Thank you so much. I am now going to do this for my Mill. I wasted over 2 hours on youtube an NO ONE BUT YOU showed how to attach the readout to a plate. You also are the ONLY person to show how to disassemble the electronic calipers. Every other jerk glued them to a bracket. Finally, you are the only person who realized that they must be parallel to the direction of motion THANK YOU!!!!
well it's a lathe ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxN9zrzkkhnjUF5PQbuA_B1gYdsfCu9k6z but it wasn't what i would have anticipated. Headstock, tailstock, carriage apron are manufactured from aluminum now not cast iron. The spindle diameter for the bearings is too small allowing for a few play in the spindle so I am using some blue Loctite to take out the play.
I installed calipers on my MD65 lathe at the right rear corner of the cross slide, essentially on the back side of the lathe, in the spot where you bolted the mounting screw to the cross slide. In this position, I can see both the tool and the DRO readings for both axes at the same time. I considered all other possible locations for installing the calipers, but I wasn’t happy with having to turn my gaze away from the workpiece. Also, having the caliper arm partially in the way near the handwheels was not an option, so I installed mine in the opposite direction compared to you. I found your video two weeks after my own DRO project and noticed that we're almost on the same track.
Having bought a cheap pair of 200mm calipers they turned out to be so nice I couldn't bring myself to take an angle grinder to them. After much head-scratching about making a non-destructive mounting scheme I found that two 10mm button magnets strategically positioned one on the rear bed surface and one on the right rear corner of the carriage worked perfectly.
Brilliant. I really like your tutorial, and I am glad to learn that your mod has been working well for a couple years; that's important. I think I will outfit my mini-lathe with DRO! I too have a Chinese caliper. I take the battery out between uses. Also some of the pink titles are hard to read. More contrast, or contrasting outline would help.
I am new in this, but I think I am learning fast Thank's to people like you and specially the Pro's who have worked most their Lifes with lathes and mills. What I haven't seen yet and I really would love to see is someone making a Automatically Power Cross feed like the Big lathes!! No one has done it yet. I really Hope that one day soon I could start on that, but my know how at this moment is small :) Thank's for sharing...
Mimlo Miani hy, nice to hear i wish you happy working, I also want to heave automatic cross feeding, but it's impossible to make on that small lathe, i'm looking for a bit bigger lathe somewhere in the future and when i buy them it MUST heave auto cross feeding but that kind of lathe cost from $2000 and more. But if i buy a bigger and better lathe i will newer sold that little one, it's just to comftible to work on it, you got everything on hand reach.
Some guy rigged up a small geared motor that he holds in his hand to drive the mini-lathe cross-slide handle, or sometimes the top-slide handle. So it's sort of manual-automatic. He put a cross bar on the geared shaft, with a couple of pins that engage the two sides of the cross-slide handle, and a momentary switch on the motor. Seemed to work pretty well. Sorry, no link.
True, true, after all this year i using that still work perfect, just plan to modify calipers with switches to turn off the battery completley, but didn't do yet 😉
@@TinC33 I have a pair virtually identical to those, and the on/off button works well. Watched a video elsewhere of a disassembly of them, it turns out pretty much all of the digital vernier style calipers have interchangeable parts. It might actually be easier to buy a new set and swap the electronic portion over.
Thanks, actually i think about this mod all this years, but actually i don't need it that much, so i think i will buy new lathe before this mod come into that one 😉
Hey There.....Today i Buy a 300m long Caliper and doing the same on my Sieg SC4 Lathe. Thank you very much for this big Idea. Many Greetings from Berlin/Germany Holger😘 I see the uploading at 25.9. ....the Birthday from my Wife😁
TinC33 Turning Metal is my job. I learn this in my Factory from 1973-1976. I have a Workshop in the Ground from my House. Lathe.....Mill.....Next Year my Joblife goes to end. After 46 Years in my Factory. I am Enjoy of many Videos from you😊
Yeah OK, good fix under the circumstances of position and availability of a place to attach it.......personally I would have made the carriage fixed point more flexible as in with a magnet etc as someone else has done, this way you can get it out of the way when not actually needed for general turning, but none the less, a valuable asset for the mini lathe, you just can't beat having and seeing micron accuracy when turning.
Arthur Wojcik yes, mine auto Turn on and Turn off after few minutes But always show real position not set zero after auto Turn on. This IS depend of caliper you use. But mine eating battery like dragon eaven if it Turn off so I buy cheep battery for a few € 12 of them
I love it! 🍻 Such a simple idea! I lucked up and found 2 small lathes with a ton of tooling for $500. I found your video when looking for DROs and Im going to do exactly the same. Its not like Im going to be making space shuttle parts or anything. This should work perfect. Thanks for the idea!🍻🍻
Thanks, yes its great update, cheap and still work awesome after all this year, but if you can make also switch because this cheap china calipers eat batteries like monster even if it turned off.
