Cross Slide Dial Indicator

[Paul Jones]

I added dial indicators to my Unimat SL 1000 lathe. In this post I want to show the details to the cross slide dial indicator (DI) support bracket and its adjustable stop rod bracket. This DI can be used for both lathe and milling work. I previously installed a 2” travel DI for the lathe carriage but this larger size DI would have been too large for the cross slide. Instead, I used a 1” travel DI for the cross slide direction and included an adjustable stop rod to compensate for the greater than 1” of cross slide travel of the DI plunger. In addition the same cross slide DI bracket serves as a flat measuring surface for the carriage DI plunger and allows the 1” DI face positioned vertically or horizontally. The “channel” down the middle of the adjustable stop rod bracket allows the cross slide T-nut to be removed. Also, the choice of two locking screws for the stop rod provides more flexibility depending on what is install on the cross slide and may be blocking access to one of the locking screws (e.g., the milling table).

Posted here are photos of the lathe before and after adding the cross slide DI bracket and adjustable stop rod bracket. Adding the carriage and cross slide dial indicators has made this lathe easier and more accurate to use as compared to the 0.05mm increments (~0.002”) available on the dials to the original feed handles.

More photos and information about the Unimat modifications can be seen at http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/m...00-lathe-10111 .

[kbalch]

Thanks Paul! I've added your Cross Slide Dial Indicator to our Machining and Measuring and Marking categories, as well as to your builder page: Paul Jones' Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Cross Slide Dial Indicator by Paul Jones

tags: lathe, dial indicator

[steamingbill]

Hello Paul,

Nice work.

Where do you get the gigantic dials from ? Do they have a particular name I could search for on ebay or google ?

Bill

[Paul Jones]

Bill,
It is an optical illusion. The Enco dial indicators have the standard 2 1/4" dial faces but just look larger when compared to the tiny Unimat lathe with just a 3" swing and 7" between centers.
Thanks, Paul

[kbalch]

This thread has been moved to the Must Read subforum. Congrats (and thanks) to Paul for making such a valuable contribution!

[Paul Jones]

Ken,

Thank you for the recognition. Despite end of production of these multipurpose lathes in 1977, I think tool projects for improving the 2.84" swing Unimat lathes are still very popular considering around 300,000 of these machines were produced. Now I see a lot of these used lathes available at eBay and other auction houses. Adding the right tooling and measurement parts like dial indicators can make these little lathes into very useful and accurate machine tools.

Thanks again, Paul