David Agnew
Member
- Messages
- 285
Hi everybody... basic usage question here. I finally splurged on myself and picked up a cheap (splurge and cheap? oxymoron?) HF dial indicator set. Actually, I bought it to correctly diagnose my car's brake pulsing problem, but that's a different story.
Anyway, usage seems really straightforward and I can't really think of another way to do it, but I want to run my procedures by y'all.
So when setting it up, I need to setup the clamp/holder thing so the indicator is already depressed on the surface I shall be indicating, right? Then I re-zero?
I setup the kit so the indicator is at like 0.125 or 0.250 or whatever, then spin the dial face to set to zero, then spin the subject piece to find the low spot, etc etc?
Even though it's a Harbor Freight tool, I don't want to use it incorrectly.
Anyway, as a test, I put it on my drill press. I have a 3" arbor extension adaptor on it because.... well, no reason, it came with it! The adaptor appears to have .003" runout. My chuck itself appears to have .0015". I'm estimating the "5". The needle goes over the .001" line, about half way to the .002". I was just spinning the chuck... as I'm typing this, I think I should've been indicating on the chuck, but spinning the arbor....hmmmm.... Anyway, If I understand run-out correctly, this should result in about .0045" runout once it all starts spinning together. Is that right?
Is that excessive? Did I even do it right? I was spinning everything by hand, should I have set the speed to the lowest and run it off the motor?
Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!
Anyway, usage seems really straightforward and I can't really think of another way to do it, but I want to run my procedures by y'all.
So when setting it up, I need to setup the clamp/holder thing so the indicator is already depressed on the surface I shall be indicating, right? Then I re-zero?
I setup the kit so the indicator is at like 0.125 or 0.250 or whatever, then spin the dial face to set to zero, then spin the subject piece to find the low spot, etc etc?
Even though it's a Harbor Freight tool, I don't want to use it incorrectly.
Anyway, as a test, I put it on my drill press. I have a 3" arbor extension adaptor on it because.... well, no reason, it came with it! The adaptor appears to have .003" runout. My chuck itself appears to have .0015". I'm estimating the "5". The needle goes over the .001" line, about half way to the .002". I was just spinning the chuck... as I'm typing this, I think I should've been indicating on the chuck, but spinning the arbor....hmmmm.... Anyway, If I understand run-out correctly, this should result in about .0045" runout once it all starts spinning together. Is that right?
Is that excessive? Did I even do it right? I was spinning everything by hand, should I have set the speed to the lowest and run it off the motor?
Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!