Trav-A-Dial for bridgeport mill - $200 (hayward / castro valley, CA)

Not un-reasonable . Can't switch it to metric but still great on a lathe for us old timers who aren't interested in metric . Too easy to convert print .
 
I used them a lot, and liked them. I was given one of the metric/inch models in perfect condition after a friend died in '18. I sold it, bought a DRO and pocketed $150.
 
I still prefer the trav a dial over the DRO on a lathe being an old timer .
 
Forgive my ignorance but what does a Trav-a-dial do?
 
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The unit is solidly mounted to the lathe carriage or to the stationary X-Y saddle below the mill table. A roller, connected to the dial, runs along either the late's ways or the mill's table. The diameter of the roller is very precise, so the dial registers relative motion in thousandths of an inch. The dial face is zero-resettable, much like any dial indicator. One turn is 100 thousandths, or 1/10". A second dial (the silver colored one with the knurled knob) is geared to the first and registers tenths of an inch. It, too, is resettable.

Fundamentally, a trav-a-dial is the analog equivalent to a single axis DRO. And like a DRO, because it reads relative motion directly, it's immune from backlash. I used a mill with a trav-a-dial once or twice when I used the "student machine shop" in grad school, 'way back in the '70s. And I gotta agree with @mmcmdl and @MrWhoopee ... they're pretty handy to have.
 
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Thanks @hman, I appreciate the explanation!
 
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