DRO For my milling machine

Typed this out then the bloody site timed out so here we go again grrrrrrrrrrr

What option do I have for a 3 axis dro for this milling machine:

Some else on this forum has a similar machine Emco I believe who fitted a DRO, would be interested in speaking to his to see how easy it was to fit

PS Photo was before I bought it

Edited By petro1head on 16/12/2014 21:20:16

It would help to know your budget. Will you be able to stretch to glass/magnetic scales and a full function didplay or are you limited to the calliper type scales with separate readouts and no fancy functions.

X&Y should not be too hard, the Z scale will need a bit more thinking about.

Hi petro1head,
As a simple answer I woould say it should be possible to fit any DRO to your machine. As Jason says more informayion is required. Do you want a ready made system such as those sold by "Machine DRO" or "Newall" (I am not recommending these, they are just two names of suppliers I could remember without Googling for a full list.) Do you want to build a dro such as the "Yadro", "Shumatech DRO350 or DRO550", "Yuriy's Android tablet DRO or one of the less known designs that have been published on the web.

Les.

hi all, first posting here,

the x & y axis is straight forward

but I don't see how you could fit the z axis to the swivel head ??, unless you of course just have it fixed

as for scales I would buy glass scales, that's my preference,

when you do fit the scales, fit the scales at the front, on the table, will give you more room

either way enjoy fitting them, and don't bother using the hardware supplied, make your own, its easier and quicker

"good luck"

keith

Love the Yuriy's tablet DRO but do not have the time or patience to figure out the magic box that connects the scales to the tablet.

Does anyone sell the adaptor ready to plug in?

Trevor

Cheap DRO's do not like cold damp garages first the battery connect ions go green an easy fix but the soon after they just play up intermittently. I ended up taking mine off and refitting the ruler and pointer system much more reliable.

Steve

Hi Trevor,
As far as I know no one supplies any of the interfaces ready made. There is not very much to building the interface. The main part is either an Arduino board or a Texas MSP430 board and a bluetooth module. The only part you have to build is the level converters to to convert from the scale signal levels of either 1.5 volts or 3 volts (Depending on the type of scale.) to 5 volts for the Arduino or 3 volts for the MSP430. (If you use 3 volt scale with the MSP430 you will not need level converters.) The only interface design that you have to build from scratch is mine which uses an ATtiny4313 microcontroller.

Les.

Good advice as mine is in a wooden workshop

Edited By petro1head on 17/12/2014 14:49:18

I also contacted Machine Dro and they suggested Magnetic scales

There is a similar Emco machine with X&Y scales fitted half way down this US suppliers site to give an idea of how to fix them

I would suggest keeping the Y axis at the back so you can still easily use the stops on the front of the table provided the is room when the table is fully away from you

J

Edited By JasonB on 17/12/2014 15:34:23

A guy on here has also done it http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=72913

Edited By petro1head on 17/12/2014 15:52:02

You can mount the Z axis quite easily. Did this years ago with an Ortec DRO system on the FB2.

Remove the top and bottom column key bolts. Replace them with home made studs with extended heads to act as stand offs so that the scale when fitted to these will clear the column clamp. The top of the stand offs will need to be tapped for the scale securing screws. If you have a scale protector, this can be drilled for the correct spacing of the modified bolts.

The read head can be fitted to the column clamp plate using an adapter plate and using the existing holes in the machine.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Cost aside , which are better and why, the glass scales or the magnetic ?

I had considered the cheap type like these as I use the mill a lot less than the lathe

**LINK**

The cheap types are just that, Cheap. I have replaced 3 sets in the last 2 years because of failures. (2 different types of scales) They would lose their reference point or display random numbers. This does not make them cheap, just a waste of money.

I have now replaced them with glass scales. Don't waste your money. Buy quality scales. I bought an Eason display with 0.001mm scales (only because they were on sale). 0.005mm scales are all you need for a mill or lathe.

The display unit on glass scales has a lot of additional features for calculating the centre point, PCD, milling a curve, memory points, etc. Makes calculations easier.

Magnetic scales are more compact but cost more.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 18/12/2014 06:21:19