Dial indicator quality

I have a few and seem to trust my Mitutoyu the most. Don't know why, honestly. I also like their micrometers. Go for tenths, even if you don't think you'll ever need tenths. Good luck.
 
mikey said:
For DTI's, at least in my opinion, you cannot do better than the Swiss. Compac, Tesa, Brown & Sharpe produce some of the finest DTI's made. They move smoothly, accurately and with the least hysteresis of any indicator I have seen, even when compared to the best Mitutoyo dial indicators that I also own.

It may help to know what to look for. If I could only own one single DTI for general use, it would be the Compac 214GA, a long travel/large dial 0.0005" DTI. The best tenths indicator I know of is the Compac 215GA, also a large dial, easy to read tenths indicator.

Similar in quality are the Interapid indicators from B&S. Many pro machinists swear by these. I own one of these, too, and they are fine indicators but I prefer the movement of the Compacs. Still, Interapids are top shelf indicators and will last you a lifetime in a hobby shop.

For DI's, again, the Swiss are the best. Compac and B&S are top choices. Mitutoyo's are also good, the 0.0005" model 2776S being a decent one (I have used one for 15 years and its good), and it is repairable to boot. My best DI is a Compac 523LA; they are no longer made and are rare on the used market but it is the smoothest DI I have owned and if you ever find one, grab it. B&S indicators are made in the same factory as Compac's and Tesa's so all of their DI's are good but the older ones are the best if you can find them.

Starrett's Last Word indicators are good basic indicators. I own one of these, too, and have used it for over 35 years. As much hate as these things get, mine has been accurate and reliable. I don't use it anymore because I have better options but for a beginner hobbyist, it will do. They do tend to get magnetized over time and that causes sticking.

I suggest you go to the Long Island Indicator Service site and start reading. In every category, there is one or two "best" choices. Know what they are and start looking for them on ebay. If you are patient, you will find what you want at a good price.
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Good advice for Long Island Indicator. A wealth of information and they do great work. I have had several repaired over the years. Over my 39 year career as a machinist, I found that Swiss made indicators hold up the best. I used B&S, Girod and Interapid. I think the Interapid was the most versatile, and can be had for under $200 on sale.
 
Another factor to consider is the ancillary hardware. Sometimes the dovetails or lugs or lug holes or stem diameters can vary just enough to drive you nuts trying to couple it to a mag base or indicator holder or lock arm or..... The euro ones may well be metric, but often times they can be imperial if sold for the NAm market. Some are offered in either/or flavors. So I'm saying kind of expand your thinking to try encompass the direction you want to go with the 'other stuff' that holds the actual indicator. You may want to screw on a lug back in one application vs a plain back in another.

I've kind of become a Mitutoyo fan boy. It just never has disappointed me & there is local catalog & repair/parts support. But if I lived in the States closer to the deals & more favorable currency, Starrett would be a good longstanding name where you can still get parts readily. I've had some Fowler & no-name brands in the past but they were hit & miss. Some perfectly fine & others... not so much. I'm turning into a buy-it-once kind of guy. Having said that, I bought a brand new Starrett bore dial gage a few years back & was underwhelmed. It was offshore, not USA & it showed in fit & finish. Apparently they are farming out (as do others depending on the instrument) but I would have preferred an oldy in that case.
 
I have a random collection of indicators, Starrett, Federal, Teclock, no names, Harbor Freight, etc. I had occasion to test all these, and found NO difference in accuracy. All the 0.001 indicators were accurate to .001, and the couple of .0001 indicators were as close as my methodology could discern, comparing to a 1 micron DRO.

Maybe you will feel better having an expensive indicator...I feel that way about my Mitutoyo digital micrometer. And perhaps the brand names last longer, can’t say, since all mine all work. But really, they are mainly trend indicators, and about as accurate as you could expect. If you examine their construction, you can see that there are not too many causes of inaccuracy...if the dial goes around and comes back like it should, I believe it can be trusted to within a count or so.

If you have had other quantified results or experiences, I’d like to hear about them.
 
90%+ of my uses of dial indicators is nulling (making the whole part read zero).
For this kind of use the most important quality of the DI is lack of stiction.

Every once in a while I use a DI to measure "transit" (when I can't trust the dials).
Here actual accuracy is important.
 
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