Wireless dial test indicator

Yes, wireless. There was an interesting article on page 38 of the 21 October 2010 issue of the trade rag Machine Design

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"Wireless test indicator measures blind holes", edited by Leslie Gordon:

In short, Bluetooth meets and marries the centenarian dial test indicator.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joseph Gwinn
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Probably a really cool device, although the photos in the article don't show much.. but there's a video (click on pic of the instrument on a mill table) that shows actual use of the instrument or this link.

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name : Vyndicator

Dunno why they chose to make a demo video with the sensor mounted in a drill chuck though. Apparently the chuck is an accurate one, because they do demonstrate centering a hole in as axial indicator demo.

I've been anticipating wireless oscilloscope and DMM probes for quite a while.. they may exist, but I haven't actively been searching for them. Years ago (80s?) Beckman had a mini DMM that was about the size of a logic probe, and later a scope was available of the same size, although the LCD screen was smaller than a standard postage stamp.

The very tiny/thin nano-scopes are somewhat amazing, but they're limited in several ways and appear to be too complex for me to want to try to use them for real world applications.. trigger, sensitivity, position etc are all touch controls (which experienced video game players may have an easy time using) but way too small of an instrument for me to be comfortable using.

My portable scope is a Tek Meter LCD true RMS DMM autoranging scope which uses standard sized meter probes and BNC scope probe. Real buttons (no knobs)5x2.5" screen and fairly easy to get comfortable using.

Reply to
Wild_Bill

The chuck is just a convenient way to mount the indicator. Its runout doesn't matter for getting the spindle axis and bore coaxial.

I want a cordless TIG current control. It seems there's always a rat's nest of cables underfoot when I'm welding, and eliminating the foot pedal cable would be a big help. Would a cordless mouse work in that electrical environment?

Reply to
Ned Simmons

The received wireless mouse signal (possibly only X or Y) would require some sort of D/A conversion, would it not? I dunno about the EMI-RFI issues.. someone here with a PC in their shop could probably comment on that.

A tiny low voltage gearmotor to operate the variable current pot might work, but you could likely do it with circuitry, handy as you are with electronic stuff.

The motor idea just popped into my gourd as I was thinking about a stabilized output variac I have, that operates by a small (non-digital) circuit board and a small motor.

I'd temporarily forgotten about the rotating indicator's relationship to the spindle.. thanks for the reminder.

Reply to
Wild_Bill

The generally accepted solution to eliminating the foot pedal cable is to eliminate the foot pedal and use a torch mounted control, either a variable control like the foot pedal, or a simple pushbutton when used with a sequencer.

As for wireless links in the shop, I think it's workable in most cases. Modulation methods, data rates and receiver sensitivity have improved over the years and a data link these days can readily overcome the variable RFI in a shop environment with redundancy and error correction.

Reply to
Pete C.

Not what you are talking about but I think I saw an add for an amp clamp that had a remote face that is wireless. There are many times when I'd like to put amp clamp or a dvm on a circuit but view it while standing at the operation panel on the other side of the machine.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Reply to
Wes

Wireless gear that operates in the 2.4GHz frequency seems to be abundant.. I dunno how much crap they can/expect to cram into that bandspace, but there's a hell of a lot cheap 2.4 consumer stuff around (albeit weak RF).

I had a cordless phone that was interrupting the display of a wireless video camera at intervals of about 1 second, even though the handset was on the base unit. I gave the phone to a friend (I don't particularly like cordless phones, even though that one was supposedly a spread spectrum model) and the camera worked fine in a city neighborhood environment after that.

Reply to
Wild_Bill

DECT Cordless phones are 5.8 GHz.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

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