but I have never done that.


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## Andre

My grandfather took apart a .0005" Mahr-Federal indicator. He never got it back together, and he was an engineer for GM. I recently got a .0001" Mahr-Federal indicator and it's real sticky. I've lubed the spindle and gear rack with light oils but nothing has worked. I've also adjusted the rack/pinion clearance. I'll be watching this thread!


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## Bishop

I had a few Federal guages that I got online, they were very sticky and sat in a drawer for years until I finally dripped a few drops of mineral spirits inside and gave them a light blast with compressed air. Now they sit in the same drawer but work quite well.


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## 18w

Lubricating dial indicators usually creates more problems. The internals and the stem need to be clean and only the slightest and I mean miniscule dab of a fine clock grade oil on the internal pivot. If a indicator sticks it usually means oil or dirt has gotten inside if there is no physical damage. Only solution is dis assembly and cleaning  Speaking of watches, a old style watch you had to wind (for you old enough to remember) ran without additional lubrication and think how many revolutions they made as compared to a dial indicator. Never had to oil a watch. If you want a interesting read on metrology quality and repair. Got to http://longislandindicator.com/ A real eye opener on what their opinions are on the quality of different brands of dial indicators, calipers, ect.

Darrell


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## bleonard

thank you Darrell for bringing that up
I go to Logislandindacater all the time and now I collect Horses [Etalons].
Bob


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## Mac1

I have been told that kerosene is good to clean the workings of gages and indicators.  It leaves an adequate film of lubrication.


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## porthos

while waiting on suggestions for my post on cleaning  indicators; here's what I did. I took a federal .001 indicator that didn't stick but was slow for the whole return of the dial. took back off, took lens and number ring off. flushed inside out with spray bottle of mineral spirits . blowed out with low pressure air. flushed out again with lighter fluid ( I had heard that it has some lubricity; true or not I don't know ) re assembled   and now the dial is not slow. did the same to a standard indicator  .0001. I think its better but is + - .0001. anyway I don't think that I did anything to hurt them.  anyone know anything about the lubricity or not of lighter fluid??

porthos


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## Mark in Indiana

In a pinch, I've lubricated the plunger with silicon spray. I won't say that's the best way, but it works in the short term.


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## Holescreek

Andre said:


> My grandfather took apart a .0005" Mahr-Federal indicator. He never got it back together, and he was an engineer for GM. I recently got a .0001" Mahr-Federal indicator and it's real sticky. I've lubed the spindle and gear rack with light oils but nothing has worked. I've also adjusted the rack/pinion clearance. I'll be watching this thread!


 
The Mahr's can be a PITA the first time, everything has to be just right to get the roller in the correct position to get it back together.

I R&R all kinds of gauges every week, I have a few indicators on my bench tonight.   After disassembly I clean the parts in an ultrasonic parts cleaner with either Branson cleaning solution or a Dawn dish soap solution in it.  I never lubricate the inner workings.


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## Andre

Holescreek said:


> The Mahr's can be a PITA the first time, everything has to be just right to get the roller in the correct position to get it back together.
> 
> I R&R all kinds of gauges every week, I have a few indicators on my bench tonight.   After disassembly I clean the parts in an ultrasonic parts cleaner with either Branson cleaning solution or a Dawn dish soap solution in it.  I never lubricate the inner workings.



Do you think you could shoot a little video showing how you do it? I'd be lost if I took it apart and couldn't get it back together. It's DODGE branded, made for ignition work on diesel engines. (I think)


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## Holescreek

Not sure what you mean by "how you do it". If you mean repairing an indicator, they are all a little different.  I only make videos of my hobbies, gauge repair isn't one of those.  Fixing them isn't hard at all but can be intimidating the first time. If you don't have access to replacement/repair parts it's kind of senseless to crack them open unless you're sure they're just grimy inside.  I repair several a week in a manufacturing plant that machines cast iron on 20 machine lines and I've yet to find one that's dirty _inside_ the case. Most of the "cleaning" needed to loosen up a shaft consists of squirting isopropyl alcohol on the joint/shafts to flush the grit out.  Most repairs result from the gauge being dropped and involve replacing one or more gears or just resetting the mainspring tension.  Every gauge that I repair is also calibrated afterwards on an Indi-check.  

Indicators are instruments that don't come lubed from the factory. Oil attracts dirt and collects it exactly where you don't want it.


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## rrjohnso2000

Indicator internals should be treated like mechanical watches. They have jeweled bearing surfaces that are lubed with specific weight oils not just any oil. 

Naphtha, lighter fluid, is a very common cleaning solution. Complete disassembly, cleaning of parts, and using peg wood to clean jewels is the proper manner for service followed by the proper lubrication and assembly. 

Excess application of oil will attract unwanted dirt and cause issues. The amount of oil applied is very small but without it the parts will wear and reduce the service life. 

Keep in mind that this is only for dirty gummed up works. A true watch repair shop charges in the neighborhood of $100 to clean, lube, and test most basic mechanical watches. Indicators are much simpler, one might be able to get one serviced for a better price.


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## astjp2

I mail mine to a repair shop and for a minimal fee for a good indicator it comes back like new.  Tim


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## Terrywerm

18w said:


> Got to www.longislandrepair.com. A real eye opener on what their opinions are on the quality of different brands of dial indicators, calipers, ect.
> 
> Darrell



Darrell, did you mean http://www.longislandindicator.com/index.html   ???    I went to your link and found nothing on metrology.


