Looking to buy Dial Indicator.......HELP!!!

[cool50]

I'm looking to buy a dial indicator and I was wondering if you guys could tell me what is a good brand. I will not be making a living with it, just a few things around the garage.

What is a good brand.

Which ones are made in the U.S.A., that's important

I am tight on money, so I need one that won't break my little bank.
Thanks

 

[SticketsFTW]

Get an old federal or a starrett.


Mitutoyo if you dont mind made in Japan.


Thats all your options.


I can only assume you want a .001 grad/1'' travel unless you tell us otherwise.

 

[larry_g]

Can you pull up the starrett web page and give us a picture of whatyour thinking of as there are many different styles of indicators used for different things. Do you want english or metric? What range do you need? What style of mounting? Your question is akin to asking for a tool to fit a 13mm fastener. There are many tools to fit 13mm but not all are correct for the job. So what do you plan to do with this indicator?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[cool50]

.001 grad/1'' is what I was looking for and a few "general " use things.

 

[SticketsFTW]

.001 grad/1'' is what I was looking for and a few "general " use things.

Its the same as when someone asks for a 7/16 socket, 9 times out of 10 you can hand them a 3/8''drive 7/16'' 6pt shallow socket and be right on.

 

[sawatch]

Go to Grizzly and get one on a magnetic stand, plenty good for home use.

 

[BigDawgDavao]

Summit has a reasonably priced one.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-900016-1/

 

[larry_g]

Its the same as when someone asks for a 7/16 socket, 9 times out of 10 you can hand them a 3/8''drive 7/16'' 6pt shallow socket and be right on.

Yup and you'd be wrong 10% of the time.

To the OP if your stuck on US made then I believe that you will have to look at Starrett or Brown&Sharp and then be careful as some of the products they have are imported. You can find imports that are better than the US made indicators.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[t100]

I've got a whole bunch of them, what range you a looking into?

 

[sonnyboy]

Starrett, or Brown & Sharpe. There might be others, but I don't know of any other current American made ones off hand. As was stated earlier, you still need to be careful, even with those brands. I know Starrett was making a cheaper version of their dial caliper in china a few years ago.

I don't have any experience with the Starrett version, but there is a B&S at work that has been used and abused. Although it needs a professional internal cleaning (from being in a harsh enviroment) and a new crystal, it still works well enough.

 

[Roots]

Starrett and Brown & Sharpe are the only US made ones that I'm aware of, and even with them many models are made overseas. I believe some of Brown & Sharpe's are contract produced by a few exceptional Swiss brands which aren't well known in America but tend to exceed Starrett quality.

Fowler is generally the cheapest brand around, however they're repackaged Chinese products from a large variety of Chinese producers, with quite drastic levels of quality.

 

[Lump]

I may have some used units. So will some of the other tool collectors on GJ. I'll check my stash later tonite.

 

[Elroy]

In Elroy's mind you should be looking for a fully jeweled movement. These would be a better chioce than a "plain bearing" movement

 

[crewchief888]

i sold my starret indicators many years ago, partly because thinking i'd never need them again, and being broke enough i was living in my van

i have a couple of central indicators that have served me well for a lot of years for occasional automotive and heavy eq use

 

[Bolster]

Lookit. You ask a question like this and you will only get the "premium brand" recommendations. Nobody wants to be the guy who says "buy a cheap one." Nobody wants to say "Buy a Chinese one."

Yet my machinist school buys the cheapest they can, about $10 each. Are they .0005 off? Maybe. Are you that accurate? Any dial indicator is good for one drop, so why not drop a cheap one.

I would not recommend a quality dial indicator unless you are advanced enough you can appreciate the difference.

CDCO. Asian. 9 bucks and no bragging rights. Save your money for some OTHER made-in-USA tool, is my recommendation.

Or get a used one.

Recently purchased a Starrett caliper and wow, was I disappointed with the quality...I hate to say it.

 

[diggerrick]

I don't mind recommending Chinese equipment - if I know it works well.

I've been using these for years for everything from engine assembly, automatic transmission setup, and ring and pinion setup:

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-inch-travel-machinists-dial-indicator-623.html

I don't need to be within half a thousandth. The first few times I did any critical setup I double checked with Dad's Starett indicator, and it was always within a half. Now I'm confident enough that I don't bother with Dad's. I do set it up and check it again with mine, though, just to check my setup.

 

[Capri driver]

I have worked in QC for the last 25 years.

For mechanical dial indicators, I personally prefer Brown & Sharpe. For calipers ,micrometers, and digital indicators I prefer Mitutoyo.

Starrett makes some great stuff, but some of it is priced way too high. IMO, the ones I listed above are better quality and more reasonably priced anyway.

 

[SticketsFTW]

I forgot to mention you can find Mitutoyo dial indicators made in the USA!

