An elegant solution! I could never understand why people make a big deal about drilling holes in machines. We have them to use, not to re-sell! Cheers, Matthew
Agreed. I don't understand what's the big deal about making an improvement or modification to a utilitarian piece of equipment. It's just a VERY common old lathe, not an Egyptian artifact.
@@johncoops6897 I understand the need ,but it still hurts me to see holes drilled in Old Iron. I go out of my way to avoid doing anything to scar the beautiful relics.
@@terrycannon570 - they aren't relics. They aren't even rare. Would you repaint one if it showed evidence of use? Would you have the ways reground, to correct wear or damage? They're strong working machines designed to be used. It's almost criminal to keep them under plastic in glass cases in a museum, and never alter, repair or upgrade them.
I have this exactly same cheap caliper and did the exactly cleaning and tuning you did. If the zero is bugging you, that scale is glued in with non permanent adhesive. You can peel it out, taking care to not bend too much, glue it again in the new zero and cut the excess without problems (I did that). If you are afraid of damage, you can try to peel it starting at the bottom end to see how easy it goes.
Excellent idea Preso. Funny how some viewers are pedantic about what you do with your own equipment. Those Cheep Callipers are reasonably accurate, only problem is they chew through the batteries like nobody business. Even when off there still drawing a few milliamps of current. I added a small switch to mine to save me popping the batterie in and out all the time.
That is one of the drawbacks with that particular design. If you move the caliper it switches on so it must be on standby all the time. I believe that one of the things that Mitutoyo got right is their outstanding battery life. Good idea about the switch though. I'll have to look into that. Regards, Mark
Modify to use a AA battery pack. Batteries will last for years and years that way. Don't switch off power, or they will lose zero (not that it's a major hassle, since it's only one button press).
A small brass pin neatly installed is a small price to pay for such a great solution. I can see many uses for this addition to the Colchester 👍 Happy New Year Mark
The bulge in the casting with the hole running through it on the side of the Bridgeport head that you were unsure what it was for is called the indicator boss. When the Bridgeport was designed there were no magnetic bases to hold an indicator to the machine like there are today. That hole would hold a round rod that could be slid up and down and locked in position by the set screw with a dial indicator attached to the lower end to indicate your work. Just a little Bridgeport history on one of the most versatile machine tools ever invented😀
Bob, I believe the South Bend is very similar to the Hercus bench lathes that were made here. They were the most common lathe used in Queensland secondary schools. We had two Hercus ATM260 lathes at work and they had the same round top tailstock and a rounded over compound and cross slide. They were great lathes but not easy to modify. Regards, Mark
Hello Mark, An enjoyable episode. The tailstock digital readout looks like it will serve you well... Wishing you and your family all the best for 2022. Take care. Paul,,
Thanks Paul. I used the lathe today and it was so nice to be able to actually read how deep you are drilling. The analogue graduations on the tailstock quill are starting to get a bit hard for these tired old eyes to see. Regards, Mark
Mark, useful addition to the student. My use for the indicator boss is (with a suitable rod in place) as a stop for my boring and facing head while facing.. And as a stop for my Centering dial indicator. I like your LED ring lamp.. Perhaps clamp it to the quill, I don't know, but the 'stop' function is very handy.
I could just extend the mounting rod down further so that it would serve as a place to clamp an indicator but using it as a stop as well could be hard unless I were to make a telescoping section on the outside of the 5/16" rod. Regards, Mark
Creative attachment solution that seems to work very well. If you have the time, you could get all carried out and make (and CNC engrave) a new scale for the caliper, starting with -2 cm, to get your zero at the right spot. Lovely the place where you live! Happy New Year!
Another viewer has told me that you can heat that scale up and the adhesive will debond. You can then reattach it 20mm further down the stainless steel channel. I will give it a try. Regards, Mark
Hi Mark best of the season to you, if you want to reset the label on the caliper to zero in the new position warm it up with a heat gun remove label and replace in the coreect position, the peice you cut off the end can go to the front of the calliper the pcb underneith will be ok as it is firbre glass and not the FR4 board .
Ken, I am definitely going to try that. It's just me being pedantic but I would really like all three zero points to be the same, even though it's not really necessary. Regards, Mark
Thanks Chuck. I used that setup today to drill to a very specific depth and I hit the number I wanted no problemo. It's almost embarrassing to use such a cheap tool to get high accuracy. Regards, Preso
Thanks Preso, You could always change that brass pin for a zerk fitting and have an oil point for the the tailstock quill like on the Myford lathes. Cheers
Raymond, there are already two oil ports on the top of the tailstock casting but one of them is now covered by the DRO scale. It takes less than 30 seconds to remove the whole assembly though so it's not really a chore to remove when I do a maintenance lube on the machine. Regards, Mark
Mark: a suggestion for your “halo light” would be to extend the stem or rod that is used to mount your light to the mill. By extending the rod THROUGH the frame (downward) you now have a stud to attach a knuckle and a dial indicator for traming, sweeping a part, or maybe a mini camera (?). I too have a similar light and the extension of the rod makes quick work of mounting a DTI without removing the light.
Good idea, why didn't I think of that? Actually, another viewer has pointed out that the hole on the side of the quill housing was for mounting an indicator which was another thing I didn't know about the Bridgeport. Regards, Mark
Hi Mark, I did the same to my lathe but used the third channel on the DRO, it works well but i now have a cable attached to the tail stock. Hope you had a good Christmas and that 2022 will be a year to remember for all the good things. Cheers Dave.
Mark, I was surprised when it came out so uniform. I still have to work out why it got that way after I exported it from Corel Draw. I have been using QCad a bit lately and I think it is more suited to CAD CAM work than Corel. It's not exactly free though. It's still way cheaper than Corel though. Regards, Mark
Mark, nice job adding the DRO. Quality additions to your machine tools are always a nice thing. Now on to the piston. BTW, glad you mentioned JohnSL from Bellevue, due east of Seattle. I live in Bellevue. I will check out his channel. Keep up the great videos. They are very inspiring.
