Euro Style edge finder.. any with imperial sizes?

[RJSakowski]

I have Keratoconus.. (spelling) in both eyes, I have already had cataract surgery years ago. But because of the Keratoconus I was less than an ideal candidate.

I am sure that part of the problem is the lights. I think having the old fluorescents and now the new leds, the flickering makes it more difficult to see the kick. That's why I went to the wiggler. When I see the euro style on Utube it always looks way more pronounced than the standard edge finders we have.

The problem with watching something on YouTube is that you don't know what the conditions are. The only true comparison for you will be to try it yourself. I have LED lighting directly behind the spindle which provides great lighting for viewing the edge finder. The kick out that I get varies with which edge finder I'm using. My favorite is one I bought forty years ago and it has seen many years of service. I crashed the CNC once and snapped the shank in two but the two halves fit together well and the spring holds them in place. It permanently resides in its own 1/2" end mill holder. You might try some other edge finders before you give up on the Imperial ones.

 

[Boswell]

@woodchucker , I wish I could offer some suggestions on how to find the European style edge finder in Imperial dimensions but alas I can not. My only suggestion to the root problem is possibly a hand held magnifying glass that you can hold with one hand while moving the table with the other. Not sure if that is practical but possibly with some practice.

 

[ChazzC]

edit: The only reason I haven't purchased the Euro is the 10mm size, I have MT2, which as far as I know is all imperial, I haven't seen metric collets with 3/8 - 16 drawbar.

MT2 ER32 collet chuck will get you the 10mm holding capability, but at a price: the M10 drawbar ones are more common and less expensive

Joe Pie made a 1/2" version and you could modify the design using a 3/4" mid-section, 3/8" shaft and 0.200 tip. In the video he also shows how he picks of centers with a DTI.

 

[ChazzC]

I have a 1/2" double-enders from both Enco and Starrett: 1/2" and 0.200" ends. Also have a 3/8" Starrett with an 0.200" end. Also, a Starrett 1/2" with a cone point. I use an ER-32 collet chuck on my Bridgeport and primarily use either a 1/2" or 3/8" collet; having 1/2" and 3/8" edgefinders keep me from having to swap collets. I usually do a few hits for a consistency check; but I'm way off topic (as usual. . .) as the OP was asking about finding an imperial edgefinder. There are many Starrett's on eBay (827 model) for under $30.

I had a 3/8" double-ended (point & 0.200") edge finder but only used the pointy end for picking up center marks: when clamping in a chuck I was worried about what the jaws were doing to the "opposite" end and with a collet got the opposite end caught inside the collet a couple of times when I inserted it a bit too deep.

 

[woodchucker]

I had a 3/8" double-ended (point & 0.200") edge finder but only used the pointy end for picking up center marks: when clamping in a chuck I was worried about what the jaws were doing to the "opposite" end and with a collet got the opposite end caught inside the collet a couple of times when I inserted it a bit too deep.

yea, he uses the dti more than an edge finder. It's probably more accurate, but I'm more lazy, and use the dti when a wiggler or edge finder won't do. Centering on a round will usually involve the dti.

 

[ChazzC]

yea, he uses the dti more than an edge finder. It's probably more accurate, but I'm more lazy, and use the dti when a wiggler or edge finder won't do. Centering on a round will usually involve the dti.

I agree: while I'm sure that the DTI may give "better" results (since Joe & Stefan routinely do this), an edge finder is more suited to my work flow (& tolerances ).

 

[metric_taper]

It's too bad the Euro style? Edge finder is pure metric. I did a search looking for .2 or .5, and there were no hits. Just a simple "edge finder" search on ebay, brings up these (lowest plus shipping first sort order); And these euro style are the lowest price ones. Reading the specs. They talk about 10mm and 20mm large end. Nothing about the small diameter, so these sellers have nothing to do with the machine tool industry.

 

[Smithdoor]

I switched mostly from a modern edge finder back to a wiggler, because I had trouble seeing the edge finder kick over. I noticed on videos that the Euro edge finder (see pic) is much easier to see kick over. The problem is I have never been able to find an imperial version.
I would like to find something that has simple .2 or .4 barrels so I can move over .1 or .2.. The one I am showing is from Amazon, and based on price alone, it's probably junk, but it's also in mm... which means a weird move in imperial for me.
View attachment 481090

A lot machinist have try that 30 or 40 years ago.
Great idea it needs more secntivity.
They all went back old weggy
I use the weggy and optical the is under 0.000,1"

Dave

 

[Ischgl99]

Euro Smuro, open up the wallet and get a Haimer

On a more serious note, I'm the opposite of your situation, I do just about everything in metric, but I have imperial edge finders. Once I got my DRO, instead of zeroing my dials with the edge finger and then moving over and zeroing again, I switched from thinking of the edge finger as imperial and just type plus or minus 6.35 depending on the direction into the DRO to set the edge point for my 0.500" edge finder. You could do the same for whatever the imperial radius is for the euro style you choose, it's just a number you are entering, so it doesn't matter if it is 0.100 or 0.0787, other than a bit harder to remember.

To get around the metric collet issue, can you add a bushing to the euro style to fit an imperial collet, or would that destroy its accuracy?

 

[woodchucker]

so the edge finder came in today. I only ordered it the other day, when I ordered belts for the new hf bandfile.
I didn't spend much time with it only about 3 minutes. But way better kick out than the American style. I am not sure why.
First, I'll grind the shaft down to fit in the 3/8 collet. So I can use it for general centering.
Then I may make an Imperial copy ... This is the real deal for me. The kick out was BIG , even using the small tip (which is what I want). I want a .2 tip
This was my first experience, it may change when I use it for real, but it was impressive. Is it quality??? I don't know. Mine says NEWALL.. is that the same company as the DRO?