Dial Drop Indicator

Al Launier

Member
Messages
1,683
Location
Bedford, NH
I have a 1960 Starrett Last Word indicator that has seen its better days, i.e. bezel has yellowed/needle sticks, plus it's not a drop indicator. It's one I received when I started a T&DM apprenticeship. I'm thinking of getting a 1" dial drop indicator, but do not want to spend the $$$ for a Starrett, Federal, or other "top of the line" indicator, just something that would be "suitable" for wood working application; using it for setting up jointer blades, table saw offsets, etc. There seems to be plenty of no-name brands on the market for ~$20 or lless, but I've never heard of them.

So, I was wondering what brand/model you guys used.

Any suggestions?
 
I only rarely use a dial indicator, and have a $7 unit from Harbor Junk. I don't know what a drop indicator is, so I Googled, and found a place that repairs Starretts (www.longislandindicator.com) and offers repair parts - I saw a lot of Starrett crystals for around $8. If I had a once-good Starrett I would certainly look into refurbishing it.

When I clicked your link, I was taken to a site educationconnection.com which has very poor safety ratings. The link looks innocent, but the results are bad.
 
Charlie, there are no links in Al's post. It sounds like you have a browser hijack virus. :yes:

Brent or Darren, please pick up the White Courtesy Phone. ;)
 
Before I start, Let me issue some cautions,


  • NEVER click on those popups that you may get from time to time that offer to 'fix your pc' or 'make it faster' or anything.
  • NEVER pay someone you don't know to fix your PC. Maybe you have a guy that you take you pc to. Or maybe it's your pc vendors support team. Or maybe it's your companies IT department. Those are fine, but if it's a link you clicked on from some company on the internet, well, you are probably going to get taken for a ride.

Browser hijacking can be one of the most irritating things to happen since for a lot of us, browsing the web is one of the main things we do.

Browser hijacking can vary from simply having your default search provider changed and strange tool bars added to your browser to a full fledge hijack that will add links and modify links in web pages.

Most of the time you get these types of things are directly due to something you have either installed or clicked on. The people that make these tools are very adept at social engineering to trick you into installing their malware. There are a lot of installer programs out that that will directly change your default browsers default search engine. They even tell you about it during the install, but you have to specifically tell them NOT to change your settings. It's a slimy practice.

The first step is to make sure you have a good set of anti virus/malware tools.

These are the ones that I use. All of them have a free version that works fine. There are a lot of other good ones out there too, these just happen to be the ones I use. I have not (knock on wood) had any real trouble with a virus in many years. (I hate that I just said that, well, because guess what will happen next). Use these, or things like these before you do anything else. Malwarebytes and the windows Malicious software remove

1) Anti Virus Software. I use AVG free and it's worked fine. But there are a lot of other good ones out there. AVG is one of those programs that will try to change your default search and add a toolbar. I hate that and do not let it do that. If you install this pay attention and read the screens while you install to make sure you do not let it add the toolbar or change your default search.
2) Malwarebytes
3) Spybot Search and Destroy Free Edition
4) Windows Malicious Software Removal

Fixing a hijacked browser can be a whole nother issue. They can be nasty to remove, but it generally is possible. It will usually require digging around on the internet and finding some registry entries to change. It's actually hard to find

First off, you need to go into your extensions/plugins and make sure to remove anything you did not install.

Chrome - http://www.chromeplugins.org/google/plugins-troubleshooting/how-can-i-remove-plugin-7780.html
Firefox - http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-or-remove-add-ons


Here are some links on how to fix a hijacked browser.
Internet Explorer - http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/browser-hijacking.aspx
An interesting article on how one person solved their issue.http://www.softwaretestingtricks.com/2009/08/fix-mywebsearch-hijacked-firefox.html
An article on what to do if Chrome is hijacked http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2765944


Good luck, and you have my sympathy.
 
Brent on behalf the members here i want to thank you for taking the time to make your post on this topic and providing all the valuable info. For so many i think this would be a valuable sticky for our forum. I dont need it but recognise the effort you put in to do it. BTW i use Esset Smart security. Buy bundles of licences for multi years and get deals that end up in around $16 per annum per machine.
 
Larry, I did that & was also taken to education connection.com.

Brent I just followed your advice & removed the iexplore.exe add-on. I also uninstalled AVG secure search since it was a recent install (last week) thinking maybe I shouldn't have because when I installed AVG I had allowed it to install the tool bar, but not the default search (as I recall). I thought I could remove AVG & then reinstall it again without both the toolbar & default search. Once I did this I tried to download the free AVG & unclicked the two boxes to allow the tool bar & default search. It wouldn't allow me to do this. Either I had to include them or cancel. So I cancelled the install.

Also I just downloaded Microsoft® Windows® Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830) (64 bit) & did the quick scan - no malicious software found. So, now I'm going to re-boot the computer thinking/hoping that will allow me to click on the site you noted above & go to them.

Now I cannot forward to the other links he noted above. I get the finger pointing icon on the link, but no reaction when clicking on it, even when double clicking. I can copy/paste the site address & go there, but not by clicking on it above. So, I'm going to re-boot the computer to see what happens.

Nope! Didn't change anything. Guess I should conclude I have to copy/paste rather than click on the sites to go there.
 