Thanks Jim. I am sure John will be happy to get a few more viewers. I did some preliminary work on the Titan piston today and I should be finished that part by the end of the week. Regards, Mark
Excellent build Mark---I did that a few years ago but ran into problems with the digital calipers---went through about 6 of them in about 8 years and gave up and started using mag based dial gauges..its reliable..-The problem I had with the digitals was moisture..I live on the south coast here in wa within 5 ks of the sea and its the humidity that stuffs them...Since I swapped to dial verniers everything smells of roses and I am happy....
I have three digital calipers. The oldest is a 250mm Sylvac and despite it looking a bit sad it's still accurate and reliable. It must be over 25 years old. I have another el-cheapo Chinese 250mm and it is less than three years old and it is slowly disintegrating and chews through batteries at a prodigious rate. The newest is a Mitutoyo Absolut and I only got that one last year but I love it. It was very expensive though. We used a lot of dial calipers at work but the students seemed to be able to destroy them very quickly. I think they used them as chipping hammers. I can imagine how humidity and salt air would play havoc with a digital though. Regards, Mark
Nicely executed Presso, very elegant. In my humble experience the analog scale is glued on, a few minutes with a heat gun and you might be able to recalibrate your scale to suit your goal. Cheers and happy new year wishes to you and yours and my fellow Pressonians in TH-camVille, John
Mark, I have been watching a few machinists lately, and one of the impressive young guys is Cutting Edge Engineering Australia Who can be found on youtube Another is Keith Fenner. Thanks for your own excellent channel
Bob, I'm way ahead of you. I have been watching Keith Fenner and the adventures of Buffy for some time and I am now subscribed to Curtis and CEE. Both do amazing work. Regards, Mark
Now thats a neat idea, I'll have to look at doing something similar on the old Colchester Triumph. Although I think I will angle the caliper around the tail stock a bit to get the display into a more easily read position.
Thanks Cliff. I did actually upgrade the caliper to a better quality iGaging unit a while ago. It has much better battery life. The cheapo caliper did work but the battery cover wasn't a good fit and sometimes it failed to turn on. Regards, Mark
Very well done. If the scale really bothers you, you can always remove the scale, which is usually glued on. If you wanted it, you could glue it back on in the place you need, and just cut off the excess hanging over the end. I’m just finishing a major rework of the tailstock on my South Bend FOURTEEN. Yup, that needed major surgery to not just add a DRO scale to connect to the X and Y scales on the readout, but to add a cam locking lever as yours, and other lathes have. I already agonized over drilling two 10:32 screw holes on the back of the bed. When I got to this I thought that either I would add something very useful, and machine, or abandon the idea. I feel that whoever gets the lathe after me will appreciate the advantages more than bemoan the “savaging” I’ve done to a classic machine.
Mel, we had two Sheraton lathes at the school where I used to teach with tailstocks similar to the South Bend and I always wondered why you needed a spanner to lock the tailstock. It seemed so unnecessary and counterproductive. I guess it could provide some extra clamping force but half the time the spanner was nowhere in sight when it was needed. Kids would carry it away and leave it on a bench or drop it in the bin! I will be having a go at repositioning the magnetic scale on the caliper. I have been told you just need to heat it up to soften the glue. I used the setup today and really didn't think about the analogue scale at all. Maybe it really isn't necessary unless you are a bit OCD like me. Regards, Mark
I can't believe that Colchester didn't have the foresight to put a DRO mount on the tailstock when they made that lathe, what were they thinking? 😀 Very nicely done!
Thanks. I'm glad I did the clamp MkII. KISS! I worked on a project with a teacher from Winnipeg back in 2009. Super nice guy and the project was an international success! Regards, Mark
Thanks Andrew. I messed around with indicators, tool makers clamps and all manner of blocks and jury rigged brackets and thought "you know what, there has to be an easier way" and there was. Regards, Mark
That style of cheap "Chinesium" calliper tends to have a power issue. On most of them the power button only turns off the screen, and leaves the electronics active. It's not a huge power draw, but it's enough that they can run cells flat in a couple of months (And the cells aren't really the cheapest thing in the world). There's one that I have as a depth gauge on my pillar drill, and every time I used the drill for a non precision through hole the gauge would detect the quills movement and wake up. Because of that I was CONSTANTLY swapping batteries in the damn thing. So in the end I soldered a couple of short wires directly onto the battery compartments contacts and connected them to a 2x AA battery box. I drilled a large hole in the end of the boxes body, and where the second battery would have gone, I fitted a latching push switch, then wired it up to take a single AA. The box is just held in place with some sticky backed Velcro tape so I can pull it off to make it easier when I need to change the battery. I only turn the gauge on when I need to drill too an acurate or consistent depth, and the AA battery hasn't needed replacing in the several years it's been fitted. The whole thing works well enough that I can't even remember the last time I actually used the quills depth stop when I've needed to repeatably drill holes to the same depth. I just zero the gauge at the bottom of the first hole and drill all the rest till the zeros come up again. It's near as damn it idiot proof....... and that's just how this idiot likes it. :D
Most of those caliper DO NOT have the quiescent power issue you mention. However they will certainly wake up every time they detect movement. The LR44 cells cost mere cents at the local $2 Variety store.
Well done. Another viewer has commented on the same issue. His solution was to fit an external switch to the internal battery. I will most likely do something like you have or fit a switch. I did have one of those same calipers in my pocket when I was teaching and I must say I don't remember changing the battery too often but you are correct that it is always on standby. I have a Mitutoyo Absolut caliper and it doesn't automatically go into sleep mode. I often find it still switched on from the day before. I believe Mitutoyo have done something really clever with the electronics to make the battery drain minimal. Regards, Mark
Hi Mark, I cut the jaws off the Vernier like yours and drilled with sharpened masonary bit and screwed the vernier to the Aluminium clamp for the Quill. Luckily my tailstock is flat so I epoxied a small block with a keyway which matches a round pin on the vernier, this allows for rotational backlash of the quill and still holding accuracy when drilling. I used a higher end vernier, in my opinion the cheap ones fail electronically in short time. Ceratainly a handy addition to the lathe. Happy New Year.
