Old dial gauge

[Kram]

This what I got today www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191845344290

While its very smooth and returns, doesnt get stuck, its takes a lot more force than it should. Under the cover there is some sticky old oil that has got inside. Im not sure how to disassemble it further than the back cover, it would probably be a bad idea.. springs and stuff...
Im going to carefully clean the rack and/guide holes with brake cleaner.

It shows 25 rotations, being 1/4" travel. However it has a screw stop at 0.215". Is this is normal? there is plenty of travel left on the rack I imagine it will go round to 0.3" or more without the stop.

 

[tinman123]

i bought a similar baty .0001" one a few months back, i didnt see a stop on it but i didnt study it much since tbh, i can have a look if you want.
where is the screw on yours, on the top of it like a cap?
id try some wd40 down its throat to see if it loosens it up, it should.
id try a few things before id crack it open tbh.

 

[Pete.]

Oil will make them stick. Never use wd40 as a lubricant for dial indicators it will work fine when you do it then the solvent dries out leaving a sticky film so the next time you go to use it the plunger will stick in. I have one that will not work until I squirt some contact cleaner on the pplunger then it frees right up. Better to leave them completely un-lubricated for home shop use so clean the workings thoroughly with a non-residue degreaser and put it back together. New crystals are easy to make from a pop bottle and a heat gun or you can do what I do and cut them from the clear screens you get with welding masks.

 

[Kram]

That worked, used brake cleaner , now moves like new. I will try the same on my kafer, it sticks near end of travel. The screw stops are inside on the plunger.

The lens is not too bad after a clean. Turning the dial reveals 3 screws, will these allow the lens to come off?

Thanks

 

[Pete.]

I think so from memory there's a little hole in the bezel you can use a screwdriver through. Most bezels just pop off with a light lever.

 

[tinman123]

Oil will make them stick. Never use wd40 as a lubricant for dial indicators it will work fine when you do it then the solvent dries out leaving a sticky film so the next time you go to use it the plunger will stick in. I have one that will not work until I squirt some contact cleaner on the pplunger then it frees right up. Better to leave them completely un-lubricated for home shop use so clean the workings thoroughly with a non-residue degreaser and put it back together. New crystals are easy to make from a pop bottle and a heat gun or you can do what I do and cut them from the clear screens you get with welding masks.

my bad on that one by the sounds of that, you are right in saying about the film it would leave.
i have pocket rocket stuff here along with the wd40, the rocket stuff leaves twice as much film as the wd.

out of interest, could you polish up the lenz on them with the right mop and compound on a polishing machine?

 

[brightspark]

brasso and t cut cleans the faces up good

 

[tinman123]

i have a polishing machine here so i was wondering if i could knock some use out of it tbh but i might try that to see how it goes.
cheers.

 

[brightspark]

hand finish is allways the best

 

[tinman123]

no doubt, but technology moves on too...

 

[Pete.]

I find that the bezels are quite brittle once they are yellowed. They do clean up but they are also easy to replace.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Be careful if you decide to clean it using a machine, e.g. Dremel.

I used dedicated plastic polish on a watch face using my Dremel on it's slowest setting to apply it. It generated enough heat to leave a mark in the face which, and although I managed to reduce it's visibility, it proved impossible to get rid of it completely.

 

[MattF]

brasso and t cut cleans the faces up good

Toothpaste is another good compound for fine cleaning/polishing work.

 

[tinman123]

Be careful if you decide to clean it using a machine, e.g. Dremel.

I used dedicated plastic polish on a watch face using my Dremel on it's slowest setting to apply it. It generated enough heat to leave a mark in the face which, and although I managed to reduce it's visibility, it proved impossible to get rid of it completely.

what i have here is a bit bigger than a dremel, its 3 phase...
ill keep that in mind tho.

altho in fairness the glass is in good nick on this one now that i look at a pic of it, it came in its original box too.
i dont know exactly how old it is, but it aint no spring chicken but of £9.99 i wasnt going to let it go.

it has a different top on it compared to kram's one tho.

 

[Kram]

Does yours do the full 25 revolutions, or have a stop early mine?

I took the back of my kafer dial gauge, quite different, lots of shiny moving bits. Brake cleaner worked, much smoother. Very tempted to make a new cover with a proper mount.. might get some poly carbonate so I can see the insides moving.

 

[Wedg1e]

i have a polishing machine here so i was wondering if i could knock some use out of it tbh but i might try that to see how it goes.
cheers.

hand finish is allways the best

Knock some out... hand finish... exactly what is this thread about?

 

[Wedg1e]

Toothpaste is another good compound for fine cleaning/polishing work.

Yep, been using toothpaste on plastic ever since I had a cloudy cockpit canopy on an Airfix Spitfire

 

[tinman123]

Does yours do the full 25 revolutions, or have a stop early mine?

I took the back of my kafer dial gauge, quite different, lots of shiny moving bits. Brake cleaner worked, much smoother. Very tempted to make a new cover with a proper mount.. might get some poly carbonate so I can see the insides moving.

im pretty sure it dose kram but ill check it to confirm.
altho for what i want it for id really only need it to measure a couple of thou tbh, a .0001 dial gauge is a very precice gauge and thats why i wanted one.
the edge gauge id use for tramming the mill would be .0005 but for general use i use .001 which is good enough for 90% of the work id be fiddling at.

 

[Kram]

Large movements are instant, but the last couple of ten-thousandths take a few seconds to settle. This is going both ways, in and out. Is this normal, that the needle continues to move after movement has stopped?
Ive never noticed this using it in spindle to set milling vice, only started to use it this week for turning.

If I turn the OD, turn the part round and turn the rest, I can see a line where the two cuts meet, but the gauge doesn't move. I thought if a piece is within 1/10000th that I would not be able to see it?

 

[BrenM]

As an apprentice 50+ years ago we were taught how to service and repair dial gauges. We had to strip them, clean in trichlor-whatsit,inspect, replace parts as necessary, lube internal spindle bearings only, not the main plunger/rack and its bushes.re-assemble, test for full movement.