Best wiggler ?

[speedyb]

Good Morning;

anyone have comments on wiggler quality ? and specfically the thin pointed tool for locating on the hole centers previously punched.

careful inspection of my General brand shows enough, uhm, runout at the very tip, to desire a better one

btw, I was using it as a quick and dirty way to set my lathe tailstock.

 

[Tin Falcon]

starrett is probably the standard. they are on e-bay used.
Tin

 

[lazylathe]

+1 for Starrett!
I like mine a lot!

Andrew

 

[mklotz]

Is this the sort of wiggler you're talking about?

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=326-0022&PMPXNO=12408710&PARTPG=INLMK3

If so, I don't understand your "runout at the tip" comment.

In use, one pushes the edge of a scale or similar against the spinning tip to make it run parallel to the machine rotation axis, thus no runout when correctly adjusted.

 

[speedyb]

ahh, starret

rounout: a tip thats not well made, and also a bit abused

 

[bearcar1]

Even Starrett or Mitutoyo, etc. brands are not immune to the effects of abuse you speak of. The proper handling of tooling goes a long, long ways toward accuracy and the life of the tool itself. That is, just because something has a point on it does not make it a scriber or a center pop. Just saying, don't blame the tooling if it has been abused and also do not expect higher priced items to stand any better odds under the same conditions. My choice of tooling rand is Starrett as that is also what my Father used for over 40 years during his career and that same tooling I still use today in my home shop. They always get cleaned and re-oiled and then returned to the tool chest after each use, I'm sure that is the reason they have lasted for such a long period of time.


BC1
Jim

 

[speedyb]

yep
I got it used, a few bucks. Not that things dont happen, like the occasional slippery fingers..
Cannot see the tip condition till you use a good magnifier(well with my eyes). I was using it to do a quick and dirty tailstock aligment, and then it was noticable.
probably ok for most milling-drilling setups though.

 

[rklopp]

I had to tune up my Starrett wiggler, because the factory supplied a lot of runout to the conical tip relative to he rest of the pointer. I fixed it up using my Deckel clone cutter grinder. While it still worked with tip runout, it offended my sensibilities.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Surely the conical point/shaft concentricity is irrelevant, you only need to get the very point to run true. It is after all only the very tip that you use for location, not the shaft.
ned

 

[mklotz]

Surely the conical point/shaft concentricity is irrelevant, you only need to get the very point to run true. It is after all only the very tip that you use for location, not the shaft.
ned

Exactly the point I made in post #3. Runout for a wiggler is a non-issue since in use one adjusts the point to have no runout.

 

[speedyb]

lol, yep and its the point that is bad. bought an indicator the other day, and put an inexpensive wiggler on the cart too. Arrived today. completly unusable junk! serves me right i guess.
if I can chuck it up somehow, maybe could make them both good.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Hi Marv,
Indeed, but clearly someone missed your point (pun intended) ;D
Ned

 

[gbritnell]

This is what the old timers taught me many years ago during my apprenticeship. Take a piece of brass flat stock, .062-.093 and cut out a rectangular piece with 2 ears on opposite sides. Now bend the ears up to 90 degrees. Drill and ream through both ears for you shank diameter. Clamp this plate to your bench grinder support pad and align the angle to match the tip of your wiggler. Now turn on your grinder, insert the wiggler into the fixture and rotate it against the grinding wheel. Voila, you have a newly ground tip.
gbritnell

 

[speedyb]

most excellent, thanks
will save quite a bit of coin!

 

[Tin Falcon]

great tip george so simple would have never thought of it.
Tin

 

[bezalel2000]

Hi George

I'm afraid you've got a slow reader in the class. I think I get the concept but I'm struggling to convert the text into a 3D visual :shrug: Hopefully Speedyb can post a picture of his

snip > Take a piece of brass flat stock, .062-.093 and cut out a rectangular piece with 2 ears on opposite sides. Now bend the ears up to 90 degrees. Drill and ream through both ears for you shank diameter. < snip

I'm just wandering if those of us with a limited range of reamers are likely to get the same result by selecting a similar method involving any Ali extrusion with a sharp internal 90o corner.

• cut a length of extrusion shorter than the wriggler shaft.
• clamp extrusion to the grinder table at the desired angle as previously described
• hold the shaft of the wriggler against the length of aforementioned internal corner
• slide the wriggler toward the rotating grind wheel and rotate, also as described for the brass guide

Bez

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Bez,
What you're describing will also work. The idea is to have a support for the wiggler shaft. As long as you keep it tucked into the corner of the extrusion you should get a nice symmetrical point. With the fixture I described all you have to do is insert the shaft and rotate, it's self supporting.
In my apprenticeship days you could still get steel phonograph needles, maybe you still can, I haven't checked. You could take the wiggler shaft, chuck it in a collet and drill and ream for the aforementioned phono needle. A dab of Loctite would keep it in place. If you were to destroy it, it was just a matter of pulling out the old one and inserting another.
The wiggler shaft with the stock removed was an inheritance from an old timer, I did the other one.
gbritnell

 

[bezalel2000]

A picture says it all

Thanks George :bow:

Bez