any substitute for a Noga indicator stand?

[unterhausen]

I have a project that requires 2, and I'm a little worried about spending the big bucks on it.

 

[precisionworks]

There are a lot of knock off copies, but none compare to the real thing. The reason is that the Noga arms lock because a tapered wedge is pulled through matching tapers located on rods inside each arm. This means accurate grinding & heat treating of all the mating parts.

Nice thing about a Noga is that they bring almost full price when sold in lightly used condition on eBay.

 

[saltytri]

On sale at MSC:

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNPDFF?PMCTLG=03&PMPAGE=1&cm_re=tpnv-_-splof-_-mwcat

 

[precisionworks]

Look on page 78 in the link above. MSC lists a number of Noga bases, some with greater magnetic pull than others. The 175# pull is the most popular, and works where lots of other mag bases will not stick.

 

[darkzero]

I looked on ebay for a while too & as Barry said they go for pretty close to new most of the time. I ended up just getting two of them from MSC on a sale day which came out to be a very good price for them. I'd say they're well worth it but then again I've never used a knock style of these before, only used the older style mag bases with the straight arms.

Tons of the clone style on ebay & LMS had a deal on some that had minor rust (not sure if they're still available).

 

[unterhausen]

thanks for the input everyone. Who is LMS?
my willpower is weakening....

 

[65535]

thanks for the input everyone. Who is LMS?
my willpower is weakening....

Local

Metal

Supply, Supplier, Store, Shop, Source

I've never heard a bad thing about Noga, you'll find they can be handy for more than just machining tasks too, you'd be surprised what you can come up with as a use for a strong articulating arm.

 

[precisionworks]

Noga's work well for two reasons - the magnet is strong enough to hold without movement, and one knob locks both arms into total rigidity. Lots of knock offs, but I have yet to see one that's even close to the real thing.

Enco has the DG61003 on sale for $86, and the MG61003 on sale for $108. Both those are shown here, with the DG having less length than the MG: http://www.noga.com/pdfFiles/afat.pdf

 

[G1K]

thanks for the input everyone. Who is LMS?
my willpower is weakening....

Little Machine Shop

http://littlemachineshop.com/

Ryan

 

[brickbat]

While I'm not gonna offer an opinion about which is a better value for you, I have used the knock-off Noga base, such as the $20 one from CDCO. Totally functional, not bad, but certainly not great, either...

 

[unterhausen]

I ended up ordering a DG61003 today, hopefully it will be here Monday. I got a chance to look at one of the Chinese clones, you can move the arm when it is supposed to be rigid. The Noga I looked at was much better. Life is too short for crummy tools, especially when the good version only costs $90.

The Noga I looked at had the fine adjustment pinned. I'm not sure if that part is going to be a weakness since I didn't get to use it.

 

[unterhausen]

when I asked this question, I was thinking there was a Swiss version of this stand, and there is: Fisso
Apparently they are $150 each though

 

[unterhausen]

starting to feel obsessive about this thing, but I'm glad you guys talked me into buying it. The cheap $14 w/indicator stand I was previously using is going to be a refrigerator magnet

 

[PEU]

Used many times TESA brand, they are swiss, very nice magnetic bases.