Member postings for Bo'sun

Good afternoon all,

Well, would you Adam & Eve it. Over the weekend I got my partner to give me her thoughts (she's a better button pusher than me). Low and behold, doing nothing different, the DRO burst into life, and "touch wood" has been fine ever since.

This afternoon a gentleman from M-DRO (Allendale) called in response to my enquiry, and although there wasn't much he could say, he did suggest the cause may be due to the unit having been unused for some time. Which is the case. Apparently, unlike some units that use membrane switches, the MDC700 uses mechanical switches, so who knows?

Anyway, thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

When I worked in the foundry industry some while ago, we used magnetic stainless steel for items like conveyor drums in the sand reclaim area, to catch cast iron fragments before the sand went to the mullers (drum mixers).

Thank you Andries,

I'll give it a try, but it's not what the M-DRO guidelines tell you to do. The problem is, all worked fine previously, but now it's just stopped working. Let's see what Allendale (M-DRO) have to say next week. Fortunately it's still under warranty (just).

Thank you Pete,

A good suggestion to get the project moving. I'll give it my best shot after lunch.

Maplin. Halcyon days when shops sold useful things.

Thanks Steve,

That's exactly what I'm doing, but pressing the Y (axis location) key doesn't display "0" as shown in your video. I fear something may be amiss with the MDC700 unit. I'll see what M-DRO have to say next week.

Clive,

In answer to your questions:

1) The reading does not halve when the 1/2 function key is pressed. It stays on the Y (axis location) reading.

2) The reading does not freeze, but counts until the zero position is half of the two edge finder locations. ie; If the two edge finder locations are 24mm apart, zero (centre location) appears to be 12mm.

Duncan,

Changing the sequence does not work.

Thanks duncan,

I'll try that, but it's not the sequence shown in the M-DRO manual that's worked previously.

Clive,

I'll check this afternoon.

Hi Nealeb,

Find one edge and press the zero key for the appropriate axis (Y in this case).

Find the opposite edge and press axis selection key.

Press the 1/2 function key.

Display would previously have shown the centre of the part to be 0.000 (as it should), but now shows it as half the centre distance between the two edge finder positions.

Hope that's clear.

Morning all,

Here's hoping someone can help. I've contacted M-DRO (Allendale) but won't get an answer until at least Monday, and I would realy like to press on.

I've had the DRO for a year or two and it's been fine up until now.

The "centre find" function on my MDC700 isn't doing as I understand it should.

Following the user manual, instead of displaying 0.000 as the centre of the part, it displays the centre as what appears to be, half of the distance between the two edge finder centre locations. I hope that makes sense?

I was wondering if I need to reset something?

It's not just Engineering exhibitions that are woefully short/absent here in the south, but Woodworking shows too. In fact, it seems that anything vaguely practical seems to have suffered the same fate.

Hello Vic,

It was just a thought that might get Andrew up and running. Though I'll be the first to admit, it's not ideal.

Hi Andrew,

Something else occurred to me. I'm not sure, but polishing mops may, to start with, have a parallel bore. A simple mandrel may work for you. A coarse thread may help, but check the direction of rotation.

I'd check the mops I have, but they've all been on pig tails so have tapered bores.

Good luck with the "challenge" if that's the route you take.

Hi Andrew,

Why do you want to make one? Unless you just want the experience of course. They're not very costly to buy.

Hi gerry,

Do you have a fixed steady you could use to support the work without the tailstock?

I take my hat off to Kurtis for giving it his best shot. He did at least warn the customer it may not work. We could all learn a thing or two from his approach to repairing stuff.

Sam,

Looking at Ed's images, the feeder looks (to me anyway) to be die-cast rather than plastic.

Hi Jason,

Sorry if this off topic, but when using a boring head (with a threaded arbor) in reverse, isn't there a risk it might unscrew?

Well Richard, that's a relief. I'm obviously not the only one to experience such a problem. I have a couple of Warco tool holders, and a couple of "T51" tool holders from Amazon where the cam either doesn't engage, or is only just in effect.

The solution was some strips of metal about 0.3mm thick and 4mm wide, stuck into the slots with JB Weld. Some tight packing was required until set, to ensure a minimal adhesive thickness.

A small dab of paint reminds me which tool holders have the mod, so that I fit them to the tool post with a little more care.