MetalworkingFun Forum

I bought one of those coaxial centering indicators at least ten years ago from Little Machine Shop. Never used it until today. I'm sure glad that I had it because I had to center on a couple of holes I drilled in a piece of steel but I didn't have a reamer to ream to final size. The drill rod didn't fit the drilled holes so I had to enlarge them somehow. I tried setting them up in the 4-jaw chuck but since I hadn't squared the stock up, keyway stock, the holes weren't exactly at right angles to the adjacent sides. I looked into buying the proper reamers but 5/8" & 3/4" reamers are expensive.  

Time to christen the boring head. But alas, I did not have a boring bar that would fit it so I ordered one from McMaster. It arrived today so I used the coaxial centering indicator to center up on the holes and bored them out. I screwed up the first one because I forgot to lock the head after adjusting the height so the hole turned out a bit sloppy on the drill rod but I think it'll work. If not, I'll have to make a new one.  

Ed

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funny...i used mine for the first time today as well! And I also bought mine from LMS about 10 years ago.
It might have been one of their monthly specials or something.

I got mine from Enco years ago and have used it quite a bit. Much faster (for me) to center up with compared to using a DTI. Super helpful for locating the original center of a wallowed out threaded hole with the aid of a gauge pin. Great tool to have.

yep...I think I will be using it a lot more now.
I've been using the Haimer 3D taster and the DRO till now.

And Ed will be designing a box to hold his indicator.

Not this time. I bought it long enough ago that it came in a nice wooden box rather than a POS injection molded box.

Ed

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