Being an engineer I have a knack for finding problems where they don’t exist, and coming up with over-designed solutions. Combine that with being a wanna-be toolmaker and things can get out of hand real fast. But in the case of this project I think I may have stumbled upon something actually useful! On a metal lathe there are a few tricks of the trade for setting the cutting tool heights. Like referencing a tailstock center, or the centerpoint of a faced piece of material. But these aren’t exactly precise methods. A common (and extremely simple) approach to this problem is to machine a reference bar whose length is the exact distance between the spindle centerline and the way surface. Then setting this on the ways near the cutting tool to set the height. While all of these work just fine as far as resulting in a good finish, I still see room for something a little more elegant. So in this video I’ll be putting together a lathe tool that I’m not sure exists. And maybe for good reason!