 

[Elroy]

Recently purchased a Starrett caliper and wow, was I disappointed with the quality...I hate to say it.

Elroy was looking at some 8" Starrett's a while back and you're right

Pit-I-Ful

Just plain pitiful.

 

[pp702nw]

I hate to admit it. my hf dial indicator has worked good enough for me. Accurate... maybe. good enough to set up a diff with no noise yes.good enough for relative measurement. yes. Good enough for tool and die making? doubt it.

get a good holder. the hf one i got is a pos. threads striped and the magnet was weak. would take all the accuracy out of even the finest of indicators. the clamps are nowhere rigid enough.

 

[GrantCee]

I assume you're not looking for test indicator, correct?

If you want American, the usual choice is Starrett (B&S are rebadged Kaefers, to the best of my knowledge.) Some claim that the Starretts are made someplace else, with enough assembly being done here to be stamped "U.S." Don't know if that's true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me. That's because they (IMNSHO) were never very good, and have only gotten worse with time. Current models are sorely lacking in quality even compared to the so-so models of 20 years ago. I can believe that they come from overseas. That being said, if all you need is to be within a thousandth and don't use them everyday, even a Chinese or Taiwanese indicator will be more than sufficient.

It goes something like this: if you want the illusion of being U.S. made and don't need the quality, buy Starrett. If you don't need the quality and aren't fooled by the stamp, buy a Chinese/Taiwanese model. If you really want it to be made here, get an Ames (supposedly; I've not seen one.) If you want quality, are capable of using the tool to that level of quality and are willing to pay for it, get a Compac.

Finally, if you want good quality at a good price - sort of a best of all worlds - get a Mitutoyo. (This is hard for me to admit, as I generally hate Mitutoyo stuff, but their dial indicators are really good and a bargain for what you get.)

 

[rodm1]

Lookit. You ask a question like this and you will only get the "premium brand" recommendations. Nobody wants to be the guy who says "buy a cheap one." Nobody wants to say "Buy a Chinese one."

Yet my machinist school buys the cheapest they can, about $10 each. Are they .0005 off? Maybe. Are you that accurate? Any dial indicator is good for one drop, so why not drop a cheap one.

I would not recommend a quality dial indicator unless you are advanced enough you can appreciate the difference.

CDCO. Asian. 9 bucks and no bragging rights. Save your money for some OTHER made-in-USA tool, is my recommendation.

Or get a used one.

Recently purchased a Starrett caliper and wow, was I disappointed with the quality...I hate to say it.

+1 Starrett is having some big problems with quality and imports most of there tools. Not US any longer I try to buy German and France made indicators if I won't high quality. For test indicators these are top notch and my choice.

for 0-1 indicators go with Mercer, Telclock


p.s. check out http://longislandindicator.com/p14.html

 

[JayL]

I just recently acquired this Dial Indicator. It's a Mitutoyo but I reckon too much plastic in it. Sold my Snap On PMF-136 because I preferred metric. The old SO was a lot beefier.

In addition the Mitutoyo base to mount it in will be more expensive than the indicator itself.

Try Ebay too. I saw lots of slightly used ones last time I checked when I was in the market for one. I'd look for one with a base included already.

None the less I'm happy with this Mitutoyo.

I paid $43 equivalent in our local currency. NIB.

 

[Roots]

I would not recommend a quality dial indicator unless you are advanced enough you can appreciate the difference.

Or get a used one.

Recently purchased a Starrett caliper and wow, was I disappointed with the quality...I hate to say it.

I'm an absolute agreement on the first part. Most people will not be able to tell the difference and it's quite likely that the small accuracy difference won't matter in many applications.

I'd be extremely leery of ever purchasing a used precision instrument though, unless you knew the seller and they were the original owner.

Suprisingly, while Starrett is "the" brand in America, with many of their tools they REALLY pale in comparison to some of the fine Swiss and Austrian measuring tools.

 

[SticketsFTW]

Recently purchased a Starrett caliper and wow, was I disappointed with the quality...I hate to say it.

I bet its made in china.

Starrett is going down hill very very fast!

 

[Bolster]

Actually the caliper was new, USA made, that's why I bought it...I steered clear of their imports. But you have to figure, that a USA worker has to do the job 5x faster to stay competitive with a Chinee worker. After awhile, the speed and cost cutting do take their toll... That's why I'm leery of "Made in America" being an absolute guarantee of quality. (Don't get me wrong, I try to buy as much USA as I can.) But sometimes it just means faster / cheaper to keep competitive.

Replaced it with a Mit caliper and I'm happy. One way I keep the Mit caliper in good condition is to use my HF caliper about 80% of the time. I can't see but maybe a .0005 difference in measurement, and I belong to the ".005 is usually good enough" crowd.

