Improving dial indicator bezel movement

That’s awesome, good on ya!

I only got as far as squirting a little Tri-Flo lubricant under the bezel on the offending indicator. The overall smoothness did improve quite a bit but there’s still a couple tight spots — I’m kind of thinking something is a little egg-shaped and that’s what’s hanging up. I’m not going to chase it anymore just now though.

Excellent blow by blow description of your fix though, that’ll be a handy thing for someone down the line :encourage:

-frank
 
Great post @Razzle !

Thanks for 1) diving into to this to figure it out, and 2) sharing your success with great description and photos.

Someday when I'm feeling extraordinarily calm and haven't had too much coffee, I should give this all a go too.

Thanks!
-brino
 
Very interesting discussion and directions. However I must not be using my indicators right because, I rarely turn the bezels. when I sweep a flat surface, like the fixed jaw of my vice on the mill, I am just looking for the movement. The actual numbers don't have any real meaning and so I don't feel the need to "zero" the indicator by turning the bezel. Am I missing something here? (btw, probably is most likely the answer :))
 
I can’t speak for anyone else, but in my case I was referring to drop style dial indicators which I often use as Trav-a-Dials on my smaller machines. Zeroing the dial saves me keeping track of a bunch of numbers.

-frank
 
Boswell said:
Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...

It depends on the job.
If I am just sweeping a vise jaw, or centering in the four jaw then the zero doesn't matter; it's total indicator reading I'm using.

When I use a dial indicator on the lathe carriage to part-off to length, or space off distance between two shoulders then I want to set the zero to help me make less mistakes.

-brino
 
I agree Brino, I just touch off and adjust until needle stops moving. Period, end of necessity !
 
Got it, thanks. as I have a DRO on my lathe, I have not had the need to use an indicator on the carriage travel.
 
Good Lord! I love this question. I went from my original super cheap DTI to some less cheap indicator....it's horrible! (Turlen-TURDlen) For something with such a limited range (.030") you'd think they'd understand tight bezels don't jive. I love your solution, but at that point, I feel like I should just purchase a better one out the gate. ($100 saddle/$50 horse?)I feel like I'm getting sucked into the vortex of spending all my shop time make tools, or making my tools better. Both noble, but I want to make things outside this scope (bird house, cutting board ; ) ?
 
I watch an engineering channel on you tube and this guy Finno, he disassembled 3 Dial test indicators.
He is a funny guy.
I enjoyed his video and it made me realize I won't be pulling any of mine apart.
Enjoy Finno Ugric Engineering from Finland he has some good projects and videos. cheers
 
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