Measure to an alignment wire to within 0.001 inch!

The Sensing Head has a contact point which is adjusted until it just touches the wire.  When it touches, an electrical circuit is completed and a red indicator light will come on.  Measurements can be made to within 0.001 inch.

New Design - Version 3

The Electronic Sensing Head has been redesigned:

• Two lights, so that contact with the wire can be seen from any angle
• the The size of the body has been reduced to allow access to tight spaces.
• the sensing head can be mounted on standard supports for dial gauges

The battery is contained in the head.

This sketch (showing the old design) shows a Sensing Head mounted on a dial gauge and magnetic base for measuring a line bar.

Tip:     Piano wire easily becomes kinked and tend to vibrate for a long time.   A better line is braided stainless steel wire, available as "Down-rigger" line from fishing shops.  Down-rigger wire does not coil up when the tension is taken off, and the braided construction improves damping and all but eliminates kinking.

Uses for the Sensing Head

Some of the many uses for the Sensing Head are:

• measure slabber head lead

• check the straightness of line bars

• check the straightness of carriage V-rails

• check the straightness of sharp chains

• check the straightness of canter bed plate splines

• measure bandmill cross-line (contact Bruce Lehmann for details)

• Set the face of the bottom wheel of a bandmill to be parallel to a wire.

• check carriage knee settings

Because the Sensing Head is used with a dial gauge, the time needed to buck-in a wire is reduced.  A few simple calculations, based on measurements at two points along the wire, accurately predicts how much one end of the wire must be moved.

With a sensing head you can:

• measure as accurately as with a laser
• build custom jigs suited to your equipment
• save time bucking-in wire