Always keeping an eye out for new goodies on Ebay I had noticed a Türlen Precision TEST DIAL INDICATOR .0005" & MILL HOLDER for BRIDGEPORT on Ebay. Two items one price. Needless to say the price was way, way lower than buying equivalent Starrett or Mitutoyo items, so I bought it. Came yesterday.
I have no complaint about the holder. My micro mill isn't a Bridgeport (Sieg X2 I suspect) but the holder clamps on nicely anyway.
I figure most folks here are familiar with dial test indicators. (Pictures of what I bought attached.) Looks fairly standard. This one looks a lot to me like the much more expensive Brown and Sharpe or Mitutoyo test indicators. Possibly plastic parts inside, but since I am not going to be using it every day for factory production, maybe once every 20 days of mill operation at home, who cares? Little plates for dovetail attachment to the clamps in 3 places. Played with it a bit, Seems to work okay. So I attached the holder to the mill and attempted (note that word) to attach the (included with purchase) dovetail clamps to the indicator.
LoL to that. They would slide on, then promptly fall off when any attempt was made to lock them in place.
Now we know that when buying things at a low price sometimes the quality level is also lower. I had been waiting to see at what point the difference in quality control would jump out and smack me in the teeth. I think I found it.
In the specimen I had purchased the tail end of the dovetails is on the indicator as it is supposed to be. The clamps, which look almost exactly like the Mitutoyo indicator clamps pictured below, are the socket end. Fairly standard angled T slot type. Problem I am seeing is neither one of them is machined to actually fit the tail end on the indicators. On both of them although the depth is correct, the width of the opening is too large. Using a feeler gauge I determined each of them is just about 0.3 mm too wide on the top end. So when the push screw is tightened, the socket just lifts off the piece. Could have been such a good purchase too. Sigh!
So yeah, Sharf sells some dial clamps that work with any size dial dovetail and I ordered two at $7 apiece and that will let the new indicator be used. My first thought is I could probably mill down the face of these knockoff indicators then very carefully with precisely the right sized cutter redo the sockets, but what size cutter would that be, and could I hold the necessary tolerance (since obviously at least one factory is having an issue there)? My second thought is when shopping bargains from China keep in mind that if there is an issue with what you bought, realize you may save a lot of time and aggravation and money by just going ahead and spending a little more money for a name brand purchase.
