Project #5 from Trip - Tailstock drilling depth indicator

So, frustrated with the welding issues I decided to take a break and chuck up some lathe work. I started planning out some binding posts and contactor screw posts for some tattoo machines. The problem was, I needed some precision holes, exacting depths, not something easily done with just the tailstock crank and markings.

I had seen something similar a while back on another site and grabbed a chunk of acrylic from a friend a while back, a leftover from a tabletop he made. it's about a half inch thick.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s...36D811D79F.JPG

I trimmed off the excess, chucked it up and drilled, then bored the hole to mount it over the tailstock.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-e...EF3020E484.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-N...9B16E1EB0A.JPG

Next is to cross drill the bottom, then slot from the bottom to the hole to allow it to clamp.

Once clamped, a dial indicator on a stand can be zeroed against the plate, allowing a precise depth to be drilled by reading the indicator instead of the rough markings on the top of the ram.

I've been a machinist for 18 years or so, and I think that's a brilliant idea! I have always used a 1" dial indicator on the saddle to get my z-depth right when cutting, but always relied on the scale on the tailstock feed handle to get my depths when drilling. I never thought of mounting an indicator up. I plan on hopefully adding a lathe to my tooling in the near future, and I will set something like this up right away when I do. Thanks for the idea!

By the way, this is my 75th post for the contest yay!!:D

Thanks! I wish I could say it was originally mine, but it's based on one I saw at some point when searching lathe add-on projects. The one I saw had a bracket of some sort tapped and threaded directly into the tailstock, but I'm not doing it that way at this time, I'm going to try it with the magnetic base. I am a bit concerned about the rigidity and may make a bracket to mount it to the tailstock lock bolt or something, without drilling into the tailstock.

You're lucky, tons of fair priced equipment up by you. I'm trying to figure out how to add a mill right now and not having much luck ($1000-$2000 for transport) Welder first, mill second, then next year I'm hoping to upgrade the lathe to something on the order of a 16" Southbend.

We're setting up a biz that will do small production runs, all in house, right now I just do some small fab and repair work, hopefully with more equipment I'll be able to expand that to provide more income to use as capital to grow the main business... you know how that goes :)

The pieces right now that I started this project for have a small screw on one end about 4mm in, about 2mm after that, there's a 3-4mm cross drilled hole, threaded, then from the other end another 3-4mm hole drilled and tapped to meet the first. things on that small scale were just too tough to do holding a machinist rule to the tailstock. A digital indicator would be a great addition, you could zero it and then just ignore the - and read the number.

Another thing I've seen you may like, and one I'll do once I have some extra time and "" is a small scale DRO on the cheap using a modified digital vernier caliper from HF attached to the carriage or compound slide. I may try to modify one of these for the tailstock indicator plate, not sure yet.

I was thinking, Hooda and I know what I'm talking about, but maybe not everyone does, so I snapped a quick pic of the setup of the indicator.

The base has a v-notch, and a switched magnet, so it can sit on the tailstock. The indicator sits against the piece I'm making. It would be set zeroed compressed, so it could extend out, essentially being read backwards. Placing it on the other side would open it up to getting hit by the chuck jaws.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B...5D577880F6.JPG

So, with the dial indicator, it looks real similar to what we do along the main saddle for z depth, so, like you said, we're "used to" dealing with this type of setup to get our depths. But after reading your last post, I think the use of a HF vernier as the main measuring tool has many advantages, one being that I've seen them on sale (warranty included) for about $10.00. Plus, the actual range going from 1 to 6 inches is an obvious advantage. Then there's direction. Properly mounted and modified, it will read depth in the correct direction. Awesome idea, (maybe marketable?). If only manual lathes were as popular as they once were.:(