Making a metric thread dial indicator (TDI) easier to use

My new lathe has a metric leadscrew and the index markings on the dial are very busy. I don't like it, and I set out to make it easier to use.
Errors were made, tools broken and new tools needed to be made. In short, a typical project for me :)
FYI another TH-camr has presented an excellent discussion of DTIs here: • Threading Dial Indicat...

[@65cj55]

Good idea Alan, it must be nearly time for its first service mate.

[@badjuju6563]

I use 3.2mm tig tungsten ground to either a point on the end or a blade on the end to engrave. There is ample ends littered around the workshop with no other use.

[@MattysWorkshop]

Great job mate, cheers

[@alanshomeworkshop]

Thanks Matty. I would have liked the index marks to have greater visibility so I might have a play with a couple of ideas to improve this aspect.
Cheers, Alan.

[@theoutbackshed]

Nice video Alan.

[@MyLilMule]

Nice project. Should prove to be a useful modification. But this is why imperial is better than metric. ;) Bananas are so much easier. LOL!

[@alanshomeworkshop]

Thanks for your comment Greg.
Australia switched from the imperial to the metric system for weights and measures in the 1970's. I pre-date this change by 20 odd years so I am quite comfortable with both systems and, in my experience, they both have some undesirable points for the home machinist. I have never liked or used fractions - decimals are so much easier to manipulate. Conversely, I find thousandths of an inch are much better suited to lathe and milling work than hundredths of a millimeter - the latter being more in the domain of precision grinding machines. Working in two hundredths of a millimeter has never really sat comfortably with me. But I must confess that I have never tried working in bananas - perhaps its time I tried :)
Cheers, Alan.

[@erickendall2506]

I don't think I've used a TDI since I was an apprentice. I always just keep the half nuts engaged, wind out the cross slide (or in if it's an internal thread) and hit reverse.

[@alanshomeworkshop]

Well that works of course for every situation. However, I recently discovered that metric threads using a metric lead screw can be cut at any position on the lead screw if the pitch is a factor of leadscrew pitch. My leadscrew has a 6mm pitch so I can cut 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 pitch threads by opening and closing half nuts anywhere - very convenient :)
Cheers.

[@billshiff2060]

Just one more disadvantage of the metric system. A consequence of an arbitrary sized scaling and having only 2 factors 2&5.

[@secretsix6]

would it not been better to spin the engraving cutter with the mill like fly cutter??

[@alanshomeworkshop]

I did think about using a double sided milling cutter but chose to re-use a method that had worked for me previously. Not sure how well it would work to run a fly cutter on the end of a 100mm arbor with 10mm diameter. Seems a bit sketchy, but might work for very light engraving. I'll give it a try on my test piece.
Thanks for your suggestion.

[@secretsix6]

@@alanshomeworkshop two heads are better than one even if they are both sheep's heads lol