What a great idea! The 4Axis DRO that I had planned to order just became 3. I can't see any reason (at least not in my current state of mind) why I would ever want to integrate the readouts.
I love the corner mount system attached with magnets. A stroke of genius!
What the heck is the dial indicator all about? Calibration?
How is the Caliper attached to the corner block?
Does that pin sit in a drilled hole in the tailstock?
Again, I really like that! Very well done!
Yes the dial indicator was just a reality check.
I drilled and tapped two M3 holes in the back of the caliper case and then mounted the caliper to a thin mounting plate, so the assembly could then be mounted to the block, via the plate. In my haste I made the plate shorter than required so that the plate to block mounting screws were actually too close to the caliper body for the screw head to clear the caliper body for the top two screws, oops. So I countersunk all four holes and then drilled two larger holes in the block to provide access to the two M3 screws from the back.
Yes the 2.5mm pin passes through the block and sits in a very shallow (2mm deep) hole in the tailstock. So I did drill one hole but it's tiny and shallow. You can see the pin in the first image.
The funny looking shallow milled slot in the bottom left corner was required to clear a brass oiler that is on the top of the tailstock in that area.