DRO magnetic encoders - generic?

I have cannibalised a pair of 10 year old M-DRO 5 micron magnetic tape encoder heads (with 10 feet of cable and 9-way  D-type connectors) from an M-DRO "Budget Console" lathe kit that back in 2010 did not garner good reviews on MEW. I assume today consoles are better and cheaper, so I am thinking I would not mind having a 3-axis milling DRO and wonder if these magnetic encoder heads are generic and will work fine with any magnetic tape DRO system and in doing so save me some money, or are some 5 micron encoder heads significantly better than others. These have an output signal of 5 volt TTL quadrature with 90 deg phase difference - is that the generic signal that most magnetic tape consoles use today?

Also any recommended budget Milling DRO consoles that take magnetic encoder input?

Edited By Adam Harris on 16/10/2019 17:14:29

Edited By Adam Harris on 16/10/2019 17:43:38

Machine-dro sell several different display heads that will work with 5µm TTL quadrature heads (as well as the heads, new tape and mounting profiles). Have a look at what they've got. I'm using a Shumatec DRO-550 display head with M-dro 1µm heads, but the Shumatec heads are no-longer available.

If you are at the Midlands ME show, have a chat to them (Allandale)

Have a look at EMS-I, I have their consoles on both lathe and mill (4 axis on the mill which allows combining quill and knee read heads) The scales are a mix of EMS-I, Machine-DRO and an old glass scale that was on the mill when I bought it. All work without problem.

All sounds good. Thanks. Will check out the M-DRO/Allendale stand at Warwick ME show and see to what extent most consoles have the flexibility to receive a variety of different types of signal from 5v TTL quadrature to others such as Spherosyn and glass scales.

Well I have learnt that there are consoles from the far east like Shumatec DRO-550 that run DRO-open source software which allows them to receive a variety of Chinese signals (24 Bit, BCD7, BIN6, 21 BIT) and also 5v TTL quadrature, but the big names of Newall and Heidenhain each run their own completely closed system whereby proprietary encoder signal technology must be used (and does not work on any other consoles). However popular generic consoles that take 5v TTL quadrature signals from magnetic tape encoders will take that format signal from any encoder producer and indeed from any glass slide product that gives a 5v TTL quadrature signal.

You could also look at the Yuriystoys web site at his TouchDRO project. I use Machine-DRO magnetic read heads with a simple control unit made to Yuriys plans and using an Android tablet as the display. Youmcould use as large or as small a tablet as you want (sofware version permitting) and it connects via Bluetooth so can easily put the display where you can see it.

Colin

What I am looking for first is a cheap source for a 3rd generic chinese magnetic tape encoder 5 micron (5v TTL quadrature) - the magnetic scales are super thin and impervious to coolant so great for small machines

Bit late Adam i had two of the early magnetic 5 micron 10 years ago when just released. One packed up last week and went for a replacement 1 micron this time now reads 4 to 1.

From memory the C scales are or were Sino and had to be rewired for their readouts.

To be honest if size is no concern i would go with the Indian though very much larger like any glass scale, pointless. Tried twice calling technical at MDro fobbed off twice a best thats 5 days downtime.