Question On Mounting An Indicator On Noga

I have several sizes on hand, and did not buy any of them new. So it probably is wise to think about what size will work best for you. Making one, you do not need to try to copy Starrett with hardening, nice knurling, and a smooth blackened finish. It is a pretty simple thing to make if you stick to functionality.

My guess is that 90+ percent of MSC orders come from people who are not spending their own money, so they like the quick service, and ignore the lack of customer good will. Funny thing is, their sister company ENCO has very good customer service, better prices, and will take care of any problems with your order with no excuses, on their nickle. I also read somewhere that you can put in an order with ENCO using a MSC stock number, and the order goes through fine and you get a better price. I need to try that someday and see if it works.

One of the adapters I have has a 1/4" with a split sleeve to fit 3/8". I don't see the need for hardening it as you mentioned it's function that counts.
Most MSC customers are large corporations who get discounted pricing. Its poor saps like me that pay the full inflated price. It is true that MSC part numbers work on Enco. I've done that many times. Sometimes Enco doesn't show the product so I find it at MSC and then search for the part number. It always comes up and at a substantial reduction in price. Sometimes Enco is a little slow on shipping but I don't have a need for overnight so it doesn't bother me.
 
The bushings are easy enough to make, you do not need a mill or a lathe to make them. Just get some plastic bushing material at you local hardware store of the correct OD and you can hand drill the ID. Ace Hardware often has an assortment of these in nylon, usually as bushings or standoffs. I cut a small slit along the length to allow some compressability.

On the lathe when you get to that point, agree with you on the change gears, just a lot of compromises on the smaller mini-lathes unless you plan to do just small stuff. You may consider a lathe in the a2x28 or 12x36 as a minimum. This gives you less change gears, more standard chuck mounts, more common tooling mounts and accessories. Something like the PM1228 looks to be a great starter lathe, unfortunately Quality Machine Tools does not have it shown on their site so worth contacting them if you go with a bigger lathe than a mini.

Bushings.jpg
 
Glenn,
Have you looked at some of the YouTube videos by Keith Rucker, Adam Booth, and Oxtoolco about Noga holders? If not, you might get a lot out of them.


Steve Shannon


Steve,

I had seen some of those videos from the gents above but thanks for the links.

Glenn
 
Had to Google "Noga", I now see that we have the remnants of several lying about the shop, they do not seem to hold up well to daily use as not one of them is still working.
 
That is the first time hearing that. We had some in a production plant that where at least 15 years of hard use and worked just fine.
 
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