This last year I've been burning powder. I can't really explain why because it is harder to find opportunities to shoot firearms in Miami, but I haven't been able to resist lately.

I have also been starting to delve further into metal working. I just finished setting up this metrology station. I have been adding to it slowly but the addition of the granite angle plate and the final tweak to a dial indicator mount finished it for the foreseeable future.

I have found the common mounts for dial indicators to be wanting for my needs. To mount them using the standard back plate mount required an unnecessarily complex post assembly which made using the fine adjustment difficult. I milled down the mount on a standard back plate, cut a 60 degree dovetail and came up with a clean simple assembly that I consider perfect. Cutting a simple dovetail certainly gives me more appreciation for the work I see here. It took me about 2 hours for two tries and the learning curve as it was my first dovetail.

Complete metrology station. The first two pictures are the mount and the third is my complete station.The two indicators in the front are .0005, and the two in the back are.0001. All the granite is grade A. The station is primarily for gunsmithing but will most assuredly see uses for many things. I also have a micrometer set to compliment the station. I've been having quite a bit of fun with it as time permits. It gives me confidence knowing that I can measure and machine with precision, or at least know that I screwed up...................with precision.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2015 07:11PM by Bigbore.

Looks like a nice little set up. I've been wanting a slab of marble for a long time but I just can't part with cash. So you dovetailed different bases for the dial indicators for what purpose? I thought they were magnetic or suction down . At least that's how mine are. Maybe they go in the aluminum track on the back of the marble base. Any ways it a nice little quality station you have set up . Now the real work begins !

It was only the back plate on the dial indicator itself that I cut the dovetail into.

Typically you need a 90 degree setup to mount a dial indicator into the 3/8" hole on the end of the base mount arm. The first picture shows a dial indicator with the back plate as it comes out of the box on the right. The dial indicator on the left has the mounting hole on its back cut off and milled flat, that is what I cut the dovetail into so that I could use the dovetail mount on the base - that is the part with the magnet and arm. Now, the dial indicator mounts on the very end of the arm similar to a dial setup indicator - the smaller ones, not into the 3/8" hole behind it which is in front of the fine adjustment knob.

If you can buy a surface plate locally and pick it up they are not that expensive. It cost me more to ship it to my house than the surface plate itself cost.

Lon

I see now Lon . That's a great idea too . I didn't look close enough to see the modification but the pics show exactly .
Kurt

Thks for posting. Looks like you have put a lot of dedication into your station. Hope it suits your needs.

What are you planning to make? You better have a bunch of measuring all lined up to do.

Gary

Gary,

It is amazing how the projects are stacking up. My first serious project will be to resurface a .22 rimfire bolt face. This station will allow me to determine the quality of the bolt's face after resurfacing as well as its perpendicularity. I can roll barrels up to 18" that are not tapered to check for warp and sweep parts on the surface plate to make sure they are true. I've been checking tolerances on a lot of parts to see how well they are manufactured.

I bought everything from Shars and so far they under-promise and over-deliver. The granite angle plate does not guarantee the sides, only the large surfaces and EVERY side is perfect, even the sides that do not have a certified grind.

The absolute last addition will be a height gage.

Lon

Hi Lon,

That is a nice setup. Reminds me of when I worked for a tool & die shop. Surface plates, gage blocks and expensive indicators. You are working with some seriously small measurements, 0.0005, 0.0001". I haven't worked with those since I ran a wire EDM.

No doubt you will be able to check bolt face, barrel runout easily!

Years ago I bought a surface plate from a company. It came off an old coordinate measuring table, a Brown & Sharpe. It is sitting on my dads yard somewhere. It's perfectly flat but has some mounting thru holes for the gadgets it had on. If I had a bigger garage I would bring it here. Nice to have a perfectly flat surface to work with.

If you can let us know ow your projects turn out.

Pedro

P.S. Thanks again for mentioning Windows 7 32bit. I have changed over my desktop and today my laptop. So far all my programs run. Ticks me off cause almost every IT guy I talked with over the years said it probably wouldn't work! So I delayed upgrading.

Pedro,

Glad the Win7 worked out, I'm sure you'll print some interesting parts.

Brown and Sharpe are the top of the line. Through the plate mounting holes are nice, you don't have to rig things with clamps like I did. At least the ledges on this plate make it easy.

Lon

So...a tape measure and a yardstick aren't going to do it for this? I wondered what the stone "angle iron" piece was for until I watched the video with the 10-22 bolt, clever. Makes it much easier to set up when you have a perfect right angle to clamp thing to.

Although...wouldn't a really thick walled piece of actual angle iron, or aluminum for that matter, work just as well? Provided of course that it was cut at exactly a 90 degree angle?

Tip for you - for what it's worth. If you want a vertical or horizontal 90 degree post or slug reference: turn the end of round or square stock of an inch diameter or more, in the lathe. Face it off. It will then stand as a square post reference, or lie in a groove as an end square. More accurate then you might cut and grind square. As accurate as you will ever be able to work to.

Gary

Gary,

I'm sure you know that is a cylindrical square, they sell them.

That granite angle was almost twice as much as the surface plate. It is a 4 X 4 X 4. All 4" sides are certified parallel and square to .00005/6" IIRC. I swept the 2" sides and couldn't get any of my dial indicator needles to move. I was very happy because they really don't make any claims about the accuracy of the sides.

Lon