Dial gauge for tire profile

Use case

This dial gauge can be used to measure any kind of groove within a flat surface. The main design goal was to have a tire profile gauge that is easy to read out. The measurement range is from 0 to 10mm depth.

Printing

The gear with the dial and the pusher should be printed with 100% infill in the uploaded orientation. They are very small anyway. The ground plate can be printed with less infill, but the screw dome for the M3 screw should be printed with 100% infill. At least for the ground plate I strongly recommend to use PETG, because it is flexible enough to allow the screw to be forced in and to hold it well over time. All parts in my picture are printed from Prusament PETG.

Assembly

All that is needed in addition to the printed parts is one M3x10 screw (M3x8 should work as well). Simply force the screw in until the gear can't be moved anymore. Then loosen the screw a tiny bit to give the gear a bit of play. There is a bit of resistance for the screw to go in, but that is intentional to make sure the screw stays in position once it is adjusted. 

Make sure that you have the pusher in the right position when you put on the gear, you cannot adjust it afterwards. Thanks to the upper and the lower stop pin on the dial, the pusher needs no additional securing, it can not fall out once the gear is screwed on.

Calibration

The Inkscape file with the 2D print file for the scale is part of this publication. By slightly moving the printout on the ground plat before you glue it on, you can calibrate your model. I recommend to use double sided tape to glue on the scale, but any other gluing method should work as well.

If you should not trust the pre-defined scale, you can print this calibration tool to check your dial gauge:
https://www.printables.com/model/161523

Please like it if you like it!

Your positive feedback is my reward for putting my spare time into designing these objects. I'd appreciate a thumbs-up if you like it.

May this model be helpful for you.
Happy printing!