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## 18w

Thanks Terry. Your link is the correct one. Perhaps the mods can fix my link so no one goes on a wild goose chase.

Darrell


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## 4GSR

Be careful using aerosol cleaners like Brake Clean, they work but too much will distort plastic and remove the numbers and marks from the face.
Ask me how I know...


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## astjp2

Well I just sent my indicator repair guy 10 calipers, three 3d tasters, and an bunch of other misc indicators that I pulled out of the scrap bin.  Hopefully I can use it for trading to get 2 DTI's fixed along with some other items I sent him.  I just shake too bad to take small things apart.  Tim


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## EmilioG

I've read that fine watch oil  (   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047BAL8Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A310EPC810IKZ7                                      is used on the bearings and pinion only (on indicators).


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## ybyo

Hello, i have an USSR made 0.01mm/0.0005" 12.4mm/0.5" range dial indicator and it was sticky. I decided to part it of because i didnt like to use it since it is not reliable. Biggest problem was removing pointers (1st for 0.01mm 2nd for 0-1 mm ) they were glued not hard pressed. Anyway i just washed all parts with %99 pure isopropyl alcohol. It removes dirts perfectly. Used tooth picks to clean holes. Reassembling was a bit stressed job but managed it anyway and it is working nice and smooth after all. I noticed that plunger has a spring, tension can be adjusted by remeshing rack-pinion but there is another worm spring in mine, it should be adjusted also which has key role on pointer returning to 0.
I wouldn't use any kind of lubricant. All critical parts usually has 'jewelled' beds. Any kind of lub tends to get dirts anyway. Since mine is Soviet made lol it should be work for another 20 years with this condition.
Actually i watched metal tips and tricks related video (which he doesnt suggest to do) and whole process took about 45 min at all. 0.01mm dial indicator is not hard as it seems but i would not mess with 0.002mm/0.0001" dial indicator which i dont have mechanical  one, because as far as i know spring pressure is very important for them.


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## EmilioG




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## JACK-TR6

Thanks for the information on cleaning sticking indicators. Im going to try some of your ideas soon.


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## mmcmdl

I think I need some mineral spirits for a few of these .


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## WobblyHand

mmcmdl said:


> I think I need some mineral spirits for a few of these .


The two Mahr indicators on the left, how are they used?  Can't quite tell from the picture.  (The picture doesn't show the whole instrument.)  Seems to have a lot of zeros!  0.00005"/div !   According to Mahr, the Millimess are dial comparators?  Is this for go/no go measurement?  Haven't seen a tool like this, so I am curious about what it is, and how it is used.


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## DiscoDan

BlondieHacks just did a segment on this topic.


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## Papa Charlie

WobblyHand said:


> The two Mahr indicators on the left, how are they used?  Can't quite tell from the picture.  (The picture doesn't show the whole instrument.)  Seems to have a lot of zeros!  0.00005"/div !   According to Mahr, the Millimess are dial comparators?  Is this for go/no go measurement?  Haven't seen a tool like this, so I am curious about what it is, and how it is used.


They are used in production to check parts against a standard, most often the standard is the first part or a reference part. You set the unit to zero with the standard and then you can measure all others to see if they fall within tolerances.

That type of gauge is used also used to test surface plates, mounted in a special fixture.


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## JFoley

I got a sticky Japanese Peacock indicator for cheap.  It's 0.001 x +/- 1mm, that's about 0.00004" resolution.  I took apart what I could safely, then stopped before getting in too deep.  Because it's "shockless" the stem is not directly linked to the sensitive movement.  I started with naphtha because it cuts oil very well, unlike alcohols.  As I understand it lighter fluid is just naphtha with nothing added.  It has no lubrication in it but it tends to thin the old dried oil it does not remove and redistribute it.  Naphtha also generally does not attack plastics.  In this case I didn't get perfect results, so I followed that with automotive aerosol Mass Air Flow Cleaner.  It's pure and also safe for plastics and electronics.  That did it and now the indicator works perfectly again.  In this case I did not add any lubrication.

I also use this technique for camera shutters all the time if I can't completely disassemble them.  Just like a shutter, I had to let the indicator dry completely and exercise it before it worked without sticking.  If you don't take the things completely apart and clean and dry the parts individually, the very close fitting parts take a long time to dry out.  The still wet parts will sometimes fool you into thinking it's working because the trapped solvent acts as a lubricant.  The next day it may be sticky again.  If it is, just do it again.  Good luck.


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## ki4byz

To clean and lube all of my precision tools, mics calipers dial and digital and indicators, I use lighter fluid "Ronson ,Zippo". Been using it for nearly 40 years.


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## mmcmdl

WobblyHand said:


> The two Mahr indicators on the left, how are they used? Can't quite tell from the picture. (The picture doesn't show the whole instrument.) Seems to have a lot of zeros! 0.00005"/div ! According to Mahr, the Millimess are dial comparators? Is this for go/no go measurement? Haven't seen a tool like this, so I am curious about what it is, and how it is used.


Sorry Wobbly , late to the game . These are known as Mahr snap mics . And yes , they are set with gage blocks and are .00005 incremental . They are milimess indicators . The indicators are removable and can be used for most jobs requiring precision .


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