Alternative mirror base tester?

[mura_gadi (Steve)]

Hello,

Still procrastinating on my test stand, an interweb search turned up the link below. They are essentially $35-$50 (40mm-60mm base plate) unit with a micrometre built-in at .01mm and 10mm travel either side of centre.

Considering a good dial indicator is around $100 these looked to be good value for money (if they're accurate). Thought a pair for x-y axis control would be great for simplifying the mirror tester and costs about the same as just the dial indictor.

Any thoughts?



Thanks
Steve

Type: Manual Displacement Platform
Stroke: ± 6.5mm
Load: 39.2N (4kgf)
Material: Aluminum alloy
Accuracy: 0.01mm
Parallelism: 0.03mm
Weight: 0.21kg

Units available are X, Y, Z and R.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3284...d=hrktFR2EDIwK

[Rod]

Hi Steve

You could do that. I’m sure it could be made to work as long as the product is reasonably well made. Just seems a bit expensive for a tester you can make for virtually nothing. I’ve never spent $100 on a dial indicator for this purpose. If you search eBay you’ll find cheap dial indicators for $15 to $25. If you want to be really cheap you get tire depth gauges that read to .01 mm. Bojan suggested these in a post once. You can get them for around $7 to $10. Here is one example:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/11536127...mis&media=COPY

You just need to add a small spring to make it work like a dial indicator. Do you need plans for a tester?

Rod

[mura_gadi (Steve)]

Thanks Rod, I'll go find Bojan post.

[bojan]

I think I was mentioning this product in that post (can't find it..)
As to what Rod mentioned, no need for spring, but you have to remove plastic vipers so the measuring strip moves freely and under it's own weight (if used for vertical displacement).
There is really no need to spend hundreds for "proper" depth gauge, those discussed here are good enough.
This dial indicator is also good and accurate... as this one.