Nice video. Thanks for putting it up. I have long thought of doing something similar but I thought correcting Abbe error during installation with this set up would be a pain. You mention that you have been using this without any issues for a while now. Did you do anything to correct this at installation or did you just get lucky?
nirmal i don't know it's work great for me for about two years now, all i must to is to add one more caliper to a drilling chuck. when you mount it must be careful to be 100% parallel, it must run smooth in all position.
My opinion is apsolutly, it is gret machine for the money, i own my about 7 years make a lot of stuff on it, make lot of working hour on it but with some small modification it's better and better... I got mine for gret price just a bit more than $300. You just need a good cutting tool (banggood had gret for cheape price) and first thing you need to buy is qctp (quick change tool holder) you can watch, i got a few other vid about my minilathe... If you want to know something more just ask.
Slow down the explanatory images a bit where you show how to mod stuff, us old farts arnt twitchy enough to pause in time, give us a chance ;) heh. Also as others have said, dude that music, woah....easy man....other than that great job and thank you for sharing!
Great mod but I wonder how accurate they are in this application? The cheap ones I have don't even go back to zero every time I close the jaws for example.
You can switch every caliper to imperial system with just push a button. But also i think it must be hard to work in imperial system, lot of calculation in everyday life.
@@TinC33 What I'm trying to say is, thank you of using metric system. Cuz too much machinist youtubers are U.S. citizen which is using Imperial meanwhile the rest of the world are not.
Funny thing is, it's cheaper to buy DRO with the display. But it won't be easier to install because space is very tight, especially for cross slide. These digital micrometers are not cheap, and the long one can cost you a fortune.
Thank you so much. I am now going to do this for my Mill. I wasted over 2 hours on youtube an NO ONE BUT YOU showed how to attach the readout to a plate. You also are the ONLY person to show how to disassemble the electronic calipers. Every other jerk glued them to a bracket. Finally, you are the only person who realized that they must be parallel to the direction of motion
THANK YOU!!!!
Thanks, you can also find video about real dro (from banggood) mounted to my mill.
ua-cam.com/video/TIeuhHDJXwI/v-deo.html
well it's a lathe ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxN9zrzkkhnjUF5PQbuA_B1gYdsfCu9k6z but it wasn't what i would have anticipated. Headstock, tailstock, carriage apron are manufactured from aluminum now not cast iron. The spindle diameter for the bearings is too small allowing for a few play in the spindle so I am using some blue Loctite to take out the play.
I installed calipers on my MD65 lathe at the right rear corner of the cross slide, essentially on the back side of the lathe, in the spot where you bolted the mounting screw to the cross slide. In this position, I can see both the tool and the DRO readings for both axes at the same time. I considered all other possible locations for installing the calipers, but I wasn’t happy with having to turn my gaze away from the workpiece. Also, having the caliper arm partially in the way near the handwheels was not an option, so I installed mine in the opposite direction compared to you. I found your video two weeks after my own DRO project and noticed that we're almost on the same track.
Having bought a cheap pair of 200mm calipers they turned out to be so nice I couldn't bring myself to take an angle grinder to them. After much head-scratching about making a non-destructive mounting scheme I found that two 10mm button magnets strategically positioned one on the rear bed surface and one on the right rear corner of the carriage worked perfectly.
Brilliant. I really like your tutorial, and I am glad to learn that your mod has been working well for a couple years; that's important. I think I will outfit my mini-lathe with DRO! I too have a Chinese caliper. I take the battery out between uses. Also
some of the pink titles are hard to read. More contrast, or contrasting
outline would help.
Very god idea!cheap and effective!i am planning to mount a cheap dro on my 8x16 lathe,your idea seems to be really good!
It work awesome, but i still need to add a switch because cheap calipers eat batteries also wheb they turned off.
@@TinC33 maybe a little external alimentator for both calipers can do the job easily...
@@marcoserra3798 true but then there's wires arround, google for "caliper on off switch" and you'll hot some amazaing ideas.
I enjoy watching your videos but could you leave the captions up longer. Some of us are not speed readers. Thank you.
I just hit the pause button until I had finished reading the comment.
It also helps to kill the music too!
I love your solution! Simply brilliant!
