"Rex" wrote in message
ink.net...
Al A. wrote:
On Wed, 25 May 2005 00:27:23 GMT, Rex
wrote:


I bought (yet) another lathe last week.
With it came the usual boxes of tooling, among which I found at least
one item I cannot identify. Almost sure it doesn't go to or with a
lathe. It looks too interesting to scrap.

If you would, take a look in the dropbox at

artifact 1.jpg and artifact 2.jpg

I'd love to know what this is.


Rex Burkheimer



Rex,
That is a Trav-a-dial. Think of it as a poor man's DRO.
The modern version is he

http://www.brookanco.com/products1mt...D=24&PRODID=88

They used to sell these in the Enco catalogs and such. It gets
attached to the carrage and is pressed against the side of a lathe bed
by the spring. The serrated wheel digs in and counts off the distance
the carrige travels. The scale is read vernier style.
IIRC they where fairly pricey, over $100.00 but I could be wrong on
that.

-AL

Oh, so THAT's a Trav-A-Dial. I've heard of them but it never registered
what they were for.

Very interesting. Now I'll have to go to the shop and figure out how it
was mounted on that Enco.

Thanks much, Al.

Rex

When you build your mount, make sure you can tilt the indicator assembly as
it makes contact with the lathe bed. I didn't look at the picture, but if it
is, indeed, a Trav-A-Dial, or similar, they are usually calibrated by
tilting the rubber wheel, which is not square faced. It should have a
radius, which changes the reading as you rotate the indicator to use a
larger or smaller portion of the diameter of the wheel. By using a gage
block, you can calibrate the indicator to read accurately.

Harold