PWWDADA All Industrial Tool Supply TR72020 Dial Indicator (Magnetic Base and Point Precision Inspection Set), 1 Pack

This thing was way more than I expected it to be! I planned to use it to set the backlash on the gears in my jeep, but I immediately swapped the dial indicator for a starrett I had in my tool box, but I feel like the included indicator would have sufficed just fine. The quality to money paid ratio is very high here. Waaaaaay more included than I expected to be honest. For those trying to use this to regear also, I found that it was difficult to find a decent place to mount the magnetic base to get an accurate reading on the DANA 30 but there would be plenty of room on the DANA 35. There are a ton of indicator tips included for nearly any surface you may need to indicate. I fount the articulation arm a little tough to maneuver precisely but it works perfectly fine. The mounting surface is indexed to fit firmly on round surfaces as well but I’m not sure of the flatness though I’m not sure it matters much once the indicator is indexed properly. The collet has mounting holes for large barrel and small barrel indicators which is nice. I did find some interference between the indicator housing and the collet/ shaft limiting the orientation possibilities with this particular included indicator a little bit but I’m sure you could articulate to accommodate for it.

I had concerns about purchasing this very inexpensive tool, given the large population of bad reviews. However, I am using it to rebuild a classic car engine and right out of the box it is sturdy enough, and the measurements are accurate enough for hobbyist use. If you get one like mine - don't concern yourself - you'll be fine. If I used this tool frequently I would probably upgrade to a more expensive one when this one breaks; however, for 30-something dollars it's great for infrequent use. Frankly, I don't know what unit others got that they describe so badly, as none of the problems mentioned are evidenced in mine. Specifically, the magnet holds fine, even upside down, on an engine block, the clamps work fine and hold tightly, adjustments are simple, and measurements are absolutely repeatable down to fractions of thousands.

I used this unit to set the knives on my jointer this past weekend. The short story: The jointer knives were set perfectly! BASE: The arms, connectors, fine adjustment, and knobs all work great. For the price... it is WORTH IT! I know a lot of people complain about these cheap bases not having strong magnets (If you haven't figured it out, the cheap bases are all the same). Well, I don't know why anyone would need a stronger magnet for setting and testing? I engaged it to my jointer's bed and I couldn't move it sideways at all. Why would anyone need it to be stronger when using a sensitive dial indicator? I don't know. Other people complain about breaking the knobs. Well you must be cranking on them with excessive force. They locked down more than adequate for me and I never felt like I was going to snap anything. DIAL INDICATOR: I was actually quite impressed with the dial indicator. The fact it wasn't made of plastic really surprised me! I found it was accurate within a .001" and gave repeatable results. POINT SET: Now for the bad... the point set is junk. The threads are full of burs and I had a hard time threading them on and off the calipers. All of the wider flat and round nibs have really rough machines marks along the contacting surface. Probably not a big deal for most... but, they kept getting hung up on my jointer knives and were several thousands deep... so these ridges would actually skew my measurements. But, after all the good... this was on the only disappointing item. I had to deduct a star for this one.

I purchased this just to keep on hand for checking runout on disc brake rotors, etc. The price for this is very affordable for what you get and it's very accurate. I had a pulsation problem when braking on a car and I used this to check the rotor runout; one was .001" and the other was .004". The factory spec is .002" maximum, so I replaced the rotors and found the new ones to be less than .001" runout. Needless to say, the road test confirmed that the problem was now gone so this dial indicator does the job. The magnetic base is really nice to have as it firmly sticks to the strut tube when I set it up to measure the rotor. I've used other mounts in my line of work where they used vise grips but those are hard to find a decent place to mount sometimes, so the magnetic base is a welcome feature (and this magnet is very strong).

So I must have gotten a good one. Nothing stripped, nothing broke, operates well, well machined tips with clean treads and the magnet is pleanty strong! As others have noted, it's not top tier but for my needs I culdn't be more pleased with the entire kit at this price point. So far used it to set up a new table saw but also plan to use it for guitar setups and repair and the extra tips will come in handy. One note: I put a rubber washer on the threaded dial mount post before putting the dial on and this helps the fine tune the dial positioning when tightening the gnurled tension barrel nut.

I purchased this unit to tune my table saw and other tools in my shop. The indicator works well and for the price will be a good addition to my shop. The only problem was the threads were stripped on the part that attaches to the back of the indicator so it can be mounted on the base and thus could never get the indicator tightened down so it wouldn't move around. I called Amazon customer service. At first they suggested I return the unit and order another, finally they came up with a number for the manufacturer to call and order a replacement part. The set came with zero paperwork, just the plastic case with all the parts inside, this was in a box with the packing slip, no instructions, no warranty information, no parts list and no anything. Amazon was very helpful but it took them 15 tp 20 minutes just to come up with a number for the manufacturer. With no part number to order I figured it would be easier to engineer my own part. Went to Lowes and bought a 6mmX2" hex bolt, 1/4" spacer and a nylon lock nut and assembled the part, filed the head of nut and bolt flush with the spacer and viola it worked like a charm. All for a [...] in parts. Cheaper than spending [...] in shipping to send it back.

good

General comments/Pros: The dial indicator works well, and thus far, I've found the mounting hardware to be solid enough - I haven't had any issues with knobs or screws breaking. The magnet is strong enough to hold the base solidly when sitting vertically on a cast iron surface. It can be moved with a little push, however; I wouldn't trust the magnet to hold the hardware horizontally without additional support. The majority of the additional points arrived in usable form, though a few needed to be rubbed down with some fine sandpaper to remove light grooving on the surface. Cons: - It's minor, but the on/off sticker on the magnetic base fell off in the packaging. The adhesive on the back of the sticker is very weak. - The case is very poorly constructed (to the point that it is unusable and I had to immediately replaced it with a homemade box). The case I received is not quite large enough to hold any of the individual parts in the dedicated spots. At arrival, only one of the two latches was closed and the top of the case was bowed in order to get that latch to click into place. The material quality is also very poor; the main case shed a number of plastic slivers inside of Amazon's packaging, and the case for the point set had spider webs on the clear front, along with obvious chipping on the edges. Amazon's packaging was in good condition, so I do not believe the damage was shipping related. While I'm impressed with the performance of the dial indicator relative to the cost, I'm a bit disappointed that the product failed to provide something as simple as a quality plastic case.