Mini Lathe Tailstock DRO

Do you want a DRO on your tailstock for under £10.00, then this video will help you. I've found just recently when doing any drilling work on the lathe it is a struggle to get an exact depth measurement even though the tailstock has a dial and a rough depth gauge.
So I thought of a better way to measure how much my quill is moving and I came up with this. By using a digital vernier calliper and machining some parts to mount it to my tailstock, I now have a fully functional DRO on my tailstock for under a tenner.
If you find this useful please SUBSCRIBE and link below for the Vernier I used.
www.amazon.co....

[@GlennNowOnYouTube]

You made this upgrade look pretty simple to do. I think I will do something very similar with an old set of calipers I have. A video of how I go about doing this will most likely be done on my channel and a shout out to your channel will most likely be part of it. Thanks for your ideas and for sharing.

[@MachiningwithJoe]

Thanks Glenn yeah it’s a great little upgrade simple but affective. Appreciate the shout out when you get round to it. All the best.

[@nutgone100]

You’d do well to slow right down for those larger drill bits, that was way too fast for that 25mm (hence the noise it was making). If your machine has got the fast & slow selector use that & run it dead slow.
I added flood coolant to my little Warco mini lathe, I found it helps a lot with drilling in aluminium, but a squirt of WD40 (or a cheaper alternative) works well.
The flood coolant was an interesting project, I pressed a drain area into the bottom tray to take a modified 15mm brass tank fitting from a DIY shop, mounted a sump underneath the bench (made from an old plastic Jacob’s crackers tub) & used one of those tiny little pond pumps for the suds. I modified one of those cheap Chinese mist coolant pipes for the spout & screwed it to a magnetic clamp so it can go anywhere on the carriage & be put out of the way when I’m not using it.

[@greg20152015]

Plan on doing this soon. Thanks for posting

[@MachiningwithJoe]

Yeah great little mod Greg you’ll end up using it loads.

[@KristjanS-Kristeh]

did this on my desktop lathe on 2 main work axis + tailstock :) Works like a charm + much cheaper than a real DRO... :)

[@MachiningwithJoe]

Yeah it’s a great budget alternative for these small machines.

[@KristjanS-Kristeh]

@@MachiningwithJoe sure. and specially for desktop lathes... its really enough for what you need, and from what i tested its far more accurate than the analog dials on the rollers :)

[@tattoos1988]

Great improvement joe like the idea might have to pinch it for my lathe lol thanks for sharing mate all the best

[@MachiningwithJoe]

Cheers dude yeah such a simple but affective improvement hope it helps you out

[@urslocher5271]

Good work. But for m4 i do with a 3.3mm drillbit. For save my taping dies. Am not want teaching but I broke one in hard steel. Cheers good work and take care your fingers wen clean chips if running MASCHINE.

[@eric802]

I love this idea. Off to get a cheap digital caliper...

[@MachiningwithJoe]

Thanks Eric,
It’s surprising just how much I use it since doing it and it works great.

[@nobblynoel]

7;27 long sleeve = danger

[@MachiningwithJoe]

Good spot Noel I’ll have to keep an eye on that jumper. 👍

[@chrislawrence298]

Waste of time. With a carriage DRO. Put a square tool in the holder. Bring the drill up to the workpiece and move the tool bit to touch the end of the chuck. Zero the DRO and move it the depth you want. Then drill in till the chuck I stopped. Simples

[@rogerleete4635]

Just wait until he has to retract the quill to remove a drill chuck or live center, and he'll realize what a kluge this is.

[@tinkeringtim7999]

This is not as good an idea as it first seems. Modify instead to have a rod where he has the caliper and put a stop on that. Then set the stop for depth of drilling or whatever operation. More repeatable, not trying to sneak up on a number, can watch the work instead of the caliper, just as easy to use, can be set with whatever precision you like, not as température sensitive or moisture corruptible and doesn't need batteries.

[@MachiningwithJoe]

Hi Tim
Completely understand what your saying and yes for repeatability a stop is always going to be much better. My main reasoning to get this modded onto the tail stock was more for convenience at just being able to take a quick glance to see roughly how far my quill had moved.
For any high precision work then I’ll still be using my dial on my hand wheel.
All the best