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Charlie's post has a URL directly after the word "Starrets" on line one in what I am looking at. I did NOT touch it.
That link is ok and should work. If I understand correctly, Charlie was seeing odd links in Al's post.

Larry, I did that & was also taken to education connection.com.

Brent I just followed your advice & removed the iexplore.exe add-on. I also uninstalled AVG secure search since it was a recent install (last week) thinking maybe I shouldn't have because when I installed AVG I had allowed it to install the tool bar, but not the default search (as I recall). I thought I could remove AVG & then reinstall it again without both the toolbar & default search. Once I did this I tried to download the free AVG & unclicked the two boxes to allow the tool bar & default search. It wouldn't allow me to do this. Either I had to include them or cancel. So I cancelled the install.

Also I just downloaded Microsoft® Windows® Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830) (64 bit) & did the quick scan - no malicious software found. So, now I'm going to re-boot the computer thinking/hoping that will allow me to click on the site you noted above & go to them.

Now I cannot forward to the other links he noted above. I get the finger pointing icon on the link, but no reaction when clicking on it, even when double clicking. I can copy/paste the site address & go there, but not by clicking on it above. So, I'm going to re-boot the computer to see what happens.

Nope! Didn't change anything. Guess I should conclude I have to copy/paste rather than click on the sites to go there.

So Al, you were getting taken to education.com from Charlies link? This gets stranger and stranger. I see no links in Al's original post.

Al, you can use the AVG Safe Search and their tool bar if you want, there's no harm in them, I just prefer to do all my searching from google.

You are saying that you cannot click on any links anywhere? Or just certain ones? I would not recommend running without an antivirus.

But it would be a big help if you let us know what browser you are using. Another option is to try another browser to see if you see the same symptoms. I.e. if you are using IE, try Firefox, or Chrome, or vice versa.

Run the malwarebytes full scan as well.
 
So Al, you were getting taken to education.com from Charlies link? Yes This gets stranger and stranger. I see no links in Al's original post. I didn't include a link in my original post - I don't know how Charlie did that.

Al, you can use the AVG Safe Search and their tool bar if you want, there's no harm in them, I just prefer to do all my searching from google.

You are saying that you cannot click on any links anywhere? Or just certain ones? I'm referring to the links that you included in your instructions, i.e. clicking on them does nothing, copy/paste does. I would not recommend running without an antivirus. I have Norton Security Suite by Comcast.

But it would be a big help if you let us know what browser you are using. Internet Explore version 9.08112.16421 (KB2761465) Another option is to try another browser to see if you see the same symptoms. I.e. if you are using IE, try Firefox, or Chrome, or vice versa. If there was a way to transfer all my Favorite Places from IE to Chrome I would switch to Chrome

Run the malwarebytes full scan as well. I plan on doing that when I go to bed - it takes several hours to complete. [/QUOTE]
 
PS I just visited http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?29533-Cube-In-a-Cube-Puzzler and clicked on the site for the cube puzzle. Clicking on it wouldn't take me to the site. So, I guess it's not just this thread. Must be something on my end???

Thanks for the heads up on Chrome & importing bookmarks. I'll give it a try.

I'm thinking it has to be something on your end with IE. I'm able to click all of the links no problem. The question is is it just this site? Or are you able to click on other links in IE.

I wasn't able to find anything related to that kind of behavior in a cursory google search, and I've never seen that behavior before. Definitely a new on on me.
 
I'm thinking it has to be something on your end with IE. I'm able to click all of the links no problem. The question is is it just this site? Or are you able to click on other links in IE.

I wasn't able to find anything related to that kind of behavior in a cursory google search, and I've never seen that behavior before. Definitely a new on on me.

I don't have any problems clicking to other sites

I just downloaded Google Chrome & thanks to you was able to import my Favorite Places, many of them. It missed quite a few including FWW, but I'll manually transfer from IE.

I can now click & go on the sites you posted above when using Chrome. I went back to IE & still could nor click & go there. So, It has to do with IE. This just started with my original posting above when responding to Charlie's post; wasn't having problems before???

After I get all my FP transferred to Chrome, I'll uninstall IE & keep Chrom as the default browser. I think it may be better anyway

Thanks for your help.
 
Indicators

Back to the original issue, Mitutoyo and SPI are a couple of choices I've had good luck with. However, I'd look at getting the Starrett fixed.

Tom
 
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Is that what this thread is about?

Oh yeah, I'd get the Starret fixed, for sure. I don't own one, but from what I hear.

But then again, it is woodworking we are talking about, and it moves. I have a little fraction dial one I really like, because I still refuse to move to metric.

Forget getting a digital fractional. Very hard to use, but the dial ones that read in 64'ths are actually kind of nice when planing lumber to size.
 
Thanks for the recommendations.

This is the indicator that I have http://www.bettymills.com/shop/prod...ent=Facility&gclid=CMWrn47hjbUCFUqf4Aod4T8AmA .

It has only a 0.030" range with a 1/16" tip which I feel is limiting for what I want to use an indicator for in my shop. I'm really looking for a dial indicator that has a flat tip, has a 1" range, and with 0.001" graduations. The cost to replace the bezel & crystal for the Last Word would be $25+. I'd rather get an inexpensive, but of "reasonable" quality for about the same amount. I'm curious (http://www.harborfreight.com/1-inch-travel-machinists-dial-indicator-623.html) , as being suitable for my needs, but suspect it's just more China junk???
 
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