Good quality indicator stand [2048x2312 - 1MB]

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Good quality indicator stand [2048x2312 - 1MB] (pic8.co)

This is a bit of a long one...

For a long time I've put up with the shitty flimsy and hard to set up indicator stand that one that comes with your average cheap indicator and mag base in a kit. I've had a design in the back of my mind for making a better one for some time and now I have the tools needed to make it. This isn't my design, the first I've known of it was one made by Rob Renzetti (https://www.instagram.com/p/BXgCo2VgoZA/?taken-by=robinrenzetti), and a copy of that made by Stefan Gotteswinter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37TLOf3GWwM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bWHs6KoUFk). I'm not directly copying either one, but making something similar based on the materials and tools I have available.

Starting with a design in SketchUp based roughly on what Stefan built, I set about figuring out how to build it and what order to build it in. I decided to start with the trickiest bit first, the indicator holders. These have a ball joint and rotating mount to the end of the stand and are able to hold a dial indicator and dial test indicator with a sensitive fine adjust. https://pic8.co/sh/4yzo0G.jpg

I don't have the luxury of having a bunch of tool steel lying around, so mine is made from whatever random steel I found. The square stock is 5.8" square that I got at a clearing sale for $5 for a ~6m length. It's pretty rusty, but it cleans up ok. https://pic8.co/sh/MfUM8j.jpg

This was milled down to a 12.00(+/-0.01)mm square using the fly cutter. I made a length that would be enough to make two indicator holders, mainly as a hedge incase I messed one of them up, as making two takes much less than twice the time to make one. https://pic8.co/sh/3BBSCW.jpg

The first thing to do with this bar was to put it in the lathe and round the ends. But, to do that I would need a way to hold the square stock accurately in the lathe. Since I don't have any square 5C collets, I just made a quick split collet out of some aluminium rod. A square section was cut away from each end of the bar, then the two halves brought together to form a collet. https://pic8.co/sh/B3tFLL.jpg

This wasn't perfectly centered, but I was able to pack it with some shims made from the spring of a busted tape measure. Using this, I was able to mount the square shaft in the lathe pretty close to center. https://pic8.co/sh/Zoet3l.jpg

Then the rough shape of the balls was turned. I wanted to get as much done with the stock held directly in the main chuck since the final ball turning would need to be done with the stock held in a sub-chuck (chuck in chuck). https://pic8.co/sh/DS6BY6.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ZkzpMp.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/6MQkou.jpg

The roughed out ball ends were dialed in with the smaller chuck in the 4-jaw, then the balls could be turned. Using my newly made button insert tool post, I dialed in first an 11mm diameter, then gradually snuck up on the final 10mm diameter. https://pic8.co/sh/EuIIsd.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/Y77fKo.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/lpCiwk.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ZIHVIu.jpg

Meanwile, I also started on the other end of the indicator holder. For this, a steel plate (a piece of 25x10mm steel) was milled down to 6.00(+/-0.01)mm then cut in half. This resulted in just enough material to make the parts... just. The two halves were glued together and machined to form a 12mm square. This could be held in the square collet to drill the end hole. In hindsight, I should have waited until I had the ball sockets milled in order to get a better aligned hole, but it's ok. https://pic8.co/sh/r6qkOm.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/bhVGiq.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/wcc1oM.jpg

Holes were then drilled for the center of the sockets and the locking screws (tapped M5 on one side and 5mm clearance on the other). https://pic8.co/sh/XWqQVd.jpg

Then, using one of my new carbide ball end mills, I cut the ball sockets. Carbide end mills are nice and cut really smoothly, might have to get some more one day. https://pic8.co/sh/Am6A5f.jpg

This left me with a pair of shells with the internal machining completed. https://pic8.co/sh/zbeZbS.jpg

These were cut in half and mounted on a plate in my newest toy, a rotary table. Scraps of aluminium were used to create a locating pocket to secure the part in. Then, using a carbide end mill, I cut a radius on the ends so that there was a minimum 1mm wall thickness around the socket. https://pic8.co/sh/Lw24JQ.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/bLJLlf.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/YlIr1i.jpg

