The scales upgrade on the Sherline is mostly complete. Here's what things look like from the front.
As you can see, I'm no longer losing 35-40mm of carriage travel at the tailstock end due to the cross-slide scale. And the cross-slide scale is no longer a shelf where chips and dust will accumulate. That cute little 000 Phillips screwdriver on the lathe base and two extra screws came with the scales, you need it to open the battery cover.
This is what the back side of the scale install looks like - from the headstock end. The carriage scale in no longer a wide shelf that chips and dirt will land on. Both the cross-slide and the carriage scale have the actual "scale" facing away from the spindle, so they aren't directly exposed to hot chips.
That black object on the LH side of the cross-slide read-head is an end stop. Before I installed that, it wasn't uncommon for me to retract the cross-slide far enough to disengage the lead screw from the lead nut. While that wasn't a show-stopper, it was irritating. That won't happen any more.
This is the temporary location of the displays.
The brackets that came with the scales didn't work for me. They allowed you to swing the display from side to side on an arm that was 8-9" long. They did not allow any tilting of the display for a better viewing angle. I 3D printed a pair of stubby arms, about 2" long, that allow me to tilt the displays to the best angle - whether I'm standing or sitting.
There's still a few things on the To-Do list:
1) Find a more permanent home for the displays. Right now I'm leaning toward mounting them on the peg-board using some of that brown non-conductive organic material - probably about where the pin-punch set is hanging behind the 3-in-1 oil.
2) Do some cable management, not gonna get crazy with the excess cable like I did the first time. Behind the peg-board is a blocked off door that at one time went into the coal-room, for when the boiler was coal-fired. I may just let the extra cable hang in that space, it's not like I can actually use the space for any thing else.
3) I've got to find another plug and get the AC adapter modified so it will be able to power both units. Somebody might already make a Y-adapter in the right size, I'll have to check Digi-Key and Allied-Electronics to find out
Like Superfast Matt I tend to get things to the point where I can use them, then they never truly get finished. But they are good enough to use, and right now this one is "Good Enough".
I've also got the replacement spindle bearings for the Sherline, I got tapered roller bearings to replace the noisy deep-groove ball bearings, That project is on the "Someday" list too.
Don