Scrap Bin Tail Stock Depth measure

[garage nut]

Always wanted one of them, but no 12mm Ali lying around of DRO vernier, So what is in the scrap bin?

Piece of 32mm Pipe and some 10 x 10 sq bar.

After some welding, drilling, tapping and painting and it is done.



Setting to "0" is moving the piece of yellow tape.



Crude but a lot easier than counting turns.

[Crusty]

Useful without turning it into a grant project or work of art. That's my kind of solution.

[Toolmaker51]

Useful without turning it into a grant project or work of art. That's my kind of solution.

I need to change my name. How's "Grant Project" sound?

More related to the OP, a similar trick works on milling machine X and Y axis. The scale isn't required, just masking tape and ink pen.
On any particular work -count the turns just once and mark the tape accordingly, even closely spaced positions. ie .200 - .400 - .600 - .800 - 1.000 - 1.200 - 1.400 - and .037 Benefit not so obvious in this? Visualize 20 something inches.
That's where ink pen comes in, clean distinct tic-offs.
Just became markedly easier to re-attain coordinates, right to the .001! Without spending dollars or interpreting DRO instructions.

[Crusty]

Hey Frank do you use a marker on your milling vise too as a dry erase board to jot things down?

[Toolmaker51]

Frank probably does.
Fred definitely does.

See quip within rather than below. . .

[Frank S]

I don't know which Frank you are talking to but this one does

[Crusty]

Oops - didn't read the posts carefully enough. But to anyone named Frank I guess it still works.

[Altair]

Thanks garage nut! We've added your Tailstock Depth Gauge to our Lathe Accessories category,
as well as to your builder page: garage nut's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Tailstock Depth Gauge by garage nut

tags: depth gauge, tailstock