Good Show Mate: as usual. I hope the coming year is good to you. You machined a whole bunch more on this piece than I would have. I am lazy. It has served me well.
To be honest, the 3D printed quill clamp worked just as well as the machined aluminium one. However, today I was machining some really tough steel and the swarf was coming off red hot and the long curls would have welded themselves into that plastic part. My lathe doesn't have enough power to take cuts deep enough to break the chips. 😥 Regards, Mark
@@Preso58 I have found that plastic has limited uses in the shop. It is just not robust enough to stand up to what a lathe or a mill will dish out...in my experience. YMMV.
Thanks. I did actually replace the original (very cheap) caliper with a slightly better quality iGaging caliper a while ago. The old cheap one went through batteries very quickly and the battery contacts were less than reliable. The new one is great though. Regards, Mark
In America we have a saying that is especially close to my heart: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). I hope this advice helps you in your future endeavors.
Nice , I need to do that to my mini lathe. We have harbor freight here in the states. These digital calipers are on sell all the time from 14. Dollars to 20.
The quality of these calipers is pretty poor but given how cheap they are it's probably worth buying a couple. I guess at some point I will drop something on the tailstock or a long piece of swarf will get wrapped around it but I used the lathe quite a bit today and so far, so good. Regards, Preso
The Angel Eyes are perfect for Router spindles. I believe I bought the 80mm ID and is a wonderful upgrade to the dust shoe during tool change. But sadly it is hiding once the brush is then fastened.
I have had two of those things sitting in a box for nearly two years and once I made up my mind to use them it took less than a day to print the parts and make the backing ring. I don't think they are as bright as the commercially made solution but for close work it's great. I do notice a drop off in the light if I am using long tooling. Regards, Mark
You are a clever bloke Mark. Good to see that you got the CNC running again, nice work as always, and I love the repurposing of the "angel eyes" annular LED - probably the only time they have been actually used for anything worthwhile. Great work. Happy New Year to you and yours.
Very nicely done. As others have alluded, perhaps a 3D printed extension to the LH end of the fixed display with an aperture in it for the true zero. Maybe even fit it with a magnifying bullseye for tired eyes 😁
Great job there. I might make one for my Colchester Master. Re analog scale, if a 20mm 3d printed block were attached to the readout end, you could then eyeball “0”. Thanks
I have a cunning plan to reposition the magnetic scale. Hopefully it will come up in a future video. I can't take credit though, the fix was suggested by a viewer. Regards, Mark
I fear you will be going to have trouble with the fact that the quilt of the tailstock has some rotational play. Some years ago I made a similar modification to my affordable lathe (which had even more play in rotation). My digital readout did not survive long! After a few months of use it stopped working. You really need something that allows the quilt to rotate a bit without putting tangential force on the caliper. Randy Richard made one of these, coupling the caliper with a magnet to the quilt. Perfect solution actually. I built something similar for my tailstock and I using it for some years now without a single problem.
Hello Mark, I see people freaking out about the quill rotation. It's just overconstrained -- as engineers say, nothing else. All it needs is elongating the holes into slots, so that it would float with the quill rotation, and locate only where it needs, in the X direction. For those interested: it's the same idea when you see rollers under bridges -- those only constrain movement sideways and vertically, while still maintaining freedom of motion lengthwise. Otherwise the structure would buckle under its own stresses, if it were fixed hard.
You should have gathered all of the cast iron dust from your hole in the tailstock and then when you want to remove the DRO you can refill the hole. No, just joking, have a Happy New Year! I want to see that engine running.
Thanks. For all those people that doubted it was going to stand up to day to day use, it's still working and I use it often. Saves scrapping parts from drilling too deep. Regards, Mark
Just from my TH-cam "education". I've seen that hole on the Bridgeport being used to hold a rod for a coaxial indicator to bear against so it doesn't spin when the spindle turns.
Nice! I think I will have to steal that idea from you, Mark. ;-) I live 10 minutes north of Bellevue and I will be checking out John SLs videos also Thanks for the heads up.
Good solution to your need. I have one thought you may consider. Drill through the brass fitting as well as through the casting so it can be both and upgrade to machine lube and a viable reason for it to be there. Should the scale not be Tailstock a small plastic or similar cover will stop ingress of unwanted materials. Just my thoughts, John, Australia. PS Happy New Year to All.
I will be addressing that issue in my next video. I actually used the DRO today to bore a hole to a very specific depth and it worked perfectly. Even I was surprised! Regards, Mark
I don't expect that caliper to last very long. The main issue is battery life. They are on standby power the whole time unless you remove the battery when you aren't using it. If it does prove to be useful I will probably upgrade to something better quality. Regards, Mark
I think that fusion 360 is something you might find useful there is some pain in learning how to use it but it is worth it your other problem is backlash in doing a curve
I do have an education licence for Fusion 360. I use it occasionally. The CNC capabilities are way more complex than I need on most occasions. I like using CamBam because of it's simplicity but it doesn't have very good CAD tools. I may have inadvertently solved the issue of DXF export from Corel Draw. I machined some parts today with arc segments and they were fine. I still don't know how I fixed it though. Regards, Mark
Hi Mark, can you please give use a video on the fitting of the QCTP you have on your lathe and also any feed back you might have on the brand. Cheers and have a great New Year
Mark- the downside to the inexpensive calipers that I have found is they don’t shut down when not in use. I take the battery out of mine, and use dial calipers mostly, but it’s just seconds to replace the battery when I need. I know they are relatively inexpensive, but I am located miles from a store and you know that it will fail when nothing is open! Just a heads up.
Quite a few people have mentioned the same issue. One enterprising maker installed a small external switch so that the whole unit could be isolated from the battery when not in use. This might be the best solution for me. I am still looking into 3D printing some sort of extra compartment so the switch can be installed neatly. Regards, Mark
must be nice to have mill...............Ive seen other versions of this setup that seem to work good, the TS was square so much easier to dream up a mount////////////////indeed breaks my heart to see some funky holes in that T/S
I love the retro look and rounded curves of Colchesters from that era but it certainly makes adding accessories "challenging". I knew some would be upset by adding that hole! Ah well, lets draw a line under it and move on. 😁 Regards, Mark
You can also buy the DRO head separately along with the scales for not much more. Another solution is to use the even cheaper digital tire thread gauges, which doesn't have a jaw. Btw, you could make the brass pin look like an oil port.
