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Hot take: I blew $85 on a coaxial indicator for my mill and I was flat out wrong about them
I ran a job last week on the Bridgeport where a bore had to line up with an existing hole in a fixture plate, and eyeballing it with a wiggler got me close but not close enough, scrapped one part and knew I had to do something different. So I grabbed a coaxial indicator off the tool truck for about $85, and honestly I had been calling those things a waste of cash for years because I figured a test indicator on a mag base does the same job. It took me maybe ten minutes to figure out the setup and now the spindle drops right in the first time, no more shimming and re-checking, and I ran six parts after that with zero rework. Maybe it's just me but I think the guys who say you don't need one are the same guys who enjoy dialing in a hole twice. What do you all use for picking up existing bores, or am I the last one to join this club?
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victor_jones9914d ago
The line about dialing in a hole twice made me laugh because that was me for way too long. I fought the same battle on a fixture job a couple years back and finally borrowed a coaxial from a buddy just to prove him wrong, and of course it worked great. The setup is the part that scares people off, but once you do it a time or two it's faster than fighting a mag base in a tight spot. Mine paid for itself on the very next job when I didn't scrap a plate. Welcome to the club, better late than never.
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