Dial Indicator Mounts for Sheldon XL/EXL Series Lathes (SCAD)

This collection includes symmetric (reversible) and asymmetric indicator mounts for monitoring carriage travel. This was designed specifically for an EXL-56 lathe, but everything is adjustable with some effort.

It was printed and tested for use with a 3/8" indicator stem and 1/4" bolts and nuts, but it's configurable, and I've included premade STL files for 10mm stems and M6 hardware. Verify your stem diameter. Use washers.

My lathe has a clamp-on carriage stop. As configured, these mounts position the indicator to line up with the bumper peg for the carriage stop. When reversed, it almost lines up with the bolt head on the thread dial. If you don't have a carriage stop or thread dial, the symmetric mount is going to get in the way of the indicator travel. Considering the low cost of printing, you can probably afford to print two asymmetric mounts if you want to use it on both sides of the carriage. Even still, if you don't have a carriage stop or thread dial, you'll probably have blanking plugs in those holes, so you may want to change the y-offset of the stem (see the SCAD comments) so that the indicator doesn't land in the holes (or cover the hole with something).

The models in the STLs are oriented as to be printed. The asymmetric mount needs no supports. The reversible mount only needs support on the curved overhanging face. I printed these in PLA, 3 shells, 25% gyroid infill.

Why did I put the clamp bolt on the bottom? With the large chuck or faceplate mounted, there's next to no room to access it on top, and the indicator itself is in the way. It also lets me get away with bedding the nut in the thicker part section instead of trying to compensate for the degree to which it would weaken the thinner clamp block. Putting a cam bolt on it would be nice.