DRO installation

I have just taken delivery of a 2axis DRO which I intended to install on my Warco WM180 lathe, however now that I have the bits I am beginning to think that I have bitten off more than I can chew. I can see that I would need to fit offset bars and brackets to the cross slide to clear the gib adjusters, oil ports and the swing of the compound slide not to mention the carriage lock. Anyway I'm not one to give up that easily so I wanted to ask if any member has fitted a DRO to the WM180 or similar or has photos of a pre-fitted one to provoke a little thought. I have added photos to illustrate my remarks.

Edited By Keith Gaunt on 26/04/2020 16:29:14

Edited By Keith Gaunt on 26/04/2020 16:30:37

Have a look on youtube I think you will find lots of fitting of them to Warco.

Steve.

If you are going to mount it where you have it pictured just make sure you can get the tailstock close enough to the work particularly when turning between ctrs or drilling small holes in work that does not protrude far from the chuck or faceplate.

Hi Keith,

I fitted my scales to the right hand side of the carriage on my WM250VF but found it really restricted the tail stock for drilling. Changed it to the front of the carriage and seems to work well. Just need to watch if the chuck jaws are quite wide they can catch on the scale cover. Let me know if you need a photo of the installation. Cheers the noo.

Is there room under the cross slide as a guy I saw with a myford had mounted it in the recess underneath & it was hidden from any intrusion, looked very neat.

Steve.

I had just rested the scale there hoping for a bit of inspiration, although I think it would have to be offset from the cross slide quite a bit to retain access to oil ports and gib adjusters etc. I did look at mounting it on the chuck side and there would be less interference apart from as you say it would catch on a wide open chuck, but aye John a photo would be great if you don't mind. I know the reader would need a bracket of some kind because it's a magnetic scale, which could be my main mistake.

I think I read something about the one mounted under the cross slide, and I think the keyways in the Myford were utilised for the purpose, the WM180 has a completely flat cross slide, but I will have another look cos I'll have to start thinking a bit more outside of the box.

for mounting within the cross slide have a look at ChrisB's thread

Edited By JasonB on 26/04/2020 18:25:16

You see a lot of industrial lathes with them mounted stuck out the back, but you do need plenty of room behind the lathe.

Mounted mine where you are planning to, and it can be a pest at times, just had to remove it for a one off boring job set up as it was in the way.

Hi Keith,

Here are a couple of photos of my set up. You can see what I mean about the chuck jaws!! a wee scuff on the swarf guard. Anything else I can help you with just let me know. Cheers the noo.

Hi John

Thanks very much for the photos, I've just been looking and scratching my head again and returned to the house to see what aluminium angle is available online, so that I can at least position the scale and reader even if it's only with double sided tape to start with. I have gone to favouring the chuck side as well, yours looks a nice tidy job something like I want to achieve. I see what you mean about it catching on the chuck when the jaws are wide. I have also got to move mine towards the back of the lathe to avoid the compound slide when it is rotated unless I can somehow fix it lower down. I'll get some fixing materials first because I find it hard to visualise, I have to physically see it.

Thanks for your help John, I'll let you know how I get on.

Hi Keith,

I didn't use the brackets that came with the scales but had to machine one to get the scale to fit at the front of the carriage. I'll take the guard off this afternoon and see if I can get a better photo of the bracket. Cheers the noo.

Hi Keith,

You can see the small angle bracket better in these photos. I know it doesn't look very substantial but I've had no problems with the scale sensor in the last 3 years. The scale itself was attached to the cross slide by drilling and tapping (carefully) There are a few Youtube videos showing scale installations on various lathes that may be of help to you. Cheers the noo.

Hi Keith

I fitted a magnetic system to my Clarke 300 a year ago and submitted it as an article to Neil, but it has not got to the top of his pile yet. If you wish you can put your e mail address in my message box and I can then give you the gist of it

Keith

There's no room for a standard scale (with the extrusion) to fit under the cross slide. The way I did it on my WM280 was by installing the magnetic tape (only) under the cross slide and fitting the readhead to the carriage. Best solution imho, you can get the tailstock as close as you want to the carriage, and no fear of the chuck hitting the scale.

Nothing much to see in reality, as the scale and read head are under the cross slide, but you can just make out the cable of the read head.

Chris

Edited By ChrisB on 27/04/2020 23:09:24

Are we all taking advantage of the lockdown by fitting DROs to our machines? I'm in the process of fitting M-DRO magnetic scales to my VMB, have fitted the Z scale channel so far and the reader bracket. Now need to tackle the X and Y - the latter looks particularly tricky. Anyone who has fitted to a VMB, any suggestions welcome!

First light! Fitted read head, adjusted to 0.5 mm clearance from scale, fitted display, connected it up, switched on, it works and 0.5 mm on the Z feedscrew indicates -0.500 on the display! Just two more axes to go...

DRO seems to be getting cheaper these days (at entry level).

I am wondering about dro installation on my mini mill, in particular. There seems to be more room for mounting the scales than on my min lathe; I have enough trouble fitting things in and drilling small parts on the lathe, without interfering with the cross slide further.

Many of the cheaper systems warn that they are not water / fluid proof. I can imagine that could be a problem. (???) Also, I rather fancy a magnetic scale which could be cut to fit exactly. It's not always obvious which is which on the eBay ones.

I have a converted tyre tread depth gauge which fits (magnetic) on various parts of my lathe and gives useful ad-hoc measurements BUT it has a habit of suddenly going loopy and the display shows random numbers until the motor is turned of and on again. I could buy another one, of course, if it would solve that (interference?) problem - has anyone else tried making one? They're great value at about £8, iirc plus a couple of magnets. I have also seen digital callipers converted for the same purpose.