Magnetic Base Stand for Digital Dial Indicator, Three Segment, Industrial Strength with Quick Release

A solid magnetic gauge holder at a reasonable price. I did enlarge the gauge clamp hole slightly because I used an old Craftsman gauge with a thicker barrel.

I just used this to set up the backlash on a differential I am regearing. It held my Snap-on dial indicator solid.

I've been looking for a decent adjustable base for my dial indicators, and after reading all the reviews, I decided to get this one. For an item this simple, the main difference between the cheap and the pricey are the time spent on the fit and finish. If you're willing to go cheap, you'll most likely have to put in some work if you want it to match the performance of higher-priced items. You can use it right out of the box, but the adjustments feel a bit crunchy and the magnetic flat surfaces weren't as nice as they could've been. I took the time when first getting mine to tear it all down, deburr/file all the components that needed it, then used a flat surface/lapping plate with sandpaper to get all the surfaces perfectly flat and level before polishing and reassembling. Nobody has to go as far as I did, but it really brought out this cheap stand's potential. If you're on a budget and willing to spend 20 minutes with a file to turn this into what it can be, I honestly can't recommend it enough.

Usually I pay well over $100 each for my Noga mag base/articulating arm tools for machinist work. I bought this one for a much less critical use - to hold my Sony Handycam while filming using heavy equipment. I didn't expect much, but I have complaints about this at all. The magnetic base holds firmly. When the big knob is loosened, the arm moves freely and nicely into whatever position I want. When I tighten the knob, everything stays locked in place where I want it. This one seems like a bargain.

If you’re still using the old style indicator holder set it aside and but this style. So much easier to set up and much more articulation. As others have said, hole for indicator is too small but a quick trip to the drill press fixes that.

Great value, works just as expected and super easy to use. Much better than the mag base indicator holders with the solid rods. If you are contemplating getting one of these, just do it. I would like to get two more at some point.

Poor quality!

I got this magnetic base stand for my Non-digital (analog) Dial indicator (Amazon). It has a very strong magnetic hold down force which you can turn on and off very easily with the lever and when you have it in position you just lock it all down with the finger wheel. Solid. It looks like the Amazon description now says "The holding hole is 0.315inch (8mm), that is suitable for the digital metric dial gauge." Which is true; it's actually able to open to 8.07 mm or 0.318 inches and I can close down to as small as 7.5 mm. But I don't believe the Amazon description said the size it could accommodate at this time I ordered the item. I had thought that it would naturally accommodate my dial indicator's standard size stem which is 3/8 inch (0.375 inch or 9.525 mm). But no, that 1.5 mm difference in diameter is unacceptable to the magnetic base stand. There is no way around it – the device will not accept my dial indicator unless I drill out the opening – in which case it should fit a 3/8 inch stem, but only being able to close by about half a millimeter could not clamp down on an 8 mm diameter stem without a shim. A small redesign by the manufacturer to allow a wider range of openings should make both the metric and SAE folks happy. Minus two stars for lack of flexibility in accommodating different standards stem sizes. In Conclusion: not recommend unless you have an 8mm stem dial indicator.