Lathe Tool Height Indicator

Been thinking about this one for a while. Designs are a dime a dozen, some extravegant, others from scraps laying around. This design had something different, a way to set tool height above or below center to improve cutting or finish. This is from the June/July 1996 Projects in Metal magazine and Phil Nyman is the author.

Built pretty much as designed with changes only for material on hand and to adjust for a higher lathe center on my Emco-Maier Super 11 vs Phil's Maximat V10P. I made the replacement indicator contact point .5" in diameter to accommodate my need for a slightly larger reference surface. The slide bar warped ever so slightly when I machined my stock from .625" thick down to .5". This was corrected by gently grinding the bottom reference surface flat using 180 grit emory cloth on a flat surface. I still have a slight error at the ends and have marked the accurate part of the slide bar. I don't anticipate needing the very ends of the slide bar.