I did consider one of those DRO scales with a remote LCD display. The display is normally magnetic and it can be mounted somewhere on the machine but I wanted to avoid having another wire dangling around the back of the machine. The type with that you mention was about double the cost of the el cheapo caliper that I ended up getting but I knew it was cheap and it may not last. I will review it in a month or so and let people know how it has panned out. Regards, Mark
Excellent bit of work. I wonder if it would be possible, rather than more holes in the back of the read head, to make it a slot? A spring loaded slot acting on the pin would allow the quill to retract without damaging the read head.
A slot would work but that stainless was quite hard. I used a cobalt drill bit and had to take it quite slow with plenty of coolant. That was one thing the Chinese manufacturer didn't skimp on. I guess a solid carbide milling cutter could do it though. Regards, Mark
Brilliant piece of engineering, thanks Mark. Though I do have one question. It seems to be a minor point, but how do you mitigate the slight rotation of the quill. I’m quite sure that it will eventually cause excessive wear on the sliding scale, if not the read head itself. Perhaps the hole in the read head might be elongated in the “y” direction to allow the whole unit to move axially. This is by no means a criticism, but having taken such care in your measurements, it would be a shame to have to continually replace the reader over the years. Thanks for another really useful and informative video.
Yep, there is a lot of slop in the slot of the quill. That rotation (every time you unlock the quill) will tear that caliper to pieces VERY quickly. Watch how much at 25:04
Tom, I did realise that the radial backlash was there but I locked everything in place with the barrel of the quill held hard against the direction of rotation when the quill is under load. I didn't show it for the camera but I spent a bit of time setting it up later. I will do a follow up at a later stage and let people know how it has stood up to real world operation. Regards, Mark
Nicely done, Mark, I have the same rounded surface problem on my Hercus 260, will give your solution a bash, AvE did a vid on the rip off Mitutoyo digital verniers, he came away impressed with the accuracy, might invest in a set for this. Quick question regarding using the wobbler as an edge finder, do you call it done, as soon as the wiggler goes off?, I've been using a Starrett centre finder, but find I get different readings on the DRO each time, and just average it. Happy New Year, and thanks, Scott.
Scott, I recall watching that video that AvE did on the knockoff Mitutoyo. He didn't pull any punches and when I saw the innards of the cheap one I bought it reminded me of what he found inside the counterfeit one he bought. We had two of those Hercus ATM260's at work and I used them just about every weekend when I was building a model locomotive (before I had kids and before I had my own lathe). They are excellent machines. I like that wiggler because it can be swung up out of the way when you traverse over the top of a part. I find them to be a bit more sensitive than the Starrett type, but a dial test indicator is probably the best solution. Regards, Mark
Very nice Mark, Might have to do this with my Chipmaster as the tailstocks are identical I believe. Although my tailstock looks like cr*p compared to yours. Happy new year! -Dan
Happy New Year from VA USA. -27 C is the hi for tomorrow here. So for living in the south, huh…
An elegant solution! I could never understand why people make a big deal about drilling holes in machines. We have them to use, not to re-sell! Cheers, Matthew
Agreed. I don't understand what's the big deal about making an improvement or modification to a utilitarian piece of equipment. It's just a VERY common old lathe, not an Egyptian artifact.
@@johncoops6897 I understand the need ,but it still hurts me to see holes drilled in Old Iron. I go out of my way to avoid doing anything to scar the beautiful relics.
@@terrycannon570 - they aren't relics. They aren't even rare. Would you repaint one if it showed evidence of use? Would you have the ways reground, to correct wear or damage?
They're strong working machines designed to be used. It's almost criminal to keep them under plastic in glass cases in a museum, and never alter, repair or upgrade them.
@@johncoops6897 Mustard or Mayo?
@@terrycannon570 - what is that random comment supposed to mean? Do you write English, or are those just 2 words you saw online somewhere?
I have this exactly same cheap caliper and did the exactly cleaning and tuning you did.
If the zero is bugging you, that scale is glued in with non permanent adhesive. You can peel it out, taking care to not bend too much, glue it again in the new zero and cut the excess without problems (I did that). If you are afraid of damage, you can try to peel it starting at the bottom end to see how easy it goes.
Excellent idea Preso. Funny how some viewers are pedantic about what you do with your own equipment. Those Cheep Callipers are reasonably accurate, only problem is they chew through the batteries like nobody business. Even when off there still drawing a few milliamps of current. I added a small switch to mine to save me popping the batterie in and out all the time.
That is one of the drawbacks with that particular design. If you move the caliper it switches on so it must be on standby all the time. I believe that one of the things that Mitutoyo got right is their outstanding battery life. Good idea about the switch though. I'll have to look into that.
Regards,
Mark
Modify to use a AA battery pack. Batteries will last for years and years that way. Don't switch off power, or they will lose zero (not that it's a major hassle, since it's only one button press).
Thanks Mark another excellent creation. You have a beautiful place and I always enjoy seeing the wildlife.
A small brass pin neatly installed is a small price to pay for such a great solution. I can see many uses for this addition to the Colchester 👍 Happy New Year Mark
Years from now, someone will wonder what that brass pin was for.
The benefits of the DRO far outweigh the small hole in the tail stock. I like it.
The bulge in the casting with the hole running through it on the side of the Bridgeport head that you were unsure what it was for is called the indicator boss. When the Bridgeport was designed there were no magnetic bases to hold an indicator to the machine like there are today. That hole would hold a round rod that could be slid up and down and locked in position by the set screw with a dial indicator attached to the lower end to indicate your work. Just a little Bridgeport history on one of the most versatile machine tools ever invented😀
OK. Thanks for that. I notice that some of the Bridgeport clones don't have that feature.
Regards,
Mark
Mark, that is a very nice solution to a PITA irritation that I share with my old South Bend. I may have to implement a version of your idea!
