# Tailstock DRO



## kf4zht (Aug 2, 2017)

I'm working on a project that will involve center drilling to fairly critical depths. Finding the hash marks on the Tailstock are lacking for any real resolution. I've done the tape on the bit, but not the biggest fan

Has anyone done a Tailstock Dro? I was thinking a igaging 6" with a couple split rings to go on the base and shaft would be all I need. Could be easily removed, or connected to touchdro down the road if I buy x and y scales. 

Looking for design or inspiration pictures if anyone has them. Most important for me is keeping it out of the way. 

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk


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## mksj (Aug 2, 2017)

Many people just use a caliper that is chopped up and mounted. I opted for a 6" Igaging Absolute DRO on the tailstock, standard calipers can sometime loose their reference point. The reader is mounted on a plate with 4 adjustment screws to set the alignment, the two mounting bolts are behind the scale bar (the back plate mounting holes are slotted to allow some adjustment). Aesthetically I prefer not to have a clunky banjo ring with a bolt, so there is a set screw in the back which I subsequently switched out to a knob (3rd picture).  This allows easily changing the clamping point. The scale bar is held in by two set screws on the top and bottom allowing some alignment in the vertical  plane.


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## Hal H (Aug 2, 2017)

Do a Google search.
Some of the guys have great ideas.

Hal


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## RJSakowski (Aug 3, 2017)

I did something similar to mksj but mounted the scale on the rear of the tailstock and used Yuriy's Touch DRO for a readout. I lost no tailstock travel in the process.  Details are here:
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/another-lathe-dro-install.34106/


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## ezduzit (Aug 3, 2017)

Simply use a dial indicator.


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## RandyM (Aug 3, 2017)

Mark just added graduated dials to his. Here is his build.

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/tailstock-upgrade-on-my-sb-9-lathe.61023/


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## RJSakowski (Aug 3, 2017)

RandyM said:


> Mark just added graduated dials to his. Here is his build.
> 
> http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/tailstock-upgrade-on-my-sb-9-lathe.61023/


I did the same to my Atlas/Craftsman 6 x 18 years ago.  The biggest problem I had with it was counting turns when peck drilling.  The atlas tailstock also had a 16 tpi lead screw so my dial had 62.5 divisions.  To drill to a set depth, I would have to calculate how many whole 16th's I had in the desired depth and add the remainder in thousandths.Not impossible but annoyingly impractical.


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