Mechanical vs electrical edge finder

[RJSakowski]

And don't beat yourself up on running one too fast and it coming apart. I did that to a Starrett at work once and was luck enough to be able to get it back together (it was a communal tool). A hard lesson on running at the correct speed, but one truly learned.

I did a Homer Simpson "Doh" and grabbed another edge finder.

This morning, I found the errant tip. The tensioning spring had been severely distorted by the event but I threaded a wire rod through it to keep it straight and reformed the spring. You can never return an extension spring to a close coil form so the spring was now too long for proper tension. Removing 1/8" from the spring solved that. I put the edge finder back together and tested it and it works as well as ever.

 

[SLK001]

I use a pencil or my fingernail to eliminate the wobble.

I do just the opposite - I force the wobble, then slowly advance until it runs true.

 

[higgite]

After it runs true, how much more movement is needed to make it kick out? Maybe it's my eyes, but after I judge that it's running true, it usually takes more movement than I expect to make it kick out. In other words, I think it's running true way before it actually is. I'll stick with the kick out method. ymmv

Tom

Tom

 

[Larry$]

Another good presentation of edge finding, Stefan G

He uses the kick out determination.

 

[Illinoyance]

For precise edge finding I have a magnetic "chair" that I set on the edge then indicate between the "legs". Somewhere I picked up a similar device made by Moore.