Bob, I believe the South Bend is very similar to the Hercus bench lathes that were made here. They were the most common lathe used in Queensland secondary schools. We had two Hercus ATM260 lathes at work and they had the same round top tailstock and a rounded over compound and cross slide. They were great lathes but not easy to modify.
Regards,
Mark
Hello Mark,
An enjoyable episode. The tailstock digital readout looks like it will serve you well... Wishing you and your family all the best for 2022.
Take care.
Paul,,
Thanks Paul. I used the lathe today and it was so nice to be able to actually read how deep you are drilling. The analogue graduations on the tailstock quill are starting to get a bit hard for these tired old eyes to see.
Regards,
Mark
Mark, useful addition to the student.
My use for the indicator boss is (with a suitable rod in place) as a stop for my boring and facing head while facing..
And as a stop for my Centering dial indicator.
I like your LED ring lamp..
Perhaps clamp it to the quill, I don't know, but the 'stop' function is very handy.
I could just extend the mounting rod down further so that it would serve as a place to clamp an indicator but using it as a stop as well could be hard unless I were to make a telescoping section on the outside of the 5/16" rod.
Regards,
Mark
Creative attachment solution that seems to work very well. If you have the time, you could get all carried out and make (and CNC engrave) a new scale for the caliper, starting with -2 cm, to get your zero at the right spot. Lovely the place where you live!
Happy New Year!
Another viewer has told me that you can heat that scale up and the adhesive will debond. You can then reattach it 20mm further down the stainless steel channel. I will give it a try.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Yep, it's self sticking and could be an alternative, but it's a bit delicate. Good luck 🙂
José
Hi Mark best of the season to you,
if you want to reset the label on the caliper to zero in the new position warm it up with a heat gun remove label and replace in the coreect position, the peice you cut off the end can go to the front of the calliper the pcb underneith will be ok as it is firbre glass and not the FR4 board .
Ken, I am definitely going to try that. It's just me being pedantic but I would really like all three zero points to be the same, even though it's not really necessary.
Regards,
Mark
Very nice discussion/build, nice that the quill has the extra stickout
Thanks Chuck. I used that setup today to drill to a very specific depth and I hit the number I wanted no problemo. It's almost embarrassing to use such a cheap tool to get high accuracy.
Regards,
Preso
Thanks Preso,
You could always change that brass pin for a zerk fitting and have an oil point for the the tailstock quill like on the Myford lathes.
Cheers
Raymond, there are already two oil ports on the top of the tailstock casting but one of them is now covered by the DRO scale. It takes less than 30 seconds to remove the whole assembly though so it's not really a chore to remove when I do a maintenance lube on the machine.
Regards,
Mark
Mark: a suggestion for your “halo light” would be to extend the stem or rod that is used to mount your light to the mill. By extending the rod THROUGH the frame (downward) you now have a stud to attach a knuckle and a dial indicator for traming, sweeping a part, or maybe a mini camera (?). I too have a similar light and the extension of the rod makes quick work of mounting a DTI without removing the light.
Good idea, why didn't I think of that? Actually, another viewer has pointed out that the hole on the side of the quill housing was for mounting an indicator which was another thing I didn't know about the Bridgeport.
Regards,
Mark
Now that is a very good idea to make accurate drilling depths easy, will be adding to my lathe, thank you for the idea.
Nice! I need to add one to my tailstock. And thanks for the shout out. I'm still waiting for your sticker to arrive.
Hi Mark, I did the same to my lathe but used the third channel on the DRO, it works well but i now have a cable attached to the tail stock. Hope you had a good Christmas and that 2022 will be a year to remember for all the good things. Cheers Dave.
Nice Video! Happy New year Mark! Hope all fine, and you had a merry Christmas! Stay as you are!
Chris
Thank you for a year of interesting videos. Best for the new year.
The curve with the flats does look pretty cool. People will wonder how you managed to do it so smoothly.
Mark from Melbourne Australia
Mark, I was surprised when it came out so uniform. I still have to work out why it got that way after I exported it from Corel Draw. I have been using QCad a bit lately and I think it is more suited to CAD CAM work than Corel. It's not exactly free though. It's still way cheaper than Corel though.
Regards,
Mark
G'day Presso. A simple and elegant solution, well done. Cheers Peter
Mark, nice job adding the DRO. Quality additions to your machine tools are always a nice thing. Now on to the piston. BTW, glad you mentioned JohnSL from Bellevue, due east of Seattle. I live in Bellevue. I will check out his channel. Keep up the great videos. They are very inspiring.
Thanks Jim. I am sure John will be happy to get a few more viewers. I did some preliminary work on the Titan piston today and I should be finished that part by the end of the week.
Regards,
Mark
Excellent build Mark---I did that a few years ago but ran into problems with the digital calipers---went through about 6 of them in about 8 years and gave up and started using mag based dial gauges..its reliable..-The problem I had with the digitals was moisture..I live on the south coast here in wa within 5 ks of the sea and its the humidity that stuffs them...Since I swapped to dial verniers everything smells of roses and I am happy....
I have three digital calipers. The oldest is a 250mm Sylvac and despite it looking a bit sad it's still accurate and reliable. It must be over 25 years old. I have another el-cheapo Chinese 250mm and it is less than three years old and it is slowly disintegrating and chews through batteries at a prodigious rate. The newest is a Mitutoyo Absolut and I only got that one last year but I love it. It was very expensive though. We used a lot of dial calipers at work but the students seemed to be able to destroy them very quickly. I think they used them as chipping hammers. I can imagine how humidity and salt air would play havoc with a digital though.
Regards,
Mark
Nicely executed Presso, very elegant.
In my humble experience the analog scale is glued on, a few minutes with a heat gun and you might be able to recalibrate your scale to suit your goal.
Cheers and happy new year wishes to you and yours and my fellow Pressonians in TH-camVille,
John
I have the exactly cheap caliper from ebay. In my case I did that without heat. The glue is a soft non permanent adhesive.
Mark, I have been watching a few machinists lately, and one of the impressive young guys is Cutting Edge Engineering Australia
Who can be found on youtube
Another is Keith Fenner.
