Metric/imperial dials

[combustable herbage]

I snapped a pic of the dials on the lathe at work they have both the metric and standard lines for the cross slide, it was sold by kbc tools I forget the brand. I am curious if anyone has this on their lathe, being one of those lost souls in the metric/imperial abyss it might be a nice little feature for going between the 2 measurements or might become a bit confusing at times..

 

[Susquatch]

Looks awesome to me! I'd never get confused with that!

The only odd thing is the placement of the two interval (resolution) indications. They straddle the marks instead of showing the gap.

I assume that there is another lever or gear that has to be switched to change back N forth between metric and imperial.

 

[Former Member]

I have it on my machines, it is super simple, read as is. No gearing change or different set up the dials are marked to the match the turns of the lead screws.

 

[Susquatch]

I have it on my machines, it is super simple, read as is. No gearing change or different set up the dials are marked to the match the turns of the lead screws.

To me, that suggests that one of the dials does not repeat. (ie 1 turn = 200 thou or 5.08mm) That would not be good for me.

I have that on my mill/drill and I HATE it. One turn is 11 units.

 

[Former Member]

To me, that suggests that one of the dials does not repeat. (ie 1 turn = 200 thou or 5.08mm) That would not be good for me.

I've always used the imperial side and never used the metric, so I can't confirm accuracy on the metric side. As to dial and rotational count notice the same thing.

 

[Aliva]

I have both on mine but I use the DRO in most cases

 

[Susquatch]

I have both on mine but I use the DRO in most cases

If I knew for sure I was going to keep the mill drill I would put a DRO on it and be done with it too. But a two axis DRO is a lot of coin for a machine that might only be worth a grand.

For now, I just do things on it that don't require accurate dimensions like when I need to do something else when my mill is already in the middle of a job.

 

[YotaBota]

My SM1120 came with the dual dial on the cross slide, even has the descriptive plates. I've never used the metric but it's there for the future.

 

[RobinHood]

I posted these pictures elsewhere on the Forum: here is how Colchester (& others) solved the Metric/Imperial dial problem.

Internal to the dials is a 127/120 gear ratio - ie true conversion between the two systems. One rotates the outside collar 180* depending which units of measurement you currently work in.

Neat feature is one can change from one to the other from pass to pass. For example: required diameter is 18mm. I have 1” stock. I know the machine will take a 100 thou pass. Dial that in and make the cut. Repeat. After a few passes, measure in mm and get 18.5mm. Turn dial to read mm (rotate collar 180*). Dial in 0.5mm. Make the pass. Done.

These dials were designed before cheap DROs were available. They work very well. No, I do not (yet) have a DRO on this lathe.