Lathe DRO from Digital Caliper .. 10 Bucks .. 6" caliper has range of entire 16" bed

[jjr2001]

I was in the process of completing my little steam/air engine and have quite a few
small parts to turn. I had previously added a graduated dial and handle to my
lead screw which works pretty good but it is much faster to use a DRO on the carriage.
Not only faster but easier to set distances to be turned. It does not interfere with
the threading dial or the tailstock. The only limitation is the 6" length of the caliper but
the caliper may be placed wherever the 6" of travel is needed. Most of my parts
are not 6" long.

So off to the shop. I used an older 10 buck HF digital caliper. Cut off the inside and
outside jaws with an abrasive grinder, drilled and counter sunk one hole in the main
body of the slider. Drilled one hole in the remaining part of the jaw for attachment
to the carriage. Drilled and tapped one 6-32 hole in the carriage right rear as shown.
One hole drilled in the carriage was all that was done to the lathe. The last part would be
the large sliding nut that fits a 10-32 allen cap screw which holds the main mount and
allows it to be positioned within the slots.

Made one aluminum angle for the main mount. This angle has two vertical slots
that line up with the holes for the rear chip shield that I previously removed and
mounted on a small frame that sits on the bench. That makes it much easier to
work with my taper attachment and clean up chips. It has two slots that the mounting
block for the caliper can be inserted into. This allows the 6" caliper to read the
entire 16" length of my mini lathe. The main mount may be located where most
convenient for the part being turned. Six inches of continuous travel is so much
better than using the 2" dial indicator that I had rigged up previously.

Here are a few pics of the result of this one evening project:

Cheers, JR