• Indicator Rod

    From Bob La Londe@21:1/5 to All on Mon Feb 20 13:14:51 2023
    Dial Indicator Rod

    On the right side of the head of my manual knee mill there is a rod that
    sets in clamp in the casting. A simple thumb screw holds it at whatever
    height you set it. Its pretty short. In fact its kind of in the way.
    If it was any longer I would have already removed it and tossed it in a
    tool box.

    I'm not really sure what its good for. Not really suitable for a
    tapping head arm if you use the quill. I can't imagine tapping with the
    knee. Maybe it might be okay with a coaxial indicator, but that seems a
    bit of overkill to build a stop rod into the machine. I'm also not sure
    it would reach down far enough to engage the arm on my coaxial indicator.

    Generally I think its an "anything you can use it for" feature at best.


    --
    Bob La Londe
    CNC Molds N Stuff

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  • From David Billington@21:1/5 to Bob La Londe on Mon Feb 20 20:50:04 2023
    On 20/02/2023 20:14, Bob La Londe wrote:
    Dial Indicator Rod

    On the right side of the head of my manual knee mill there is a rod
    that sets in clamp in the casting.  A simple thumb screw holds it at whatever height you set it.  Its pretty short.  In fact its kind of in
    the way. If it was any longer I would have already removed it and
    tossed it in a tool box.

    I'm not really sure what its good for.  Not really suitable for a
    tapping head arm if you use the quill.  I can't imagine tapping with
    the knee.  Maybe it might be okay with a coaxial indicator, but that
    seems a bit of overkill to build a stop rod into the machine.  I'm
    also not sure it would reach down far enough to engage the arm on my
    coaxial indicator.

    Generally I think its an "anything you can use it for" feature at best.


    I made a bar to act as a guide for letter and number punches and the
    main support rod is held in a collet in the spindle but another smaller
    rod goes into that hole to align it with the axis and stop it rotating.
    I've also seen it used for holding chuck guards.

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  • From Bob La Londe@21:1/5 to David Billington on Mon Feb 20 14:07:28 2023
    On 2/20/2023 1:50 PM, David Billington wrote:
    On 20/02/2023 20:14, Bob La Londe wrote:
    Dial Indicator Rod

    On the right side of the head of my manual knee mill there is a rod
    that sets in clamp in the casting.  A simple thumb screw holds it at
    whatever height you set it.  Its pretty short.  In fact its kind of in
    the way. If it was any longer I would have already removed it and
    tossed it in a tool box.

    I'm not really sure what its good for.  Not really suitable for a
    tapping head arm if you use the quill.  I can't imagine tapping with
    the knee.  Maybe it might be okay with a coaxial indicator, but that
    seems a bit of overkill to build a stop rod into the machine.  I'm
    also not sure it would reach down far enough to engage the arm on my
    coaxial indicator.

    Generally I think its an "anything you can use it for" feature at best.


    I made a bar to act as a guide for letter and number punches and the
    main support rod is held in a collet in the spindle but another smaller
    rod goes into that hole to align it with the axis and stop it rotating.

    That's a clever use.
    I've also seen it used for holding chuck guards.

    Now that seems to be an obvious use now that somebody said it. I keep
    telling myself I'm going to make some mag base spray shields, but
    bending a piece of polycarbonate and clamping it to that rod might be
    really useful for keeping chips and coolant out of my face.



    --
    Bob La Londe
    CNC Molds N Stuff


    --
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  • From David Billington@21:1/5 to Bob La Londe on Mon Feb 20 21:47:53 2023
    On 20/02/2023 21:07, Bob La Londe wrote:
    On 2/20/2023 1:50 PM, David Billington wrote:
    On 20/02/2023 20:14, Bob La Londe wrote:
    Dial Indicator Rod

    On the right side of the head of my manual knee mill there is a rod
    that sets in clamp in the casting.  A simple thumb screw holds it at
    whatever height you set it.  Its pretty short.  In fact its kind of
    in the way. If it was any longer I would have already removed it and
    tossed it in a tool box.

    I'm not really sure what its good for.  Not really suitable for a
    tapping head arm if you use the quill.  I can't imagine tapping with
    the knee.  Maybe it might be okay with a coaxial indicator, but that
    seems a bit of overkill to build a stop rod into the machine.  I'm
    also not sure it would reach down far enough to engage the arm on my
    coaxial indicator.

    Generally I think its an "anything you can use it for" feature at best.


    I made a bar to act as a guide for letter and number punches and the
    main support rod is held in a collet in the spindle but another
    smaller rod goes into that hole to align it with the axis and stop it
    rotating.

    That's a clever use.
    I've also seen it used for holding chuck guards.

    Now that seems to be an obvious use now that somebody said it.  I keep telling myself I'm going to make some mag base spray shields, but
    bending a piece of polycarbonate and clamping it to that rod might be
    really useful for keeping chips and coolant out of my face.



    I made a couple of mag base safety shields some years back and put them
    between the operation and me if I have any concern. Just about 12"x12"
    square polycarbonate and flat, the mag bases are cheap these days and
    sit out of the way on the back of the BP when not in use, handy having a
    mag base as they'll stick anywhere there's iron.

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