Shop Press Brinell test

[tonyfoale]

Rockwell can be a option, my concern is the small indentation depth causing more measurement imprecision.

I would question your perceived imprecision, particularly on a DIY setup. It is likely to be more precise to measure a depth with a dial indicator than to optically measure the diameter of a dent.
With the rockwell you don't measure the depth directly after finishing, you would measure the displacement of the shaft containing the indenter.

I am just about to build a heat treatment oven and in line with the sentiment expressed here: http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/n...ilosophy-64856 , I had been thinking about how to improve my hardness measurements. I was mentally oscillating between buying a chinese Leeb tester and adding some magnets, copper, Arduino and software to make my bouncing ball device more like a Leeb. However since you started this thread my thoughts have drifted towards making a Rockwell device, in fact this afternoon I ordered some indenters. I have a 1 micron linear encoder so I have the means to measure penetration accurately.