Great Video, Tin! Thank You for sharing! Now - you need one for the Tailstock! ;)
I am new in this, but I think I am learning fast Thank's to people like you and specially the Pro's who have worked most their Lifes with lathes and mills. What I haven't seen yet and I really would love to see is someone making a Automatically Power Cross feed like the Big lathes!! No one has done it yet. I really Hope that one day soon I could start on that, but my know how at this moment is small :) Thank's for sharing...
Mimlo Miani hy, nice to hear i wish you happy working, I also want to heave automatic cross feeding, but it's impossible to make on that small lathe, i'm looking for a bit bigger lathe somewhere in the future and when i buy them it MUST heave auto cross feeding but that kind of lathe cost from $2000 and more.
But if i buy a bigger and better lathe i will newer sold that little one, it's just to comftible to work on it, you got everything on hand reach.
Some guy rigged up a small geared motor that he holds in his hand to drive the mini-lathe cross-slide handle, or sometimes the top-slide handle. So it's sort of manual-automatic. He put a cross bar on the geared shaft, with a couple of pins that engage the two sides of the cross-slide handle, and a momentary switch on the motor. Seemed to work pretty well. Sorry, no link.
I freaking love the loud background music!!!
Not having the calipers square to the carriage could endure slight cosign error If you aren’t careful
Great job!! I'm going to do this on my old Atlas 6" lathe. I bet you can do this on the tailstock to for depth of drills.
Sure it be easy job, i plan to do that for a while 😉
Well done!!! The linear scales can be connected to a feature rich DRO for example the Caliper2PC.
cool, does it got also power supply functions, so we can lose the battery?
Yes the encoders can be powered by the interface, so no battery are needed. @@TinC33
@@caliper2pc great, how much for two or three axis, with lcd, so i don't need a phone or pc?
If you just need a simple readout without any features you can use the Shahe scales with external lcd readout. @@TinC33
Fantastic, the simplest solution is often the best solution!
True, true, after all this year i using that still work perfect, just plan to modify calipers with switches to turn off the battery completley, but didn't do yet 😉
@@TinC33 I have a pair virtually identical to those, and the on/off button works well. Watched a video elsewhere of a disassembly of them, it turns out pretty much all of the digital vernier style calipers have interchangeable parts. It might actually be easier to buy a new set and swap the electronic portion over.
Liked and Subscribed! You need an update with a DRO on the Tailstock for measuring the depth of a bore!
Thanks, actually i think about this mod all this years, but actually i don't need it that much, so i think i will buy new lathe before this mod come into that one 😉
Hey There.....Today i Buy a 300m long Caliper and doing the same on my Sieg SC4 Lathe. Thank you very much for this big Idea.
Many Greetings from Berlin/Germany Holger😘
I see the uploading at 25.9. ....the Birthday from my Wife😁
Nice to read positive feedback, for me work just good for a few yeara now, good, simple and cheep solution. Greetings from Cerkno, Slovenija
Great video and notes…thanks!
This will be my next modification! Excellent Video
Thanks, but could be better if I heave entire process on film.
Your Idea for the X axis is Great!!!
Holger R eim er thanks, i improvise this years ago, if i do that now, i make much better, but anyway it's still work like the first day.
TinC33 Turning Metal is my job. I learn this in my Factory from 1973-1976. I have a Workshop in the Ground from my House. Lathe.....Mill.....Next Year my Joblife goes to end. After 46 Years in my Factory. I am Enjoy of many Videos from you😊
Yeah OK, good fix under the circumstances of position and availability of a place to attach it.......personally I would have made the carriage fixed point more flexible as in with a magnet etc as someone else has done, this way you can get it out of the way when not actually needed for general turning, but none the less, a valuable asset for the mini lathe, you just can't beat having and seeing micron accuracy when turning.
Very simple and clever idea, thank you for sharing it
Cool project, one question how do you deal with calipers turning itself off after few minutes? Mine shuts itself off after about 3 minutes.
Arthur Wojcik yes, mine auto Turn on and Turn off after few minutes But always show real position not set zero after auto Turn on. This IS depend of caliper you use. But mine eating battery like dragon eaven if it Turn off so I buy cheep battery for a few € 12 of them
Trying to drill the hardened stainless calipers just didn't work out. 😭
You must heat it before to become that part red and than let it cool down slowly, to become soft, or use angle grinder like i do for half of hole.
Great video you are very talented person thanks for your help , what price it is made in China? Iwait for your reply thankyou sir.
Thanks, you mean caliper i don't remember but i think somewhere between 20-30$ each.
Great video & brilliant idea! Is this 10 inch lathe? Mine is 14 so I would need a 300mm caliper?
yes 300mm be ok, I lost a few cm with 200mm But if I want to remove it there is only 3 screwz.
Thanks. This is my next upgrade.