I'm a half of a hundredth type of guy. Real machinists are a half of a thousandth. If you're a half-thou guy, then yes, you should be buying the nice American and Euro indicators.

 

[joshthedieseltech]

we have 10 or more of the harbor freight ones we use in the shop daily with no problems.

 

[nikonica]

Look in the repair manuals for what you will be working on. Most automotive/motorcycle/etc. applications where you would use a dial indicator don't call for accuracy in the thousandths - you can get by just fine with any indicator that's not broken.

FWIW, I opted for a used Federal indicator (made in Rhode Island) that's probably not the best but is fine for measuring linear movement and runout on engine parts, flywheel friction faces, and brake rotors. I think I paid about $5 for it. I also have a Mitutoyo bore gauge, and it seems to be a nice tool, made in Japan.

 

[cool50]

Thanks guys, I really have somethings to think about. I don't know if a new Federal is better than a used Brown & Sharpe. Did I hear some rumblings about Starrett? That is surprising, I wonder what happen with them. Thanks again guys, and keep the comments coming I really appreciate it.

 

[rodm1]

Did I hear some rumblings about Starrett? That is surprising, I wonder what happen with them.

"I wonder what happen with them." They sold out to china now there tools are junk! I never liked most of there stuff but could say they where quality.

If I need a Starrett item I go to ebay.

 

[bamatj]

Some good advice in this thread. I wouldnt hesitate to buy a used one off ebay, if the seller has good feedback and sells machinist tools. Really thats the first place I look.

A dial indicator is really where a lot of people go the cheap route, I have a few cheap ones myself. But if your going to use one a lot, and take care of it, I would buy a better used one off ebay. Thats just imho.

If you think you might drop it, go for a china one.

One more thing. You might can get by with cheap measuring tools, depending on what your doing. China tools might give you the right measurement. But I keep seeing people say something like "well I checked my China tool against a well known brand and its the same." Now that sounds good, but can be misleading. Thats not saying much at all. It is only saying you are getting the same measurement right there. Its not saying anything about how accurate a tool is over its range. Far far from it, there is a lot more to accuracy than that. I would even go as far as saying accuracy can be very confusing.

A simpler way to look at it: There is plenty of screwdrivers at wal mart that will fit the same screws that snap on drivers will fit. Are they just as good?

 

[REAL HOT SCHITT]

get an old federal or a starrett.


Mitutoyo if you dont mind made in japan.


Thats all your options.


I can only assume you want a .001 grad/1'' travel unless you tell us otherwise.

starret or mitutoyo...the later is the industry standard worldwide in the tool making industry. And is avalible almost evrywhere....hit up reid tools .com

 

[cool50]

Hay guys what is your opinions on this one

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-FEDERAL-DIAL-0005-INDICATOR-MODEL-B3Q-/350451130664?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item519883e128

Thanks alot

 

[diggerrick]

Are you sure sure you only want 1/8" range?

 

[cool50]

Hay guys thanks for all the help. I was thinking is Fowler a good brand?

 

[cool50]

Are you sure sure you only want 1/8" range?

I didn't notice that, thanks, I guess I need to research more. This is why the GJ is such a great place and a great group of guys. If you don't know to much about something just ask. Thanks again guys

 

[A_Pmech]

Federal built a nice indicator, Starrett is just OK in my opinion.

I prefer Compac and Mahr (now Mahr-Federal). Be aware that there are only a few manufacturers of indicators and that they're re-branded by numerous other companies.

What Bolster said is also true. It is surprising, but I have a cheap dial indicator which I bought a long time ago for setting up rear ends. It is a decent indicator and was not more than $20 15 years ago. Every shop should have a few "disposable" indicators. Save the good tools for the jobs that require it.

One thing to keep in mind which has not been discussed is the type of mount used with your indicator will play a big role in how accurate and repeatable your indicator readings will be. A $300 indicator on a flimsy $10 magnetic base will be neither accurate nor repeatable due to the flexibility of the mount.

I prefer Noga magnetic bases such as this one:

Even with a high-quality base, some flex is inherent and must be compensated for under some circumstances. I made a little post about mag base flex on my blog: Gravity and Indicators

 

[SticketsFTW]

Ap, do you prefer dovetail mounting?

Also what brand is that little test indicator?

 

[A_Pmech]

Ap, do you prefer dovetail mounting?

I prefer dovetail mounting for test indicators and post mount for dial indicators. I highly dislike lug mounting for most applications, too cumbersome.

Also what brand is that little test indicator?

That's a Compac 214GA

 

[SticketsFTW]

I stick with post mount on my interapid test indicators because of the flex. Im not a big fan of the dovetail yet but I can see where it would come in handy.

I still stick with the lug for regular indicators.

And starrett for my mag bases