Dial Indicator Repair With a Sonic Cleaner

[C-Bag]

Boelube? ��

Now I'm throughly confused/intreaged. So in the case of the DI innards should you lube or shield? I still have a many lifetime supply of Starrett oil but just like tools, you can't have too many oils.

Sorry to hyjack the OP but you just never know what wonderful tip is going to pop up when guys start chipping in.

[kbalch]

Boelube comes in several forms (liquid, paste, and solid). This is the stuff I used (a kind of waxy solid):



Ken

[PJs]

Hi All, Great tips flying all over here. I didn't know the name of the tool but knew it was for removing needles/hands from watches or instruments. I found this picture on the net although dad's is more antique and its in my storage shed in an old tool box.



I remember using it a few times with him and on an old Weston meter that got dropped and jarred the needle loose. It made it easy to remove a needle and get it started going back on. Don't think it would be an issue with the tiny one on the DI in Brians video as the claws are quite small. Thought I had seen one at HFT with their small tools and watch stuff but it doesn't show up on their website. Their are newer "C" style and some spring steel types now available through watch/clock tool supplies, and under $10 from what I saw.

Thanks Ken for the tip on Boelube. Is it for drilling rivet holes in AL sheet? Looks pretty good and cheaper than that green stuff (can't remember name) everyone on YT is using.

Good tip on storing the chucks with Boeshield, Paul.

Looks like we're all on board for the ultrasonic cleaner...maybe we can get a group discount with Coupons!

Another great thread going here! Thanks, ~PJ

[C-Bag]

U da man Wiz! After you mentioned watches I had the old headsmack doh! Of course they would have a puller for that but I'd never thought of it on my own. It being so micro and my world being so macro. I did a quick search and there are huge price gaps for pullers but this one caught my eye for $11

http://www.clockworks.com/pics/pics-...tools/wt14.jpg

It looks to be a knockoff of one that's $60. Like the HFT equivelant I guess. If I was in the watch repair biz I could justify the expensive one but the cheap one will probably hang together for the couple of DI's I want to try and save. And who knows maybe HFT does have one and it's not in their catalog only in the store. At least when I'm down trying pick up the US cleaner I can root around in the other racks and see if the hand puller is there. HFT is getting to be like Costco where stuff magically shows up and sometimes it's there when I do my next bi annual pilgrimage and sometimes it goes away

[kbalch]

Thanks Ken for the tip on Boelube. Is it for drilling rivet holes in AL sheet? Looks pretty good and cheaper than that green stuff (can't remember name) everyone on YT is using.

I used it more for drilling and reaming plate than sheet. I suppose that using it for sheet might slightly extend the useful life of drill bits, but I never bothered.

Ken

[PJs]

I used it more for drilling and reaming plate than sheet. I suppose that using it for sheet might slightly extend the useful life of drill bits, but I never bothered.

Thanks Ken...thought it might be useful to minimize burrs on sheet but makes sense on plate too and countersinks.

C-Bag, I saw that style and seemed to be the new style for a good price. Amazon had it for $9 Prime. Paul probably knows more about that kind of tools than me for sure. Like you said for a few times use they probably do fine. I found the one in my picture above on a UK site for 4-7 pounds...shipping would be atrocious. Found that type is called a Plunger Style the other is a Presto style.

[kbalch]

Thanks Ken...thought it might be useful to minimize burrs on sheet but makes sense on plate too and countersinks.

It might help with burrs, though all of my holes in sheet stock get manually deburred on both sides as a matter of course. In the airplane, most of the ~12K+ holes wound up also being dimpled or countersunk (as appropriate based on stock thickness) for flush rivets. Fun times…

Ken

[C-Bag]

I had another doh! moment just a little bit ago. I was coming back from my ride down the post office and saw my buddy out in his garage so I stopped in. He is a wonderful old German retired instrument tech that PG&E still calls in a couple of times a year with checking and calibrating all instruments at Diablo Canyon Nuke plant. I always stop and shoot the breeze as he's a RC model and aircraft enthusiast and is just a fascinating guy.

In the course of shooting the breeze the doh! hit me. I asked if he had any tools for pulling pointers(that's what he called it) and he had several. One of the guys he used to work with was a watch maker and he learned and got a lot of tools off him. He also has mucho experience with working on DI's and using US cleaners. As he'd have to work in a clean room doing work and assembly on the instruments. He started out doing aircraft instruments.

With DI's he said the main problem with them sticking(besides old sticky oil and dirt) was the slide mechanism that's on the side of the case with the rod that goes into it. He said there is a ruby or something like that in there that would get rough or flake and the only way to fix that was to replace it. So something to look out for.

[PJs]

In the airplane, most of the ~12K+ holes wound up also being dimpled or countersunk (as appropriate based on stock thickness) for flush rivets. Fun times…

Think that is starting to approach Avogadro's number by the time all the op's are done...That's a fair bit I would say. WoW! I'd have been snow blind and arthritic after that. Skinned the side of a 30' Airstream trailer once...nuff rivets at one sitting for a lifetime for me.

With DI's he said the main problem with them sticking(besides old sticky oil and dirt) was the slide mechanism that's on the side of the case with the rod that goes into it. He said there is a ruby or something like that in there that would get rough or flake and the only way to fix that was to replace it. So something to look out for.

Great story and tip from your friend about the bar slide, C-Bag. Interesting how things show up when you start to think about them. Like your friend my dad taught instruments and was a tech before OCS in the early 50's on the F86...hit home with me! Did he say anything about the proper lube to use? I think most modern DI's & DTI's have multiple jeweled bearings, 7 if I remember correctly?

[C-Bag]

I concur with PJ's, WOW Ken.....we had to re skin one wing of a 150 in aircraft school and i quickly realized I was not cut out for that kind of soul crushing work.

Cool story about your dad PJ's.

My neighbor IS an amazing guy. But he's getting up there in years and he's a little like talking to my dad. Kinda like an old tube radio. A little slow and not great reception at first but once he warms up, watch out. He started pulling stuff out of his toolbox that he couldn't remember the last time he got in there. We started talking about oils and he dug out a long plastic box that had this assortment of little needle oilers, and one so fine I couldn't see it without my glasses which I leave at home when I ride. He also pulled out some small bottles of oil. I think he mentioned at least 3 or 4 weights for different size watches. He had some really old little bottles of oil that of course I didnt recognize the makers and in talking to him and from the OP's vid I could see how those tiny bottles would last somebody a lifetime. This is truly a whole 'nuther world to me.

I've gone down a time or two and asked him for some help/advice. Cool thing is he's lived here for a long time and some of the guys he worked with at Diablo that are retired also he's still in touch with. So if he doesn't know(which is not that often) he calls one of his buddies. Then it's a full on man cave party, talking shop and war (work)stories. Good times My saving grace is they think I'm special because I'm a musician and for some reason that has some cache with these guys. That and I learned to keep my mouth shut .

I'm going to go back down there and drop off a cd for him and if I know him our excursion into his old passion will trigger finding some more goodies and my brain will be unloaded enough to maybe absorb some oil info. He can quickly swamp me as he's spent a lifetime messing with little mechanisms. To him it's no big deal and probably boring to other people.