Thanks for your own excellent channel
Bob, I'm way ahead of you. I have been watching Keith Fenner and the adventures of Buffy for some time and I am now subscribed to Curtis and CEE. Both do amazing work.
Regards,
Mark
Mark, an interesting project as usual. I think you have stirred me into action to make one for my lathe! All the best for 2022. Mal
Now thats a neat idea, I'll have to look at doing something similar on the old Colchester Triumph. Although I think I will angle the caliper around the tail stock a bit to get the display into a more easily read position.
Very elegant well thought out design. Cliff
Thanks Cliff. I did actually upgrade the caliper to a better quality iGaging unit a while ago. It has much better battery life. The cheapo caliper did work but the battery cover wasn't a good fit and sometimes it failed to turn on.
Regards,
Mark
Very well done. If the scale really bothers you, you can always remove the scale, which is usually glued on. If you wanted it, you could glue it back on in the place you need, and just cut off the excess hanging over the end.
I’m just finishing a major rework of the tailstock on my South Bend FOURTEEN. Yup, that needed major surgery to not just add a DRO scale to connect to the X and Y scales on the readout, but to add a cam locking lever as yours, and other lathes have. I already agonized over drilling two 10:32 screw holes on the back of the bed. When I got to this I thought that either I would add something very useful, and machine, or abandon the idea. I feel that whoever gets the lathe after me will appreciate the advantages more than bemoan the “savaging” I’ve done to a classic machine.
Mel, we had two Sheraton lathes at the school where I used to teach with tailstocks similar to the South Bend and I always wondered why you needed a spanner to lock the tailstock. It seemed so unnecessary and counterproductive. I guess it could provide some extra clamping force but half the time the spanner was nowhere in sight when it was needed. Kids would carry it away and leave it on a bench or drop it in the bin! I will be having a go at repositioning the magnetic scale on the caliper. I have been told you just need to heat it up to soften the glue. I used the setup today and really didn't think about the analogue scale at all. Maybe it really isn't necessary unless you are a bit OCD like me.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 well, most all lathes use a wrench. The lever was a newer development.
Thanks for sharing another clever solution. Happy new year!
I'd love to have this type of setup on my mini lathe! Looks super functional!
Great Design! May I suggest adding a pointer for the analog scale. Keep up the great work. Happy New Year!
I can't believe that Colchester didn't have the foresight to put a DRO mount on the tailstock when they made that lathe, what were they thinking? 😀 Very nicely done!
Guess the lathe is too old.
@@kevgermany /WHOOSH
the lathe was designed in 1950
Nice job Mark. Well presented as always! I love the duel purpose clamp. Cheers from Winnipeg Canada.
Thanks. I'm glad I did the clamp MkII. KISS! I worked on a project with a teacher from Winnipeg back in 2009. Super nice guy and the project was an international success!
Regards,
Mark
What an elegant solution. Well done.
That indicator holder looks incredible. Well done especially with the anodizing.
Best wishes to you and Happy New Years.
cheers for the tip on the "angel eyes" got a set of those on my wish list!
Wishing you and yours a healthy and safe New Year. Thanks for sharing your projects with us. Looking forward to more great content in 2022. Cheers
Thanks Yves. More to come for the New Year I hope.
Regards,
Mark
One of, if not the most elegant adoption of a caliper as a tailstock DRO. Well done Mark. Happy New Year to you. Andrew 👏👏👍😀
Thanks Andrew. I messed around with indicators, tool makers clamps and all manner of blocks and jury rigged brackets and thought "you know what, there has to be an easier way" and there was.
Regards,
Mark
That style of cheap "Chinesium" calliper tends to have a power issue. On most of them the power button only turns off the screen, and leaves the electronics active. It's not a huge power draw, but it's enough that they can run cells flat in a couple of months (And the cells aren't really the cheapest thing in the world).
There's one that I have as a depth gauge on my pillar drill, and every time I used the drill for a non precision through hole the gauge would detect the quills movement and wake up. Because of that I was CONSTANTLY swapping batteries in the damn thing. So in the end I soldered a couple of short wires directly onto the battery compartments contacts and connected them to a 2x AA battery box. I drilled a large hole in the end of the boxes body, and where the second battery would have gone, I fitted a latching push switch, then wired it up to take a single AA. The box is just held in place with some sticky backed Velcro tape so I can pull it off to make it easier when I need to change the battery.
I only turn the gauge on when I need to drill too an acurate or consistent depth, and the AA battery hasn't needed replacing in the several years it's been fitted. The whole thing works well enough that I can't even remember the last time I actually used the quills depth stop when I've needed to repeatably drill holes to the same depth. I just zero the gauge at the bottom of the first hole and drill all the rest till the zeros come up again. It's near as damn it idiot proof....... and that's just how this idiot likes it. :D
Most of those caliper DO NOT have the quiescent power issue you mention. However they will certainly wake up every time they detect movement. The LR44 cells cost mere cents at the local $2 Variety store.
Well done. Another viewer has commented on the same issue. His solution was to fit an external switch to the internal battery. I will most likely do something like you have or fit a switch. I did have one of those same calipers in my pocket when I was teaching and I must say I don't remember changing the battery too often but you are correct that it is always on standby. I have a Mitutoyo Absolut caliper and it doesn't automatically go into sleep mode. I often find it still switched on from the day before. I believe Mitutoyo have done something really clever with the electronics to make the battery drain minimal.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark, I cut the jaws off the Vernier like yours and drilled with sharpened masonary bit and screwed the vernier to the Aluminium clamp for the Quill.
Luckily my tailstock is flat so I epoxied a small block with a keyway which matches a round pin on the vernier, this allows for rotational backlash of the quill and still holding accuracy when drilling.
I used a higher end vernier, in my opinion the cheap ones fail electronically in short time.
Ceratainly a handy addition to the lathe.
Happy New Year.
Hey Mark, love your video, love the led light you made. All the best for the new year, mate. Cheers Ben.
Good Show Mate: as usual. I hope the coming year is good to you. You machined a whole bunch more on this piece than I would have. I am lazy. It has served me well.
