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DRO for the cross slide for lathe.

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Brass_Machine:

--- Quote from: David Kirtley on January 21, 2012, 01:08:47 PM ---Just an inexpensive one from Harbor Freight (Cheep Chinese Importer if you are not from US)

--- End quote ---

Got one within walking distance to me  :ddb:

Jonny:
You will have to keep coolant and liquids off though.
Also limited to the actual travel of the dial guage same as them tyre tread depth guages raved about on here.

David Kirtley:
Well, since I put it on back in October, it really hasn't been a problem for cutting fluids. It is pretty far away. I was originally going to go with the depth gauges (Bought 3 of them to test with first). The reason I stuck with the bigger round one is that the readout was easier to read because of bigger readout and it was not rotated. The tire depth gauges also didn't have a spring to keep it up against the cross slide.

That said, I am glad it is not permanent as I don't really use it that often as it is more of a bother in most cases.

When changing from large workpieces to small, it needs to be manually moved along the bracket. It can also catch you unaware if you had been using it close and all of a sudden you are up against the stop or you move outside the range and lose contact with the plunger. You also have to go through the conversion of it being 2x the movement.

I can't honestly say that it is more effective than if I had just put a manual stop on the bracket instead. I still have to stop and take a regular measurement  to get a reference and then zero the gauge.  It really isn't that much trouble to measure manually to final diameter with a single piece and if I am doing several items, just running up to a manual stop and not having to watch the gauge and do the mental calculation for halving the measurement is less trouble.

stovebolt:
David, thanks for posting this.  I've had a 2" dial indicator mounted on  my mini lathe for a couple of years now, like you I used the follower rest mounting holes,  but I had it up close, the plunger rested on the compound base.    This is a much better idea and easier to make too.   

John-Som:

--- Quote --- The tire depth gauges also didn't have a spring to keep it up against the cross slide.
--- End quote ---

David

The need to fit a spring on the mini DRO (tyre depth gauge) is unnecessary as pointed out by Aussie Jim. A small rare earth magnet on the tip of the probe maintains the required contact. You'll find details of this at http://start-model-engineering.co.uk

John-Som

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