# Best Homemade Tools >  Lathe Cutting Tool Height Gage

## Paul Jones

This lathe cutting tool height gage is based on a design by Hardinge but with the addition of a rectangular base for extending the gage past the edge of a lathe cross slide housing for easy access to the cutting tool. This tool provides a convenient way for setting the correct cutting tool height without the need of first setting steel parallels spanning the carriage aprons to set the height gage. The distance from the top of the lathe cross slide to the center line of the lathe spindle is 3.460 for my 12 swing geared-head lathe. In addition, this height gage has a pair of rare earth magnets embedded in the base that allow the gage to easily extend over the top edge of the lathe cross slide. 

The gage is made from 1.1 dia. cast iron round stock and 1.5x2.5x0.5 6061-T5 aluminum. The top surface and bottom surface were machined using the gage cylinder as a mandrel to ensure the base was perpendicular to the height gage body. The Hardinge tool design allows over and under cutting tool touch-off by using a thin cylindrical part that pivots from the top of the cylindrical body (which is 3.460 tall). Two recessed rare earth magnets keep the gage firmly seated on cast iron cross slide. I should have drilled the 10-32 thread hole before parting the thin cylinder part but did not do this step in the right order so instead I used a small hose clamp to ensure the separate parts were aligned during the drilling.

The gage base has a sliding fit and held in place with two 8-32 set screws placed on opposite sides of the aluminum base. A Cogsdill Burraway tool (an eBay buy) was used manually to deburr the threaded holes to ensure a smooth sliding fit of the tool height cylinder. The two side set screws allow minor height adjustments. A future improvement may be to add another 0.375 dia. x 0.188 thick rare earth magnet in between the existing magnets and/or lengthen the 2.5 aluminum based to ensure sufficient extension over the cross slide edge.

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billster (May 19, 2017),

C-Bag (May 18, 2017),

gunsgt1863 (Feb 15, 2018),

high-side (Oct 3, 2019),

jjr2001 (Sep 1, 2016),

kbalch (Jun 8, 2015),

mwmkravchenko (Feb 15, 2018),

PJs (Feb 14, 2017),

Seedtick (May 18, 2017),

Toolmaker51 (May 18, 2017)

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## kbalch

Thanks Paul! I've added your Lathe Cutting Tool Height Gauge to our Height and Depth Gauges category, as well as to your builder page: Paul Jones' Homemade Tools. Your receipt:












Lathe Cutting Tool Height Gauge
 by Paul Jones

tags: lathe, height gauge

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## rossbotics

Hi Paul
Nice little tool you made there

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Paul Jones (Jun 24, 2015)

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## Christophe Mineau

Very nice tool Paul, I need one !

Thanks for sharing, nicely built and documented, as usual !
Christophe

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Paul Jones (Jun 24, 2015)

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## Paul Jones

Thank you Doug and Christophe. I made one more modification by adding one more rare earth magnet in the bottom of the aluminum base. Now there are three magnets used to hold the base to the cross slide cover. A very easy change drilling with a letter drill V (0.377") and setting the 0.375" dia. magnet with Loctite 680 (designed for the bonding of cylindrical parts). I like using Loctite 680 for permanently joining loose, sliding and press fit parts because it is very easy to use and wipes off easily in the first 30 seconds. I attached a photo of the improved base that can extend even farther over the edge of the cross slide. Another improvement would be to use aluminum for the vertical cylinder to reduce the weight for long extensions over the side of the cross slide. Thanks again for the feedback, Paul

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jjr2001 (May 18, 2017)

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## crazypj

I just use a vernier caliper and a fixed point on compound slide. Centre height on my 'HF lathe/mill lathe is 3.496"  :Cool: 
As I don't have a QCTP, variations let me know what shim to add or subtract

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Paul Jones (Jun 10, 2015),

Toolmaker51 (May 18, 2017)

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## Catfish

Nice job on the tool Paul. I need to make 3 one for each lathe. Thanks Randy

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## Paul Jones

Randy,
You are right about needing a dedicated height gage for each lathe. I like to "set it and forget it" so I don't have waste my time adjusting the same gage for each lathe. 
Thanks, Paul

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## DIYer

Those are good improvements on a tool one could easily buy, but get not much pride from.

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Paul Jones (Jun 24, 2015)

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## C-Bag

Good one Paul, and excellent documentation. I'd seen a similar design, but I like this one a lot. Glad this got recycled as it was before my time here.

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Paul Jones (May 18, 2017)

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## mklotz

I still have trouble understanding why people want to design tool height gauges with the reference plane hidden under an overhang. In my design, the reference plane is on the top, exposed to sight...

http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/d...ht-gauge-57996

While I use my sensitive thumbnail (well, the nerves it presses on are sensitive) to detect alignment, I suppose one could slide a small block on the top of the gauge to detect the tool position relative to the gauge.

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Paul Jones (May 18, 2017)

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## jjr2001

I just re-read this tool build and must admit I am going to copy it.
I have been using a cylinder with a scribe mark on it for aligmment. Anyone doing that with a mini lathe
and QCTP knows that it requires two steps one of which is loosening the QCTP and rotating it. That base is the 
cat's meow....no QCTP rotation. Thanks Paul for a fine tool for the shop.

Cheers, JR

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Paul Jones (May 18, 2017),

Toolmaker51 (May 18, 2017)

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## Toolmaker51

Nothing wrong with a redux, why classics are so named...And may well be first time a lowly hose clamp morphed into drill fixture. 
An old job shop had a Hardinge HLV. No one ran it but I. After a few setups, need for a pirated copy of the Hardinge gauge was realized. Basically like Paul Jones's, no magnets. Three small socket cap screws as 'hardened' feet, intended machine and reference dimension stamped on post.
New shop; 5 lathes and no gauges...guess what's on tap?

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jjr2001 (May 19, 2017),

Paul Jones (May 18, 2017)

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## Paul Jones

Marv,

The cool thing about the Hardinge style gage is the gage can be used either the way like you do with thumbnail feel on the open surface to check the tool height or checking the tool under the upper lip to feel when the top surface of the cutting tool just touches the gage. I like this style of tool height gage because I do thread cutting on the lathe with the cutting tool set upside down and the lathe running in reverse. It is a universal way to check tool heights and probably something Hardinge realized long ago.

Regards,
Paul

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Christophe Mineau (May 19, 2017)

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