Will dial bore gauges with "wings" instead of wheels damage bearing shells?
03-27-2012, 07:13 AM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Will dial bore gauges with "wings" instead of wheels damage bearing shells?
I have access to some high quality measuring equipment but none of the dial bore gauges have centring wheels. Instead they have two wings or blades either side of the measuring head to centre the gauge in the bore. Will I damage my bearings if I use these to measure clearances? I would rarther use these than buy a shoddy gauge off of eBay. What if I cover the wings with teflon plumpbers tape? Would that help at all?
Last edited by bebbetufs; 03-27-2012 at 01:19 PM.
03-28-2012, 03:20 AM
#4
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Thanks for your suggestions, but I'm not comfortable with the snap gauges, too much variation in the readings when I use them. I will use the plastigauge to double check. The consensus seems to be a dial bore gauge is the most accurate and preferred method for measuring clearances.
03-28-2012, 11:07 PM
#5
Burning Brakes
snap gage is the safest and most accurate way of measuring id's . use high ended gages, not made in china and a cood micromter, subtract your clearances, you cannot get any accurate, do some research , i have built 6 944/951 RACING engines , and had the best results with the method used ^. Also, ask your local or any high-perfomance racing specialty machine shop an you will get the same answer. that is my advise
03-29-2012, 04:39 AM
#6
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Thanks. I can borrow some Mitutuyo snap gauges. I can try. The cheap e-bay ones I bought are useless, that's for sure. If I can get repeatable readings with those I'll be happy.
That said when googling the subject the "entire world" seems to disagree with the telescoping gauges being more accurate than the dial bore gauge. Using the dial bore gauge gives you instant feedback on what is going on in the bore and tells you about any imperfections there may be. I for one find it much easier to use, and to get repeatable readings with a dial bore gauge. When measuring the cylinder bores the dial bore gauge showed me tiny variations the telescoping gauges would never have been able to reveal.
That said when googling the subject the "entire world" seems to disagree with the telescoping gauges being more accurate than the dial bore gauge. Using the dial bore gauge gives you instant feedback on what is going on in the bore and tells you about any imperfections there may be. I for one find it much easier to use, and to get repeatable readings with a dial bore gauge. When measuring the cylinder bores the dial bore gauge showed me tiny variations the telescoping gauges would never have been able to reveal.
04-01-2012, 05:06 PM
#7
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Update: I used the dial bore gauge with wings and had no problems. Seems the wheels don't rotate anyway so the damage would be the same. The measuring points are much more critical. The gauge I used had nice large radius tips, but the mitutuyo gauge I looked at had tiny carbide ***** either end. They would definitely damage the bearing.
