I assume for the lathe tail stock, carraige and cross slide regular Indicators would be used and for centering work in the chuck a Test indicator ? 2 Dials and 1 Test for starters ?

Tony

Depends on how much money you want (or can) spend, Tony. More money gets you more resolution, but you have to decide how much you need for your projects.

Dial indicators can be as cheap as $10, and you can eyeball them down to about .0005" if you read between the lines. Even the low priced DTIs run about $50, but .0005" is common resolution on them, and you can get models that read to a closer tolerance than your machine will hold, so there is a point where there is no return for the money you spend.

If you can get along with reading between the lines for an approximate 1/2 thou reading on a regular dial indicator, you can save some money and buy more tooling (cutters, etc).

I have a couple of nice DTIs, but I don't use them when a simple cheap 0-50-0 dial indicator will do the job, which is most of the time. Again, it depends on what you're making.

I don't usually recommend "cheap" when it comes to measuring tools, but this is one place that the cheap import dial indicators seem to do okay at. If saving money on a dial indicator over a DTI means that you can get something like a four jaw chuck for your lathe, it's definitely worth it, IMO.

Dean

Thanks Dean, Yes I guess the work I will be doing dictates the quality of the indicator i would need. For now I am not going to be working at very close tolerances so we'll see. I have been looking at mount guys have made for their indicators, looks like a nice project to tackle. The only think i don;t under stand is where is the indicator "zeroed" or is the indicator moved to a position to be at "zero" for every new work pc ? I am talking X,Y axis indicators. Set up the work then set up the indicator at zero, and make zero where ever you might want it for that particular work pc I guess, no ?

Tony

Tony, you just zero them anytime you want to start a measured cut from a different place on your stock. The front ring on a dial indicator spins, letting the number go round and round. When you get your work set up, slap on the indicator and turn the front ring to set the numbers to zero and lock the ring with the little knurled knob you see on the outside edge of them.

Dean

Ok Dean thats what I thought, never used one so..........

Tony