This is what you can expect with Accusize tools.

[John Conroy]

I bought this co-axial indicator from Accusize a couple of years ago and I use it quite often. The very first time I used it the tiny set screw that holds the adapter arms in place stripped out with just finger effort tightening. It was like the hole was one size bigger than the screw. It was 4mm I think and I just drilled and tapped it out to 8-32 because I had a screw and the right tap on hand. Today I finally got around to making a new set screw with a knurled handle on it. The two holes in the side of the body of the indicator were drilled but never tapped for the handle that's supposed to fit on either side to stop rotation of the tool body. I finally got around to tapping them out to 5mm X .8 today. All the adapter arms were machined with only a flat on one side when there should be opposing flats on both sides where they fit into the indicator so today I finally got around to milling another flat on all 6 of the arms. I spent about an hour dicking around with this thing and finally made all the parts work like they are intended to. The actual indicator and the coaxial mechanism is well made and I have no complaints about how it works now.

This is the original set screw.

This is the one I made today.

Tapping the holes for the handle, they were not tapped from the factory.

Milling a second flat on the indicator arms.

It cost about half what a Japanese one would have cost and less than a quarter what a Blake would cost so I got what I paid for.

John

 

[Janger]

Thanks for the detailed write up and pictures John. Is it this or similar? https://www.accusizetools.com/co-ax-indicators/
$126

 

[John Conroy]

That one has the same part number (JD21-0001) although I have the yellow faced indicator.

 

[PeterT]

Looks identical to what I bought from KBC a few years back & exact same issues. That's the crap shoot syndrome again. Another guy showed one from Travers I believe, same quality, just higher price haha. Nice selection of feeler gauges, but the body had a cheesy, ill fitting thumbscrew in there. Crazy where they decide to cut corners, the one tactile thing & that you need to fit properly with no slop.

I did own a real Blake for a while, got an ebay steal. After a while I decided I was faster at using my DTI on an arm. My mill is somewhat headroom constrained for the size of these bodies I find. I sold it again for about the same price. I have a mini lock arm for DTI (Chinese clone of a Nooga) that I strpped off its mag block & am going to integrate into a clamp to the spindle housing. That will give me quicker on/off attachment so the tooling can stay put. Just a personal opinion, everyone has a different way to skin the cat.

 

[PeterT]

ps John, did you make those vise jaws with the vertical Vees?

 

[John Conroy]

Peter, yes I made the grooved jaws from 6061. No more magnetic soft jaws needed for most jobs.