DTI base

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Thank you for all your replies! I really hadn't expected so much help!

I've looked into the Machine DRO offering Dennis, thanks, for that sort of money it might be worth a punt but it;s not very well reviewed, I'll have a think about that.

Martin – The Mitutoyo is thick end of £200, as much as I'd like one that is a bit rich for me I'm afraid. I can't see a second hand one being much less than half of that tbh.

I must admit to being drawn to the Chronos hydraulic version Link (I hope that;s worked). I'm not chasing the last tenth for the jobs I do but would like something easy to set and stable. I did play about with my existing one this afternoon and made it a bit better by removing the rod with the fine adjustment but the issue is that the rod fixed into the mag base (Mitutoyo) is too long for use on on my mill. I'm not going to shorten it yet as I also use it on the lathe.

So, I'll see what comes up in the next few weeks..

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Henry, the link is just for a set of dovetail stems, a set of 2 for £6.60 so you can use your existing indicator with any metric mag base unit.

Martin C

[Paul KempParticipant @paulkemp46892]

Henry,

i bought a Noga style small mag base for my mill from RDG's stand at Ally Pally about 3 years ago. I turned up an adaptor to fit it that goes in the lug on the clock (it's a nothing special clock, only reads to a thou) but it does fine for general set ups squaring the vice on the Omnimill and I also use it on the lathes, it's become a sort of workshop go to where no fine accuracy is required. I wasn't expecting great things of it when I bought it but I have to say it's been great. I even use it as a quick and dirty tram of the mill vertical head by sticking it on the spindle. Very good value in my opinion, it's not a Rolls Royce of mag bases to be sure but it works plenty good enough for me.

Paul.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Martin Connelly on 01/04/2020 18:23:25:

You can get spares from Mitutoyo if you have the part numbers for different stem clamps in metric and imperial sizes. When I was at work I had a Mitutoyo catalogue where I had sketched the various clamp blocks and their part numbers. I think the imperial one was 3/8", 1/4" and dovetail.

You can also buy dovetail stems quite cheaply so you could use a metric swivel clamp with your 1/4" stem indicator,

Dovetail stems

Martin C

Link added.

Edited By Martin Connelly on 01/04/2020 18:52:11

Thanks for the information and link, Martin.

Unfortunately, I can see no way of actually buying the item from the Mitutoyo site. When I click on the Ordering and Payment tab at the bottom of the page I get the message: "Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead. Firefox detected a potential security threat and did not continue to mitutoyo.co.uk. If you visit this site, attackers could try to steal information like your passwords, emails, or credit card details."

[Bob McParticipant @bobmc91481]

I was having difficulties in setting the dti when small diameter work was being set in the 4 jaw chuck, the problem being that the needle of the dti needs to be moved only tiny amount to set it on the top of the work. The jaws can then be aligned, usually I move the magnetic base about and with a bit of luck just get it right..it takes some small but annoying faffing about……but no more!

I have fitted the base arm with a microscope slide which holds the arm with the dti fitted, the mag base is put in the general area and the fine adjustment is made with the microscope focussing slide… is it over the top?… yes… does it work better than before …yes.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

That’s neat, Bob … and I don’t see any reason for it to be considered ‘over the top’

MichaelG.

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Mitutoyo Technical Sales Dept. Tel. 01264 353123

Martin C

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Just thought I'd close the loop on this one, I did go for the Dashqua hydraulic magnetic arm from Chronos and it arrived today. Initial thought are that it seems very well made, is very flexible and has good magnetic base with a very smooth action for the magnetic on/off function. When locked it is very rigid and the fine adjustment on the end can be locked if necessary but mine is pretty rigid anyway. So, initial impressions are good, the only thing I'm not sure about is the gold finish but at least I won't loose it!

6" rule by it for scale…

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

Here's what I did on my Centec 2B. I mounted it in the channel used for the Z-axis limit stop.

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