The final operation for the shells was to mill a 6mm slot just past the center line of the ball sockets that would allow the stem of the clamp to clear. https://pic8.co/sh/9yFbdH.jpg

Now, I had the two clamps and a bar with balls on each end. https://pic8.co/sh/9jvHD8.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/LtItsk.jpg

The next part was to complete the indicator clamp ends. This started by splitting the square bar in two and facing the two parts to the same length. Then the various holes and slits could be cut. Starting with the trickiest (most likely to fail), the 3mm radius x 5mm total length slot that creates the flexure joint. My 3mm end mill is not a long series, and so will only reach a little over half way through. So, I have to mill from each side and hope it lines up ok. A starter hole was drilled, to allow the end mill to get in easily and to align from the opposite side. The slot was then carefully milled (0.5mm per run) until I was just over half way through for each part, then the parts were flipped and the operation repeated from the other side. It worked about as well as I could have hoped for. My vise end stop was very handy here, allowing the parts to be changed without needing to re-align anything. https://pic8.co/sh/8yvFfm.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/eBqDRh.jpg

Then the indicator bore was drilled and reamed to 8mm. On one side, I milled a clearance so that the fine adjust could also be used to move a dial indicator a very small amount. In hindsight, that was probably un-necessary though. https://pic8.co/sh/GhaTwK.jpg

The fine adjust screw hole was drilled carefully to 11mm deep, leaving 1mm of meat on the end, then tapped M5 as deep as I could. https://pic8.co/sh/BEIUyF.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/PWj9dc.jpg

A similar hole was drilled for the indicator clamping screw, tapped M5 half way through, with 5mm clearance for the rest. https://pic8.co/sh/i0Z2kx.jpg

A 5mm slot, 2mm deep was milled into the end as the base of the dovetail for holding the dial test indicator. The dovetails were simply filed in as I don't have a cutter anywhere near small enough to cut a dovetail that size. https://pic8.co/sh/IW2mNd.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/qFqiCC.jpg

Two slots were cut in each indicator clamp. One vertical slot in the center to allow the different types of indicators to be clamped, and another angled to allow the fine adjust flexure to work. To determine the middle of the vertical slot a feeler guage was used to possition the saw blade a known distance from each edge, then the DRO half function was used to set the center line. https://pic8.co/sh/rCgBss.jpg

The angled cut could not be made fully with the slitting saw as it was too deep, so the last few mm were done with a hacksaw. https://pic8.co/sh/inm0o2.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/nYplIK.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/UGusm0.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/rkpYVX.jpg

The final step for the indicator clamps was to clean up the outsides and remove tool marks. https://pic8.co/sh/tsiM9b.jpg

Various small screws were needed for these clamps. These were made by creating knurlled aluminium thumb knobs to be press fit over standard socket head screws. Steel washers were also made for some of the screws. https://pic8.co/sh/K8QEDP.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/YNYC5D.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/BlU3gv.jpg

With that, all the parts of the clamps were complete. Somewhat surprisingly, I managed to complete both of them without any fatal mistakes. https://pic8.co/sh/pbZGTY.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/xnLFUd.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/6LemTe.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/gYsgPP.jpg

The simpler part of the project was the creation of the main shaft clamp. The intention here is to allow the indicator to be easily moved in multiple dimensions while also having a very rigid clamp. To do this, I used a short length of 57mm shaft. This was cleaned up and faced on both ends and a 6mm hole drilled in it, then it was cut on the bandsaw to make two pieces of equal diameter with a concentric center hole, the width of each was 4mm greater than the diameter of the shaft that was to go through it (16mm & 10mm). https://pic8.co/sh/JtZfLn.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/AXfH2P.jpg

Off center holes need to be drilled/reamed/bored through each half to allow the rods to pass through. For the small one, a 10mm end mill was used to create a flat which was then drilled out to 9.5mm through then reamed to 10mm. https://pic8.co/sh/424oup.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ZYCdEn.jpg

The larger hole was more complicated. I don't have a 16mm end mill, or a 16mm reamer. So, I used a 14mm end mill followed by a 13mm drill. From there, I moved to the lathe. Using the drill bit to locate the part on the axis of the hole, I mounted it in the 4-jaw and (after slightly modifying my boring bar to fit into a 13mm hole from it's original minimum bore of 15mm) carefully bored the hole out to 16mm. https://pic8.co/sh/g3sBe2.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/PhzDod.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/9lDrIX.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/DehymQ.jpg

