Dial Indicator

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 12:43 pm

I was wondering if anyone could take a picture and post it of the Dial indicator support structure that SS sells.

I already have a dial indicator and I would like to be able to put it in my mitre slot to check my setup. Right now I Rube Goldberg it to my mitre gauge and it usually slips once or twice while I'm trying to make a measurement.

I was wondering if some one would show me a picture of how the SS one is constructed to see if I could duplicate it with wood.

My idea is using a piece of wood that fits perfectly in the mitre slot, through which I have drilled a hole and then taking the the last arm from the magnetic dial indicator stand and slidding it into that hole to hold the dial indicator. Another thought was to simply scew another piece of wood at right angles to the wood block in mitre slot and attaching the dial indicator to that.

A picture of how Ss did would help
Ed

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 1:13 pm

Ed in Tampa wrote:I was wondering if anyone could take a picture and post it of the Dial indicator support structure that SS sells.
Ed

The photos are NOT excellent. Hope they help you make a decision. IMHO remounting a different indicator on the SS would not be a big challenge.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 3:25 pm

Thanks Dusty
Those pictures were just what I needed. I didn't want to buy a whole new dial indicator just to have the ability to put it in my mitre slot.
The pictures were just what I need to get me on a new line of thinking.

I was trying to incorporate pieces from my dial indicator stand into the design and now I see how easy it would be just to build it from scratch.

Now all I ned to do is decide on material.
Thanks again
Ed

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 3:46 pm

This probably does not need to be said but do remember that the slightest bit of unwanted motion will render the readings inaccurate.

Example: With the SS Dial Indicator, I have to shim the miter bar in the miter track. Without the shims, I have about .004 of slop in the miter track. If I need really accurate readings, I take the time to install the shims on each and every reading.

That having been said, most of my settings do NOT demand that sort of accuracy. It is comforting, however, to know that very accurate settings/adjustments are achievable on the Shopsmith.

With a home built unit, any flexing in the choosen materials would result in the same sort of inaccuracies.

I feel the same way about my Wixey. I use these only to reassure myself that I have done the setups correctly. A good level, steel ruler and engineers square are all that is really required.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:41 pm

dusty wrote:This probably does not need to be said but do remember that the slightest bit of unwanted motion will render the readings inaccurate.

Example: With the SS Dial Indicator, I have to shim the miter bar in the miter track. Without the shims, I have about .004 of slop in the miter track. If I need really accurate readings, I take the time to install the shims on each and every reading.

That having been said, most of my settings do NOT demand that sort of accuracy. It is comforting, however, to know that very accurate settings/adjustments are achievable on the Shopsmith.

With a home built unit, any flexing in the choosen materials would result in the same sort of inaccuracies.

I feel the same way about my Wixey. I use these only to reassure myself that I have done the setups correctly. A good level, steel ruler and engineers square are all that is really required.

Dusty
Here is my plan. I going to take a piece of stock about 1/2" X2"x3" and clamp or attach it to my mitre gauge. Then at the other end I going to cut in down to about 1" wide and put a hole in it. Then using a nut and bolt connect my dial indicator guage to it. I"m going to hold it to my mitre guage using a two spring clamps that should hold it secure and give me enough movement for adjusting it.
Rube Goldberg maybe but it should work.

I have checked my table many times and each time I end up using the method ShopSmith suggests but after watching Nick's video I have the bug again. I just hope I don't make myself crazy trying to get it perfect.
Ed

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:25 pm

ed

You'll never get it perfect because it is not perfect to begin with. Most of the parts that we are working with are NOT MACHINED parts. This fact alone reduces your chances of getting anything perfect.

What you will learn, once again, is that the adjustments can all be pulled in tight enough for any woodworking task.

You will also learn that the way you did your alignments before dial indicators and wixey can get you about as close as you will ever want to get. It just takes patience.

What you describe for your test setup sounds like it will work every bit as good as the one I purchased.

reible · Post by **reible** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:46 am

Hi,

I'm not so impressed with the little bar and mounting methods on this thing. I'd like to see your design after your done with it...

I was even thinging about making a bar that would make use of the mounting slots of the face of the miter gauge and a piece of flat stock with a hole to mount the gauge on. If need be it could be made of angle stock which would make it very ridgid.

Anyway keep us posted.

Ed

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:30 am

ed in tampa

Earlier you asked for a photo that showed how the SS Dial Indicator was put together. Here is a thread that shows this much better than the photos I was able to provide. Look at post #10 by Nick.

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=539

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:02 am

dusty wrote:ed in tampa

Earlier you asked for a photo that showed how the SS Dial Indicator was put together. Here is a thread that shows this much better than the photos I was able to provide. Look at post #10 by Nick.

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=539

Dusty
I knew I saw that picture somewhere. I'm trying to duplicate the bar out of aluminium angle stock and mount that to my mitre guage. Then I will mount the dial indicator at the other end with a bolt/nut through the vertical face and the dial indicator setting on the horizontal face.

However my wife has other ideas for how to spend my time and I'm trying to finish maple to make it look like the cabinets at Home Depot. Man let me tell you I'm having fun

First I shellaced the wood then I applied the stain. However no matter what I do at the juncture of rails and stiles I end up messing up the stain by rubbing across grain. Even masking and letting it dry before doing the other side messes it up. Also the panels have a raised center so panel between the raised center and rail and stile is nearly impossible to stain evenly. Enter you have start marks or finish marks.

My first attempt produced results I wasn't happy with. Finally I just removed all the stain (chemically) thank goodness I had shellaced first. Still a terrible job and one I never want to do again!

This raised the grain so I have to resand and re shellac and try again.

Now I'm killing myself trying to remove all the stain from the nooks and crannies before I re shellac. I'm almost convinced it would be easier to rebuild 5 doors and 9 drawer fronts than to do what I'm doing.

I have spent weeks on this finishing project, by the time you get everything sanded, shellaced both sides and dry and then apply the stain it takes days both processing and drying time. Building cabinets was way easier than finishing them.

Next time I think I will simply buy the premade doors and drawer fronts.

Tampa Ed