How to use a Vise Grip Base Dial Indicator

Okay, the next dial indicator I'm going to show  you how to use has a vise grip or locked locking   plier base rather than a dial indicator, and this  comes in handy anytime you don't have something   magnetic to stick a magnetic base dial indicator  to so this is kind of my second favorite dial   indicator and it's a distant second I would much  rather use the magnetic one but so let's open   up the box and see what we have we have a piece  of foam that goes over the dial indicator itself   to hold it in place and keep it from vibrating  when when it's being transported so I'm going   to set that here in the lid I don't want this  set in oil or thrown away it needs to be kept   with the box itself all right we have some dial  indicator extensions over here it has the same   dial indicator that was described and shown in  the magnetic base dial indicator video that I have   we've got one-inch of travel, we've got an outer dial  that can be rotated to zero the dial indicator   and a little thumbscrew that can lock it in place  right there to keep it from rotating once again do   not drop these be very careful with them they're  very expensive but it's a precision tool it's made   to last a very long time all right now the vise  grip and these are actual vise grip brand vise   grips here this is the base for the dial indicator  and then it has a flexible arm here and almost   everybody hates these because they have a hard  time adjusting them and making the dial indicator   hold still while they take a measurement so let  me show you a few tricks I've learned over the   years in using this vice-grip bass dial indicator  so the first thing is we need to pick a place to   clamp the dial indicator on the vehicle or  the part that you're going to be measuring so in   this demonstration I've got a cutaway front axle  out of a Toyota Tundra and I want to come in and   measure the backlash on one tooth right there so  we need to find a position where we can clamp the   vise grip and still have the flexible arm be able  to hold the dial indicator in place and take a   good measurement so if I want my dial indicator to  be approximately right here then I better not put   the clamp right next to it because the flexible  mounting doesn't have that much flex it needs to   be farther away so there are some fins here on the  side of the differential housing there's a big fin   right here also I'm thinking this fin right here  on the top might be a good one to clamp to it's   still pretty close though let's see if there's a  better place there's a bolt yeah there's a bolt   right back here on the side of the differential  housing that I'm going to clamp to so I'm going   to loosen the thumbscrew on the end of the  vise grip here just enough that I can still come   in and clamp there we go clamp those vice grips  down in place so I've got a good solid connection   there okay the end of this flexible arm here has a  threaded shaft on it right there and we can thread   that into this vise grip right here right here or  right here I'm thinking in this case here on this   side will be the better location to screw that in  so I'm going to run that in by hand and we need to   thread that in all the way just like that and then  it takes a 13/16 hand wrench to Snug   that up 13/16 is a is approximately  the same as 21 millimeters twenty one's a little   loose on it but twenty one will work also so  now we've got a good solid connection here   and then we've got this flexible arm well this  flexible arm just flops down in place and it   has a clamp on the end of it right here where  the dial indicator is going to go like this but somehow we've got to keep this flexible arm  from flexing once we get the dial indicator in   place so let me show you how to do that and  I'm going to take out the dial indicator   because that's the most expensive part while I  do this so there's a red handle right here and   that handle connects to a cable you can see  the end of the cable you can see the end of   the cable right there and as I turn this red  knob the cable gets longer and the cable gets   shorter longer shorter so when we put it in the  short position that is when it's supposed to lock   this flexible arm and keep it from falling down  but obviously the cable is too long at this   point so on the other end of this flexible arm  is another adjustable thumb screw right here   and if we turn this that will take up the slack  in that cable you just this threaded thumb screw   enough that when you tighten up the clamp lock  over here that it holds the arm from flopping   around now if it still flops down then your  cables not tight enough if you can't tighten   up if you can't turn this knob all the way and  lock it in place and it keeps coming loose then   your cable is too loose and if you extend the  the flexible arm out straight that will have a   different adjustment than if it's bent so it's  it's a little tricky to get adjusted properly   which is why a lot of technicians hate this style  of bass but once you understand its the matter of   adjusting the length of that cable so that  the lock will hold it in place so I can have   it extended out straight here and it'll hold  in place I can have it tipping up and it will   hold it in place you just have to adjust the  cable to the right length for it to do that so   I'm going to loosen that up so that I can get  the dial indicator back in it just like that I want you to notice I've got a little space on  the top of the clamp and some space on the bottom   where that shaft comes through we do not want  to clamp or attempt the clamp on the plunger   itself all right then we're going to position the  dial indicator plunger onto the ring gear tooth   at a ninety-degree angle just like we did in the  magnetic base dial indicator video so I'll put   it down there on a right angle I'll tighten up  the thumbscrew to hold the dial indicator for   moving and then tighten up this red lever over  here to hold the cable of this flexible arm in   place and now we're holding the dial indicator in  place now this knob right here as I as I turned   it, it just barely is the holding that cable in  place so I'm going to tighten the cable up just   a little tiny bit more so that it has a better  grip and put the dial indicator plunger back on   the tooth where I want it and then that's better  lock it in place I've got a good solid connection   there and then just like in the magnetic base  dial indicator video that I have we are going   to zero the dial indicator so I've got the dial  indicator zeroed I've got the plunger sitting on   a ring gear tooth at a 90 degree angle I've got  the dial indicator preloaded so the plunger is   sticking out of the top here some indicating  that it's preloaded and now we're ready to   take the same back last measurement that we did  before we measured seven-thousandths of an inch   with the magnetic base dial indicator and we're  getting the same seven-thousandths of an inch   difference between the two readings looks like  we go about maybe a negative half and a positive   six and a half or so right around 7 thousandths  of an inch a backlash with a vise grip base dial   indicator so a little harder to use but very  handy when you don't have a magnetic or when   you don't have a piece of steel body or suspension  to connect it to alright when you are done using   or when you are done taking your measurement and  you're going to use this dial indicator again in   in the same day in my class just loosen up the  clamp on the dial indicator and set it back in   the box just like this with the dial indicator  plunger sticking up if you are done using this   dial indicator for the day disassemble the  entire thing and put it back in the box using   the protective foam over the dial indicator  and put it back in my precision tool toolbox

Channel: WeberAuto

Views: 11,566

Rating: 4.8509316 out of 5

Keywords: STEM, ASE, Snap-On, Guy in wheelchair, Starrett, CAT, Vise Grip Base Dial Indicator, John D. Kelly, Precision Measurements, CCAR, Weber State Automotive, Measurements, WSU, Precision, Professor, Weber State University, NATEF, NACAT

Id: 2PfJuZSKAhw

Length: 11min 59sec (719 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 07 2017