Bridgeport tooling

What do you guys think of the 2 dial indicator holders for tramming?

If you have the dial indicators, you can build one in a hour or a bit more.
{But I never found it hard or time consuming to tram the head to the bed, either.}
 
Waste of time and money, IMHO. A back plunge indicator set like the Starrett 196 (or similar) will do a fine job of tramming, quick setup, and is also useful for many other jobs in the shop.
This is exactly how I do mine. Make sure that you lower the table and fully extend the quill for the best accuracy.
 
If you are relatively inexperienced and on a budget my advice is to start making things with what you already have. Buy only what you NEED when you need it. Improvise and/or make for yourself as much as you can. You will learn far more by doing for self than if you just buy the latest gee whizz gadget.
Need to find an edge? A strip of cigarette paper will get you within .001. Need to tram a head? A short piece of .250 rod bent at a 90 deg angle and almost any indicator works just fine. R-8 collet running out a bit? So what? Need a fly cutter? You said you have a lathe and a milling machine.
Make chips, make tools, have fun and learn............................Bob
Could not agree more. This whole post is a page from my book.
A piece of wet rolling paper stuck to the edge you want to locate will get you "as close as makes no difference" to most of the various edge finders out there, assuming you are not working on a NASA or Boeing contract.
A new $20 brake rotor makes a FINE tramming tool. The bigger, the better, and they are CHEAP these days. If they were not flat, they could not sell them for long. Again, the NASA contract stipulations apply.
At my level in this game, I truly enjoy experimenting with the CHEAP way, and observing the results. THEN, I decide if more money will fix the problem. So far, modification of my technique is FAR more cost effective :big grin:
 
A large diameter outer bearing housing laid on the table also helps when tramming. I found a 9" diameter bearing race, nos, on ebay for $40 shipped. Works a treat with a scared table.

Vlad
 
Consider some type of dividing head or indexer if you might want to cut gears, splines, etc.
It's on my wish list :big grin: along with half a dozen other things
Mark
 
I'm surprised no one added a boring bar... I can't live without one...
 
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