Cutting the clamping slots in these pieces involved a precarious setup in the band saw. A pair of angle blocks were used. One to hold the work piece and the other for the moving jaw of the vise to push against. The pucks were strapped to the vertical side of the angle place and rotated so that the blade would clear into the drilled cross hole. Some patience was required as the auto-stop feature of the bandsaw would not engage when the blade breaks through into the hole. https://pic8.co/sh/dBYiq3.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/HQJJxr.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/p3tq18.jpg

A minor afterthought was to counterbore the main bolt so that it would be a light press fit. https://pic8.co/sh/0brWjo.jpg

Then the only remaining part to make was the hand wheel. As I didn't have any large diameter aluminium rod, I used some 6mm aluminium plate, of which I got a box full of offcuts for free. A 10mm hole was drilled in the center, then a short slug of steel was drilled and tapped M6 and turned down to just over 10mm for a solid press fit into the disk. This assembly was mounted on a mandrel and turned down to size and knurlled (carefully). Knurling such a large diameter held only by an M6 thread and a press fit was a bit sketchy, but it worked. The front and back faces were then cleaned up and trued. The decorative dish in the front face may have something to do with me accidentally engaging the power cross feed monentarily, but it looks ok now. https://pic8.co/sh/H0tRHm.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/FrZ9pL.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ddsSp6.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/SASWGR.jpg

The initial plan had been to drill and tap the main vertical shaft and mill some spanner flats on it. This changed somewhat when I found that the ground shaft I had bought was actually HSS, not just drill rod. I messed around with it, trying to anneal it so I could drill and tap it, but the only tool that even stood a chance was my carbide end mills, there was no way I was going to cut a thread in that. So, I welded on a slug of 15mm rod and cut a short M8 thread on the bottom. This gives it a little more surface area to mount on, even if it's not particularly pretty.

Assembled with a dial indicator mounted. https://pic8.co/sh/VUEDjG.jpg

I've now used this a couple of times and it's very satisfying to use. It has good reach and is much more rigid than the old one.