To be honest, the 3D printed quill clamp worked just as well as the machined aluminium one. However, today I was machining some really tough steel and the swarf was coming off red hot and the long curls would have welded themselves into that plastic part. My lathe doesn't have enough power to take cuts deep enough to break the chips. 😥
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 I have found that plastic has limited uses in the shop. It is just not robust enough to stand up to what a lathe or a mill will dish out...in my experience. YMMV.
Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year to you and your family.
AHH HAH! I knew it! @ 25:29 the live studio reaction proves that Mark IS filming in front of a live studio audience. I knew it!🤠❤⚒
That's it but the live audience reaction when I started to charge admission was "confronting". 😁
Regards,
Mark
good design , good machining, good video production thank you
Thanks. I did actually replace the original (very cheap) caliper with a slightly better quality iGaging caliper a while ago. The old cheap one went through batteries very quickly and the battery contacts were less than reliable. The new one is great though.
Regards,
Mark
Nice mod Preso and a very entertaining video. Thanks and happy new year!
In America we have a saying that is especially close to my heart: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). I hope this advice helps you in your future endeavors.
Thanks, we used that acronym quite often when I was teaching design to middle school kids. Good advice to all.
Regards,
Mark
LOOKING FORWARD TO 2022 WITH YOU
Thanks. Good thing about Covid is that I have an excuse to stay hunkered down in my workshop away from the germs!
Regards,
Mark
NICE WORK MARK, LIKE IT A LOT. REGARDS RICHARD AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Nice , I need to do that to my mini lathe. We have harbor freight here in the states. These digital calipers are on sell all the time from 14. Dollars to 20.
The quality of these calipers is pretty poor but given how cheap they are it's probably worth buying a couple. I guess at some point I will drop something on the tailstock or a long piece of swarf will get wrapped around it but I used the lathe quite a bit today and so far, so good.
Regards,
Preso
The Angel Eyes are perfect for Router spindles. I believe I bought the 80mm ID and is a wonderful upgrade to the dust shoe during tool change. But sadly it is hiding once the brush is then fastened.
I have had two of those things sitting in a box for nearly two years and once I made up my mind to use them it took less than a day to print the parts and make the backing ring. I don't think they are as bright as the commercially made solution but for close work it's great. I do notice a drop off in the light if I am using long tooling.
Regards,
Mark
You are a clever bloke Mark. Good to see that you got the CNC running again, nice work as always, and I love the repurposing of the "angel eyes" annular LED - probably the only time they have been actually used for anything worthwhile.
Great work.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
Nice project! 👍🏼
Nicely exececuted solution with the usual finesse and style - Happy New Year and thanks for your content.
Absolutely brilliant! Thanks, Mark for sharing.
Well done as usual. That should be very handy.
Love it! Doing that tomorrow now!! God Bless from Sydney
I definitely need to make one of these for my lathe, maybe even one for each axis!
Very nicely done. As others have alluded, perhaps a 3D printed extension to the LH end of the fixed display with an aperture in it for the true zero. Maybe even fit it with a magnifying bullseye for tired eyes 😁
Very nice. I think I'll have to do the same. Happy new year to you also!
Great job there. I might make one for my Colchester Master. Re analog scale, if a 20mm 3d printed block were attached to the readout end, you could then eyeball “0”. Thanks
I have a cunning plan to reposition the magnetic scale. Hopefully it will come up in a future video. I can't take credit though, the fix was suggested by a viewer.
Regards,
Mark
I fear you will be going to have trouble with the fact that the quilt of the tailstock has some rotational play. Some years ago I made a similar modification to my affordable lathe (which had even more play in rotation). My digital readout did not survive long! After a few months of use it stopped working. You really need something that allows the quilt to rotate a bit without putting tangential force on the caliper. Randy Richard made one of these, coupling the caliper with a magnet to the quilt. Perfect solution actually. I built something similar for my tailstock and I using it for some years now without a single problem.
Yep 100% correct - everyone can see that rotational play at 25:04
I have addressed this issue in some of the other comments. I think it will work out but I will do a follow up later.
Regards,
Mark
Hello Mark,
I see people freaking out about the quill rotation.
It's just overconstrained -- as engineers say, nothing else.
All it needs is elongating the holes into slots, so that it would float with the quill rotation, and locate only where it needs, in the X direction.
For those interested: it's the same idea when you see rollers under bridges -- those only constrain movement sideways and vertically, while still maintaining freedom of motion lengthwise. Otherwise the structure would buckle under its own stresses, if it were fixed hard.
You should have gathered all of the cast iron dust from your hole in the tailstock and then when you want to remove the DRO you can refill the hole. No, just joking, have a Happy New Year! I want to see that engine running.
Very nice job. Way to go Mark
Great idea :) Happy New Year to you and yours.
Very elegant Mark, thanks for sharing, may have to be copied over here in Canada ;)
Looks good. Very sharp idea.
Such a great idea very well executed. Looking forward to 2022 in the workshop. Happy New Year! or as we say here С новым годом!
С новым годом! I had to run that by Google translate! Happy new years to you too!
Regards,
Mark
Lovely job Mark 👍
Thanks. For all those people that doubted it was going to stand up to day to day use, it's still working and I use it often. Saves scrapping parts from drilling too deep.
Regards,
Mark
Nice work Mark will do likewise
Just from my TH-cam "education". I've seen that hole on the Bridgeport being used to hold a rod for a coaxial indicator to bear against so it doesn't spin when the spindle turns.
Happy New Year Presso.
Nice! I think I will have to steal that idea from you, Mark. ;-) I live 10 minutes north of Bellevue and I will be checking out John SLs videos also Thanks for the heads up.
John will be happy to hear he has another viewer.
Regards,
Mark
Good solution to your need.
I have one thought you may consider. Drill through the brass fitting as well as through the casting so it can be both and upgrade to machine lube and a viable reason for it to be there. Should the scale not be Tailstock a small plastic or similar cover will stop ingress of unwanted materials.
Just my thoughts, John, Australia. PS Happy New Year to All.
Beauty. Having “20” as the only thing separating analog from digital, there just is no reason not to go for it.
