Harold,

That's correct. When you back off, to properly deal with backlash, always
back off too far, then turn to your mark in the same direction as you did
originally. That rule is across the board, whether you're using your edge
finder or positioning. I make it a habit to routinely work from the
left side and back side of parts, so the dial reading is always right
handed, or with the dial. Only under rare circumstances do I not. That
means if you're working from the center of a part, you must keep backlash in
mind as you work the far side of center, and the left hand portion of
center. If you use the same sequence routinely, it becomes second nature
and you don't really have to think about it.

I think I follow. It gets to another question, which is whether you
work in absolute or relative (rezeroing) the dials? It sounds as though
you do not rezero. In that case, a "lap counter" would be handy, but
the scale probably does pretty much that.


A note he Use your (high quality-buy a good one. I recommend a Starrett
C305R) 6" scale for every move. It will tell you if you've turned the
handle a turn too far, or even catch a mistake if you transpose some
numbers. Carefully applied, you can read a scale to .005" without much
difficulty. That will save you tons of trouble. It is especially
important when you're stepping off holes, where you have a multitude of
chances of making scrap. Use the scale until it becomes routine, just
like working with backlash. Touch your spotting drill or center drill to
the piece, and measure the dimension from your reference point. It takes a
moment to do, but far less time than making a new part. You'll improve
your quality immensely if you follow this advice.

No argument here; it makes sense. With the ER set, the changes involved
would not be all that time consuming, and it beats starting over.

Re the edge finder, I think I get it now, at least for edges. I flipped
the belts, and fiddled with a little more speed. I saw definite lateral
movement, and then realized that the motion was smaller than I was
expecting. Now that I know what to look for, I can see it at the speed
I was using before. I have yet to set the dials to check for
repeatability, but will try that next.

Bill