This is a bit of a long one... For a long time I've put up with the shitty flimsy and hard to set up indicator stand that one that comes with your average cheap indicator and mag base in a kit. I've had a design in the back of my mind for making a better one for some time and now I have the tools needed to make it. This isn't my design, the first I've known of it was one made by Rob Renzetti (https://www.instagram.com/p/BXgCo2VgoZA/?taken-by=robinrenzetti), and a copy of that made by Stefan Gotteswinter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37TLOf3GWwM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bWHs6KoUFk). I'm not directly copying either one, but making something similar based on the materials and tools I have available. Starting with a design in SketchUp based roughly on what Stefan built, I set about figuring out how to build it and what order to build it in. I decided to start with the trickiest bit first, the indicator holders. These have a ball joint and rotating mount to the end of the stand and are able to hold a dial indicator and dial test indicator with a sensitive fine adjust. https://pic8.co/sh/4yzo0G.jpg I don't have the luxury of having a bunch of tool steel lying around, so mine is made from whatever random steel I found. The square stock is 5.8" square that I got at a clearing sale for $5 for a ~6m length. It's pretty rusty, but it cleans up ok. https://pic8.co/sh/MfUM8j.jpg This was milled down to a 12.00(+/-0.01)mm square using the fly cutter. I made a length that would be enough to make two indicator holders, mainly as a hedge incase I messed one of them up, as making two takes much less than twice the time to make one. https://pic8.co/sh/3BBSCW.jpg The first thing to do with this bar was to put it in the lathe and round the ends. But, to do that I would need a way to hold the square stock accurately in the lathe. Since I don't have any square 5C collets, I just made a quick split collet out of some aluminium rod. A square section was cut away from each end of the bar, then the two halves brought together to form a collet. https://pic8.co/sh/B3tFLL.jpg This wasn't perfectly centered, but I was able to pack it with some shims made from the spring of a busted tape measure. Using this, I was able to mount the square shaft in the lathe pretty close to center. https://pic8.co/sh/Zoet3l.jpg Then the rough shape of the balls was turned. I wanted to get as much done with the stock held directly in the main chuck since the final ball turning would need to be done with the stock held in a sub-chuck (chuck in chuck). https://pic8.co/sh/DS6BY6.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ZkzpMp.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/6MQkou.jpg The roughed out ball ends were dialed in with the smaller chuck in the 4-jaw, then the balls could be turned. Using my newly made button insert tool post, I dialed in first an 11mm diameter, then gradually snuck up on the final 10mm diameter. https://pic8.co/sh/EuIIsd.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/Y77fKo.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/lpCiwk.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ZIHVIu.jpg Meanwile, I also started on the other end of the indicator holder. For this, a steel plate (a piece of 25x10mm steel) was milled down to 6.00(+/-0.01)mm then cut in half. This resulted in just enough material to make the parts... just. The two halves were glued together and machined to form a 12mm square. This could be held in the square collet to drill the end hole. In hindsight, I should have waited until I had the ball sockets milled in order to get a better aligned hole, but it's ok. https://pic8.co/sh/r6qkOm.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/bhVGiq.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/wcc1oM.jpg Holes were then drilled for the center of the sockets and the locking screws (tapped M5 on one side and 5mm clearance on the other). https://pic8.co/sh/XWqQVd.jpg Then, using one of my new carbide ball end mills, I cut the ball sockets. Carbide end mills are nice and cut really smoothly, might have to get some more one day. https://pic8.co/sh/Am6A5f.jpg This left me with a pair of shells with the internal machining completed. https://pic8.co/sh/zbeZbS.jpg These were cut in half and mounted on a plate in my newest toy, a rotary table. Scraps of aluminium were used to create a locating pocket to secure the part in. Then, using a carbide end mill, I cut a radius on the ends so that there was a minimum 1mm wall thickness around the socket. https://pic8.co/sh/Lw24JQ.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/bLJLlf.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/YlIr1i.jpg The final operation for the shells was to mill a 6mm slot just past the center line of the ball sockets that would allow the stem of the clamp to clear. https://pic8.co/sh/9yFbdH.jpg Now, I had the two clamps and a bar with balls on each end. https://pic8.co/sh/9jvHD8.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/LtItsk.jpg The next part was to complete the indicator clamp ends. This started by splitting the square bar in two and facing the two parts to the same length. Then the various holes and slits could be cut. Starting with the trickiest (most likely to fail), the 3mm radius x 5mm total length slot that creates the flexure joint. My 3mm end mill is not a long series, and so will only reach a little over half way through. So, I have to mill from each side and hope it lines up ok. A starter hole was drilled, to allow the end mill to get in easily and to align from the opposite side. The slot was then carefully milled (0.5mm per run) until I was just over half way through for each part, then the parts were flipped and the operation repeated from the other side. It worked about as well as I could have hoped for. My vise end stop was very handy here, allowing the parts to be changed without needing to re-align anything. https://pic8.co/sh/8yvFfm.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/eBqDRh.jpg Then the indicator bore was drilled and reamed to 8mm. On one side, I milled a clearance so that the fine adjust could also be used to move a dial indicator a very small amount. In hindsight, that was probably un-necessary though. https://pic8.co/sh/GhaTwK.jpg The fine adjust screw hole was drilled carefully to 11mm deep, leaving 1mm of meat on the end, then tapped M5 as deep as I could. https://pic8.co/sh/BEIUyF.