Very nice set up...
I was wondering how you compensated for the slight rotation motion of the tail stock spindle in your mount? thanks
I will be addressing that issue in my next video. I actually used the DRO today to bore a hole to a very specific depth and it worked perfectly. Even I was surprised!
Regards,
Mark
Happy New Year.
Really nice upgrade. Only thing is, I have the same digital caliper. And it just went from functional to crap. Maybe I'll make do. Or strip and clean.
I don't expect that caliper to last very long. The main issue is battery life. They are on standby power the whole time unless you remove the battery when you aren't using it. If it does prove to be useful I will probably upgrade to something better quality.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 yes, I always remove the battery. My reply was meant to be tongue I cheek, sorry.
I think that fusion 360 is something you might find useful there is some pain in learning how to use it but it is worth it your other problem is backlash in doing a curve
I do have an education licence for Fusion 360. I use it occasionally. The CNC capabilities are way more complex than I need on most occasions. I like using CamBam because of it's simplicity but it doesn't have very good CAD tools. I may have inadvertently solved the issue of DXF export from Corel Draw. I machined some parts today with arc segments and they were fine. I still don't know how I fixed it though.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark, can you please give use a video on the fitting of the QCTP you have on your lathe and also any feed back you might have on the brand. Cheers and have a great New Year
Nice that will bee my next project. Thanks'
Mark- the downside to the inexpensive calipers that I have found is they don’t shut down when not in use. I take the battery out of mine, and use dial calipers mostly, but it’s just seconds to replace the battery when I need. I know they are relatively inexpensive, but I am located miles from a store and you know that it will fail when nothing is open! Just a heads up.
Quite a few people have mentioned the same issue. One enterprising maker installed a small external switch so that the whole unit could be isolated from the battery when not in use. This might be the best solution for me. I am still looking into 3D printing some sort of extra compartment so the switch can be installed neatly.
Regards,
Mark
Merry Xmas and Happy Hoildays, Mark!
Oh, and second :)
:)
must be nice to have mill...............Ive seen other versions of this setup that seem to work good, the TS was square so much easier to dream up a mount////////////////indeed breaks my heart to see some funky holes in that T/S
I love the retro look and rounded curves of Colchesters from that era but it certainly makes adding accessories "challenging". I knew some would be upset by adding that hole! Ah well, lets draw a line under it and move on. 😁
Regards,
Mark
You can also buy the DRO head separately along with the scales for not much more. Another solution is to use the even cheaper digital tire thread gauges, which doesn't have a jaw. Btw, you could make the brass pin look like an oil port.
You could remove the quill, drill it right through and make it a proper oil port.
I did consider one of those DRO scales with a remote LCD display. The display is normally magnetic and it can be mounted somewhere on the machine but I wanted to avoid having another wire dangling around the back of the machine. The type with that you mention was about double the cost of the el cheapo caliper that I ended up getting but I knew it was cheap and it may not last. I will review it in a month or so and let people know how it has panned out.
Regards,
Mark
Excellent bit of work. I wonder if it would be possible, rather than more holes in the back of the read head, to make it a slot? A spring loaded slot acting on the pin would allow the quill to retract without damaging the read head.
A slot would work but that stainless was quite hard. I used a cobalt drill bit and had to take it quite slow with plenty of coolant. That was one thing the Chinese manufacturer didn't skimp on. I guess a solid carbide milling cutter could do it though.
Regards,
Mark
Awesome solution.......one more of your ideas that I am going to have to shamelessly steal
Go for it. Let's all share. 😁
Regards,
Preso
Merry Xmas and Happy Hoildays, Mark!
Oh, and first :)
Thanks for the tailstock caliper tutorial.
Did I hear a gecko in your shed early in the video?
Happy new year everybody, and may we be free from this problem soon.
Brilliant piece of engineering, thanks Mark. Though I do have one question. It seems to be a minor point, but how do you mitigate the slight rotation of the quill. I’m quite sure that it will eventually cause excessive wear on the sliding scale, if not the read head itself. Perhaps the hole in the read head might be elongated in the “y” direction to allow the whole unit to move axially. This is by no means a criticism, but having taken such care in your measurements, it would be a shame to have to continually replace the reader over the years. Thanks for another really useful and informative video.
Yep, there is a lot of slop in the slot of the quill. That rotation (every time you unlock the quill) will tear that caliper to pieces VERY quickly. Watch how much at 25:04
Tom, I did realise that the radial backlash was there but I locked everything in place with the barrel of the quill held hard against the direction of rotation when the quill is under load. I didn't show it for the camera but I spent a bit of time setting it up later. I will do a follow up at a later stage and let people know how it has stood up to real world operation.
Regards,
Mark
Nicely done, Mark, I have the same rounded surface problem on my Hercus 260, will give your solution a bash, AvE did a vid on the rip off Mitutoyo digital verniers, he came away impressed with the accuracy, might invest in a set for this.
Quick question regarding using the wobbler as an edge finder, do you call it done, as soon as the wiggler goes off?, I've been using a Starrett centre finder, but find I get different readings on the DRO each time, and just average it.
Happy New Year, and thanks,
Scott.
Scott, I recall watching that video that AvE did on the knockoff Mitutoyo. He didn't pull any punches and when I saw the innards of the cheap one I bought it reminded me of what he found inside the counterfeit one he bought. We had two of those Hercus ATM260's at work and I used them just about every weekend when I was building a model locomotive (before I had kids and before I had my own lathe). They are excellent machines. I like that wiggler because it can be swung up out of the way when you traverse over the top of a part. I find them to be a bit more sensitive than the Starrett type, but a dial test indicator is probably the best solution.
Regards,
Mark
Great work thanks for sharing 🥰
Lovely work I like it. Now if only my 1920s teeth in my head weren’t worn beyond belief lol and the poured babbit bearings hah
Very nice Mark, Might have to do this with my Chipmaster as the tailstocks are identical I believe. Although my tailstock looks like cr*p compared to yours. Happy new year! -Dan
Well, if you own a Colchester, you are on a winner despite how it might look.
Regards,
Mark