Resources
Dos and Don’ts For Taking Care of Dial Indicators
Just because dial indicators have been around since the early 1900s, don’t expect them to fade away with the last century. This tool’s long-term popularity is well-earned. Dial indicators offer good resolution at low cost, but that is not the main reason people still...
Going To Extremes: You Can’t Always Measure In Your Thermal Comfort Zone
When most of us think about measurement environments, what generally comes to mind are pleasant laboratories with temperatures controlled to 68°F/20°C — plus or minus a degree or two. Or in the worst case, we picture a gaging shop with swings of...
Tight, Clean and Dry: Keeping Your Dial Indicator Running Right
How to select a dial indicator was discussed in last month’s column. Now that you own it, here are a number of tips to keep it working smoothly and accurately. First, mount your dial indicator correctly. The ideal method is to mount it from the back, using...
Digital Indicators (Revisited)
Since this column last discussed digital indicators and how they compare in use with mechanical dial indicators (see Dial vs. Digital Indicators article), the technology has advanced. The major gage manufacturers have either recently introduced second generation...
Test Indicators vs. Dial Indicators
Test indicators are pretty distinct from dial indicators. The immediately obvious difference is that test indicators have lever-type contacts, while dial indicators have plunger-type contacts. Test indicators are also smaller and lighter than dial...
Dial vs. Digital Indicators
When digital electronic indicators were introduced in the early 1980s, some observers expected them to blow mechanical dial indicators out of the water. In spite of electronic indicators' clear superiority for use in statistical process control and data collection...
Air Gaging 101
Air gaging is a technology that employs the use of air flow volumes and air pressure to determine the size of measured part dimensions. To achieve this measurement, it relies on the laws of physics, which state that flow and pressure are directly...
