A rather easy fix for tailstock indicator is to make a graduated dial. I made one years ago for my 6" Craftsman/Atlas.
With the exception of the setscrew holes it can be done entirely on the lathe if you don't have access to a rotary table or dividing head.
The tailstock leadscrew has a 16 tpi thread so you advance 62.5 thousandths for every revolution. You would need 62 full thousandths marks and 1 half thousandths mark. With a dividing head, you would select 125 divisions and use every other one for the full thousandths for a total of 62. With a rotary table , you advance the table by 5 degrees, 45 minutes, and 36 seconds for each mark.
If you don't have access to a dividing head or rotary table, you can use the lathe itself as a dividing head. The bull gear has holes on the face of the gear every 6 degrees for a total of 60. If you slide the index pin into a hole and always take up lash in the same direction, you can use a lathe bit to scribe your lines. Your divisions will correspond to 1.04 thousandths instead of an even 1 thousandth but you will have a precise way to measure your tailstock ram travel. I used number punches to mark every tenth mark.
To use, you will need to figure how many full 1/16ths inches you need to move and how many thousandths past that. For example, if you wanted to drill a hole .800 inches deep, you would feed in 12 full revolutions of the leadscrew (12 x 1/16" = .750") and 50 thousandths past that. If your dial divisions are .00104", that would be 48 divisions.
It is more cumbersome than a DRO but it does work and gives you some additional precision in your machining that you would not otherwise have.