I love it! 🍻 Such a simple idea! I lucked up and found 2 small lathes with a ton of tooling for $500. I found your video when looking for DROs and Im going to do exactly the same. Its not like Im going to be making space shuttle parts or anything. This should work perfect. Thanks for the idea!🍻🍻
Thanks, yes its great update, cheap and still work awesome after all this year, but if you can make also switch because this cheap china calipers eat batteries like monster even if it turned off.
@@TinC33 Thank you for the tip!
Good job looks pretty easy. A question what were the length of the 2 calipers? looked like 150mm for Y and 300mm for X?
150mm for Y and cut on about 120mm.
for X the caliper is 200mm, if you need more working space there are 3 screw to remove everything.
Great video. Very helpful, thanks for posting this!
That is a great idea!
Nice video. Thanks for putting it up. I have long thought of doing something similar but I thought correcting Abbe error during installation with this set up would be a pain. You mention that you have been using this without any issues for a while now. Did you do anything to correct this at installation or did you just get lucky?
nirmal i don't know it's work great for me for about two years now, all i must to is to add one more caliper to a drilling chuck.
when you mount it must be careful to be 100% parallel, it must run smooth in all position.
Damm clever job dude :-)
steven pedersen thanks, it's cheap and work like charm for about few years now.
tintek33 U welcome😉lm planing buy a cheap lathe made in China but is it worth the money?
My opinion is apsolutly, it is gret machine for the money, i own my about 7 years make a lot of stuff on it, make lot of working hour on it but with some small modification it's better and better...
I got mine for gret price just a bit more than $300.
You just need a good cutting tool (banggood had gret for cheape price) and first thing you need to buy is qctp (quick change tool holder) you can watch, i got a few other vid about my minilathe... If you want to know something more just ask.
Thanks for your positive opinion 👍👍😉
I would have enjoyed your video if not for the nerve wracking music
I agree with you my friend the music is sickening:-((
And the graphics that move so fast to read you need to keep pausing the video....
Thats awesome going to fix mine
Brilliant video thanks bud
What you make cliper repairing or lath machine blanching not clear your videos.
The first axes you worked on is the X not the Y and the second one is the Z not the X
Very clever
perfect. which lathe is this?
minskmade thanks, it's erba 300 austrian brand, but all that lathe come from china
minskmade i buy it for about 300€ but don't sold it for 1000$ it's great little machine.
thats a really good idea
Very cool !
Great idea bro👍👍
Thanks, it still work good with almost daily use
Slow down the explanatory images a bit where you show how to mod stuff, us old farts arnt twitchy enough to pause in time, give us a chance ;) heh. Also as others have said, dude that music, woah....easy man....other than that great job and thank you for sharing!
WARNNG: TURN OFF THE SOUND BEFORE WATCHING - not just 'volume down' but OFF
100% brilliant
gran idea, muy ingenioso muchas gracias
excellent works.
Hi
Pretty clever...
that all well good but dose mean it true from centre of tool as only way this is use full is you so put tool same place all time
+andrew shephard you can set to "0"(zero) any time, so you find an edge with tool and set to zero, works really great for me.
Didn't leave the pics on the screen long enough to read!
True, it's one of my old videos
Well done. Thanks.
Great mod but I wonder how accurate they are in this application? The cheap ones I have don't even go back to zero every time I close the jaws for example.
Steve Clark it is great and enough accurate for hobby use like this mini lathe, not for h7 tollerance ;-)
@@TinC33 h7 WHAT IS THAT
@@gfdfperte4248 H7 is an ISO standard for tolerance, some of most used here in EU:
www.werktuigbouw.nl/calculators/iso_holes.htm
Thanks!
Awesome
my ww2 lathe is 2 meters long lol
Lathes don't have Y axis' they have Z and X
Darth Bancid wow I didn't know that, thanks for info, I see that the bed is z axis.
Darth Bancid k so no m it g codes hmm 32 t control or complete lack of manual skill
Useful
Zakarya Nezzari very usefull, thanks
Thumbs down for that horrible noise played during the video!
multicraftman ok
Can do without the loud so called "music".
God bless Metric
You can switch every caliper to imperial system with just push a button. But also i think it must be hard to work in imperial system, lot of calculation in everyday life.
@@TinC33 What I'm trying to say is, thank you of using metric system. Cuz too much machinist youtubers are U.S. citizen which is using Imperial meanwhile the rest of the world are not.
Funny thing is, it's cheaper to buy DRO with the display.
But it won't be easier to install because space is very tight, especially for cross slide.
These digital micrometers are not cheap, and the long one can cost you a fortune.
Ahhhhhh the music is terrible, please stop.
Slow down the subtitles and your music sux.