Dial indicator for spine tester

[jonathan creason]

Which dial indicator are you all using for the Hill spine tester?  I picked one up that has a plunger that runs all the way through it, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to make it work.  In looking a bit closer at the pics on James' website it looks like the one he uses has a single plunger on one side of the dial.

[Flinttim]

I use one with the plunger going all the way thru. This did necessitate cutting a hole in the frame of the tester to allow the plunger to go down into , to get full travel, but no big deal.I use a magnetic base and armature to hold the indicator.
 It's too late now but I can probably get a pic of the rig tomorrow for you.

[jonathan creason]

No rush, I probably won't start working on it until at least this weekend.  I appreciate it.

[MercilessMing]

I used the all the way through pluger one.  Since the spring from the plunger counters the weight from the tester, the load should be compensated to get the correct reading.  The through type dial indicator makes it much easier to pull down the plunger to zero out the spring load effect.  I built the jig a bit taller to allow easier access to the plunger.

[Flinttim]

please use photobucket's editing feature and post images no wider than 640 - thank you

  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/Flinttim/MVC-004F-2.jpg  

  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/Flinttim/MVC-003F-2.jpg  

 Hope this helps. There are many ways to skin this cat, just use what you can . Stealing ideas from one another is the beauty of this place.

[Rob DiStefano]

my 'lo tech - hi tech'  kinda sorta 'spine meter'.  i don't use it to sort out precise spine deflection numbers, i use it to find the stiff side of the shaft, mark it, and make sure that's the side that goes against the arrow plate.  since i use a 4-fletch, when i use woodies this means i need to use the nock's index so the stiff shaft side is towards the arrow plate.