TIL a $4 tube of layout dye beats my $80 edge finder on rough castings

Spent a whole shift last Tuesday fighting a set of raw cast iron brackets that kept reading different on my edge finder, and I was losing my mind. The surface was too rough and pitted so the finder would grab a high spot and give me a number that was off by .015 to .020 every time I checked it. My old shop teacher happened to call that night and said to just coat the face in layout dye and scribe my zero line off a known flat edge, then touch off to the line instead of chasing the finder. Did it on the next part and hit my first hole within .003, no fancy probe or anything. Now I keep two tubes in my box and I'm wondering what other cheap trick I've been ignoring. What's the low tech move you all reach for when the nice tools give you junk readings?

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blakem824d ago

Dykem and a sharp scribe saved me on pitted weldments too.

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