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/PWj9dc.jpg A similar hole was drilled for the indicator clamping screw, tapped M5 half way through, with 5mm clearance for the rest. https://pic8.co/sh/i0Z2kx.jpg A 5mm slot, 2mm deep was milled into the end as the base of the dovetail for holding the dial test indicator. The dovetails were simply filed in as I don't have a cutter anywhere near small enough to cut a dovetail that size. https://pic8.co/sh/IW2mNd.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/qFqiCC.jpg Two slots were cut in each indicator clamp. One vertical slot in the center to allow the different types of indicators to be clamped, and another angled to allow the fine adjust flexure to work. To determine the middle of the vertical slot a feeler guage was used to possition the saw blade a known distance from each edge, then the DRO half function was used to set the center line. https://pic8.co/sh/rCgBss.jpg The angled cut could not be made fully with the slitting saw as it was too deep, so the last few mm were done with a hacksaw. https://pic8.co/sh/inm0o2.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/nYplIK.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/UGusm0.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/rkpYVX.jpg The final step for the indicator clamps was to clean up the outsides and remove tool marks. https://pic8.co/sh/tsiM9b.jpg Various small screws were needed for these clamps. These were made by creating knurlled aluminium thumb knobs to be press fit over standard socket head screws. Steel washers were also made for some of the screws. https://pic8.co/sh/K8QEDP.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/YNYC5D.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/BlU3gv.jpg With that, all the parts of the clamps were complete. Somewhat surprisingly, I managed to complete both of them without any fatal mistakes. https://pic8.co/sh/pbZGTY.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/xnLFUd.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/6LemTe.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/gYsgPP.jpg The simpler part of the project was the creation of the main shaft clamp. The intention here is to allow the indicator to be easily moved in multiple dimensions while also having a very rigid clamp. To do this, I used a short length of 57mm shaft. This was cleaned up and faced on both ends and a 6mm hole drilled in it, then it was cut on the bandsaw to make two pieces of equal diameter with a concentric center hole, the width of each was 4mm greater than the diameter of the shaft that was to go through it (16mm & 10mm). https://pic8.co/sh/JtZfLn.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/AXfH2P.jpg Off center holes need to be drilled/reamed/bored through each half to allow the rods to pass through. For the small one, a 10mm end mill was used to create a flat which was then drilled out to 9.5mm through then reamed to 10mm. https://pic8.co/sh/424oup.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ZYCdEn.jpg The larger hole was more complicated. I don't have a 16mm end mill, or a 16mm reamer. So, I used a 14mm end mill followed by a 13mm drill. From there, I moved to the lathe. Using the drill bit to locate the part on the axis of the hole, I mounted it in the 4-jaw and (after slightly modifying my boring bar to fit into a 13mm hole from it's original minimum bore of 15mm) carefully bored the hole out to 16mm. https://pic8.co/sh/g3sBe2.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/PhzDod.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/9lDrIX.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/DehymQ.jpg Cutting the clamping slots in these pieces involved a precarious setup in the band saw. A pair of angle blocks were used. One to hold the work piece and the other for the moving jaw of the vise to push against. The pucks were strapped to the vertical side of the angle place and rotated so that the blade would clear into the drilled cross hole. Some patience was required as the auto-stop feature of the bandsaw would not engage when the blade breaks through into the hole. https://pic8.co/sh/dBYiq3.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/HQJJxr.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/p3tq18.jpg A minor afterthought was to counterbore the main bolt so that it would be a light press fit. https://pic8.co/sh/0brWjo.jpg Then the only remaining part to make was the hand wheel. As I didn't have any large diameter aluminium rod, I used some 6mm aluminium plate, of which I got a box full of offcuts for free. A 10mm hole was drilled in the center, then a short slug of steel was drilled and tapped M6 and turned down to just over 10mm for a solid press fit into the disk. This assembly was mounted on a mandrel and turned down to size and knurlled (carefully). Knurling such a large diameter held only by an M6 thread and a press fit was a bit sketchy, but it worked. The front and back faces were then cleaned up and trued. The decorative dish in the front face may have something to do with me accidentally engaging the power cross feed monentarily, but it looks ok now. https://pic8.co/sh/H0tRHm.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/FrZ9pL.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ddsSp6.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/SASWGR.jpg The initial plan had been to drill and tap the main vertical shaft and mill some spanner flats on it. This changed somewhat when I found that the ground shaft I had bought was actually HSS, not just drill rod. I messed around with it, trying to anneal it so I could drill and tap it, but the only tool that even stood a chance was my carbide end mills, there was no way I was going to cut a thread in that. So, I welded on a slug of 15mm rod and cut a short M8 thread on the bottom. This gives it a little more surface area to mount on, even if it's not particularly pretty. Assembled with a dial indicator mounted. https://pic8.co/sh/VUEDjG.jpg I've now used this a couple of times and it's very satisfying to use. It has good reach and is much more rigid than the old one.

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