Was dead set against touch probes for 2 years, one job broke me

I always figured touch probes were just an extra expense and a crutch for guys who couldnt tram their machine right. Kept doing everything with edge finders and paper shims like I learned back in 2008. Then last month I had a job with 18 aluminum plates that all had to be located off a 0.005in tolerance bore. After the third plate I was 15 minutes in just on setup. Buddy down the street let me borrow his Haimer 3D Tester for a day. First plate with that thing took me 90 seconds to find center. I bought my own the next morning. Has anyone else gone from hating on a tool to swearing by it after one specific job?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret9929d agoMost Upvoted

Read a forum post where a guy called his indicator his third hand after that exact same Haimer...

lucas_johnson29d ago

@margaret99 nailed it with that third hand comment. That's exactly what it feels like. I think a lot of us have that one tool we swore we'd never touch until reality smacks us upside the head. It's like when I swore I'd never use a cordless impact for lug nuts because my Snap-on air gun was all I needed. Then a buddy's Milwaukee took off a stuck bolt that my air gun couldn't budge. Next day I had one on my truck. The funny thing is once you use it you can't imagine going back. It's like that with a lot of shop stuff. You build up this idea that the old way is the only way then one job shows you how much time you wasted. The Haimer is just a fancy example of the same pattern.