Dial indicators are precision measuring tools with a myriad of applications in the machine shop. Once you move beyond the basic machining operations you will definitely want to have one or more of these in your workshop. On this page I will describe the instruments and holders, but the how-to-use-them information will be added to my other pages as I have time.
A plunger moves in and out from the body of the indicator and rotates the measuring needle on a dial face. Dial indicators usually have either a 1" or 2" range and are calibrated in increments of .001". A smaller dial reads each revolution of the larger dial in increments of 0.100".
The outer bezel rotates and turns the numeric scale with it so that you can set the indicator to zero at any plunger position. Most D/Is have two little movable markers on the outside of the dial face that can be used as reference points. I have removed them from mine, since I rarely use them.
