Testing a dial indicator for measuring force

Alan H.

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I bought this Starrett on ebay about a year ago and as it turned out, it needed some attention. It was a bit sticky and the measuring force was way too high. It really did appear to be new and never used when I got it. I suspect it came from Starrett that way but with ebay, who knows.

It took up to 144 grams to make the needle move so I sent it off to Starrett for repair. By the way, I have no idea what they actually did to repair it. I see some light witness marks on it now that say it was disassembled. The only communication I received from them was an authorization request to proceed with the repair and the final invoice.

I am not a big Starrett fan but this model I have is supposed to be a decent dial indicator so I wanted to confirm the repair was within their "measuring force" specifications. This is how I have learned to easily check all my dial and test indicators for smoothness of action and measuring force. The baby Noga with fine adjustment at the clamp end allows you slowly load the tip and log the results over the range.

Here's my Starrett on my scale setup and to my astonishment it is on the money! I like Starrett a little better today.


Starrett after repair.jpg
 
Take those two figures and the measured distance between measurements, and you can calculate the spring rate of the spring used in the dial indicator.
 
It cost $88.81 including the return postage.
 
MR Tool Repair does repair Starrett for half that, approx. Turn around time could be a month though.
 
Yes, I have been had by Starrett multiple times in the past year. My experience has been that their quality is not up to their cost and their customer service has been inferior for me on a couple of occasions.

I must say that they turned the indicator around quickly and as I show above, it is spot on spec now.
 
MR Tool Repair does repair Starrett for half that, approx. Turn around time could be a month though.
Did not find them when I was searching. Do they have a website?

I did check on Long Island Indicator but they do not work on Starretts.
 
mrtool2010@hotmail.com
Mark Ratkowski
He works on Starrett gages. LIIS is not authorized.

Yeap, saw that on the Long Island website when I was searching back when. Here's what they say on their website:

"Why don't we repair Starrett gages? It's because we are not authorized Starrett dealers or distributors and do not have ready access to spare parts. Starrett de-authorized us some years back, without explanation."

So I take it from your post that MR Tool is an authorized dealer and/or distributor.
 
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