Marson's Safe Dial Pointer

A pointer you can add to your safe dial for manipulation. It's stiffer than a unwound paper-clip.

I made the ring for the Champion dial on my S&G 6741. Ring OD 36.3mm, ID 29.2mm. Pointer is 100mm long. I filed the end for a sharper point and darkened the tip with a marker. I stuck the ring on with double-sided tape.

This allows you to get much more consistent readings for contact points than you can from most dials. The actual numbers don't matter as long as they are self-consistent. The dial reads as 96.6? 96.5? 96.7? — somewhere in there, but on the ruler it reads as 11.85. Probably as 11.83 or so, but I found rounding to half-steps more than enough. You'll want the pointer as close as possible to the ruler without actually touching to reduce parallax. Try to keep your head in the same position when taking readings, and the closer you are to the pointer, the more small head position changes will affect the reading. It was probably overkill, but I usually did an entire run through the dial in one sitting; but if you can come back and view the pointer at the same angle, walking away in the middle of a run shouldn't be an issue.