I've had a chunk of cast iron put aside for over a year so I can make a DTI mount for my South Bend lathe. I found the magnetic indicator mount I was using was shifting, which negates the utility. So I decided to wing it and just carve one out. I didn't use anything more precise in this job than a Sharpie and my eyeballs for layout, although having a 45 degree angle gage helped when setting the piece for the vee groove.
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Milling the saw cuts flat. |
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Roughing it out. |
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Milling the 90 degree vee. |
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Milling the far end for relief from the ways. |
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Milling out a bit more. |
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Counterboring for the clamping bolt. |
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Transferring the bolt hole to a clamp plate. |
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Tapping the plate. |
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Looking good! |
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Hole for the indicator laid out. |
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Drilling. |
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Reaming to 3/8" I have a 3/8" reamer with a shorter shank that I use on the Taig mill. |
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Tapping for the indicator lock screw. |
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Drilling out the end of a #10 screw. |
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A small piece of brass was pressed in and faced off. |
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It works! |
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I lifted the magnetic base indicator off the lathe and it fell apart...I guess this was the cause of the slop. I can't believe it was just pressed together... |
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Match drilling the plate and stop. |
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A dowel pin pressed into the hole to keep the clamp plate aligned. The clamp plate hole was drilled slightly larger. |
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I sanded and deburred all the surfaces and edges. About an hour and a half of relaxing and imprecise machining. It locks up rock solid. Little accessories like this pay for themselves the first time you use them. |