File:2014-03-29 15.00.57.jpg

I use my dial calipers as a poor man's DRO (digital readout). I take an initial measurement with the dial calipers. With each cut I decrease the dial calipers by that amount. I continue taking 20 mil (0.020 inches) cuts across the tread until I am withing 40 mils of the final measurement. Then I stop the lathe and take a measurement, and slowly "sneak up" on the final measurement, taking 10 or even 5 mil cuts. Photo by Daris A. Nevil, 2014.