Smelting Lead & Testing A .00005 Neoteck Digital Indicator

Here I compare the accuracy of a needle type fowler dial indicator to an extremely sensitive Neoteck digital indicator which measures to .00005 inches. Then I haven't shown any of my foundry work so here is how I fixed a pair of helping hands using lead.

[jimdavis]

Love the opening music. Almost as good as the big band sound you used to use. 😎

[jimdavis]

Great idea about the "helping hands". Mine works great now. BTW, I was able to preheat the base and melt the lead in the pan with a torch. 😉

[georgechambers]

New opening music, I like it. The lead job on the helping hands is a really good idea. 64 degrees I'm jelous, it's about 40 here in central Oregon. Good video Dave I'm looking forward to next Friday!

[JimmiePorterAtStuartArts]

Great solution adding the lead base. Lead sure is gummy to work with though. Happy casting!

[bhein]

I like the new intro! I just gotta say you have way more patience doing all that testing on the indicator than I would have.
Just a curiosity, is there a price point where measuring instruments are expected to measure perfectly? I have seen a very wide range of prices on these tools and I'm not sure what to expect to get for my money. I'm fairly certain that the lower priced instruments will be within the realm of my capabilities.
Also, with the temperature making a difference on measuring, how significant is it? I keep my work shop about 20C in winter (thats from Oct to May here, It was -28C this morning). Again, I'm not doing anything that will require any tolerances outside the .001-.002 range, just me being curious.
Thanks again for the work you put into the videos!

[ghjk]

Dave,
This is the third video I watch from you regarding DTI's
It has become clear to me that Dave is not a happy camper as far as this goes !
Some tips for making 'serious measurements'
-All those articulated arms, be they Noga or they go nowhere near the granite slab!
-short levers, disproportionately heavy basis and arms, simple rigid snugs .... is the way to go
-your measurement will be ok if all parts have the same temperature (within reason), temperature compensation is for specialised labs...not for the home shop...often not even for the very high end job shop
-DTI is only ok for 1/1000" = numpty-talk.... I don't know who told you that, but it wasn't someone who knew what he was talking about.
-if you want some 'gauges' that are very precise (for reference or testing) consider tin foil. This is manufactured to a crazy precise thickness.
-Consider using metric for this sort of measurements.... lot less headaches, very simple
-clean your slab with Windex (you can add a shot of extra alcohol to it if you want)
-do NOT oil the inside of your indicators !!!!

If you would have screwed your helping hands to a piece of hardwood or even thick ply (18 mm or so) of 4" by 6", it would be a lot more stable than it is...even after all that melting and pouring lead ....it's the lever-length that makes it topple over. The base is way to small in fucntion of the length of the arms

Cheers

Paddy

[catherineransom]

Dave, the only Neoteck indicator I see on Amazon costs $23.95. I wonder if it’s the same one?

[Stefan_Boerjesson]

Thanks for another interesting, and educating,  video.Everything is affected by temperature, both the object and the measuring instrument. For really high prescision works, start at a well controlled temperature and work in a limited temperature span.Dial or digital meters? Looking at quite a good number of well produced Tube-videos I say that dial indicators most often shows up the best into the camera. When the video tells "on zero" but because of parallax I se one or two thous I can handle that. Digital readouts, because of the lack of backlight in the meter, sometimes shows nothing to the camera.Your lead work is funny. The crap You work with to keep it standing I got myself a long time ago. Chinese low things… Exercise to eat the Japaneze way using sticks and use that for soldering 3 cables etc. You will do better. Why not design something better Dave?Should we compete? I am joking.

[JL-bwis]

Look at 16:45, note the indicator is not perpendicular to your granite plate..

[rogerpetrella]

If you are going to whine about how accurate the cheap Chinese made indicators are, spend a little money and get a Mitutoyo. I have no issues with either of mine.