DTI's Its all in the name

I needed a finger type DTI. The Mercer one i have is a bit iffy at best. So i bought one off ebay. Just a plain faced cheap item to do what i need . Accuracy not that important.

It was £16 & in the picture it looked a pretty yellow colour. It arrived in a nice plastic fold open box, with 2 different size dovetail. All good & works fine. But in the ebay pictures it was a plain face. Look at the one i received. You have got to laugh.

Steve.

Reminds me of the ROLE'Y' (the bottom right hand of the X was missing otherwise identical) watches bought in Singapore in the sixties for a few quid or less - superb looking diving watches that flooded in a hand basin

Tug

According to an article I read some years ago by a company called Long Island Indicator, Mitutoyo don’t make particularly good indicators anyway. Perhaps your Miluloyo is better, but I doubt it somehow!

Apart from the one expected being 0.001mm resolution, perhaps?

If your Miluloyo works ok, it is good value for £16, a real one would be three or four times as much. If you drop it, there won't be as many tears.

When I was working I bought Mercer 301, maybe had 4 or 5 over 50 years. Just before I retired 7 years ago I bought a Mitutoyo. If it breaks it will be a £16 job that should see my time out.

My Mitutogo cost £7.00 and has held up pretty well.

David.

I've looked inside a few DTI's and in all of them the actual mechanism seemed quite simple, I'm now wondering what the 7 jewels do, have you counted to see they are all there?

Ian P

I've wondered for a while why the fakers go to all the trouble of copying Mitutoyo products & then make simple spelling errors. It has just hit me that they don't use our alphabet so to them it all looks good, maybe??

Tony

I don't see any spelling errors

Ian P

The spelling errors are to prevent legal action. Even in China, there have been lawsuites against counterfeit goods. Big names like Kennametal and Henkel (Loctite) have factories there and will protect their copyrights.

I have a Mitutogo, same as David's. Mine too has served me well for almost a decade and sice I use it to compare, not absolute measurements it is good value.

Thor

I cant remember where I read this "The main difference between cheap and expensive indicators is the sound the owner makes when they hit a concrete floor"

Brian G

I don't think that would wash, but hey who cares.

Tony

To be honest i am delighted with it. Well the needle moves when i touch the stylus. I have not stripped it to see if the crown jewels are in there & will not be doing so. I bought it mainly to run on the vice jaws for the mill when fitting.

A few of the good makes i have are so old. They do not always drop back to zero.

Steve.

The air was blue when I broke my £100 Compaq DTI.

Tony

An ex work mate borrowed my 0.001 Mercer dial indicator to set up a job on a CNC mill and forgot to remove it from the spindle which started to rotate at 10,000 rpm. It was buried halfway through a 10mm policarbonate screen when I last saw it.

David