New DRO

Hello to all this is my first post so will do my best with the questions, I am a self employed plumber and like to play in the shed at home when not at work, I have a Colchester Bantam lathe and a Centec 2B mill I'm happy with the lath at the moment but would like to fit a DRO system to the mill, thing is after reading about the different DRO system's available I'm non the wiser could some one give me some good advise, looking for some thing that's priced well also should I go for 2 or 3 axis.

regards Al.

Hi Al

I have a Warco mill which I used reasonably successfully for about 18 months. Then I noted the advice from many different posters on here in many different threads who were largely of the same opinion, that a DRO transforms mill operation. I now have a magnetic track DRO from Machine DRO, whose advert appears on the right of this page, on the X and Y axes of my mill. The downside is the cost of this system but having considered some of the cheaper options with small displays and scales which were not fully proof against ingress of moisture (such as cutting fluid) I am more than pleased with what I have.

It has many different functions (most of which I haven't used yet), a large display and easily useable programming buttons. The first and most obvious benefit is that I no longer need to consider the problem of leadscrew backlash when moving the table. I no longer mark out my work as comprehensively as before, using the DRO to position the job and using the marking as a confidence check only. I would say definitely go for it and get the best you can afford, it can always be transferred if you upgrade the mill later.

I cannot comment on 2 or 3 channel as my mill has an electronic depth display built in so I never even considered the Z axis but I am sure others will be along shortly with more advice based on more experience than mine.

Jim

Al,

I have a Centec 2B, as well as do two other members of my mod. eng. soc. I installed three axis DRO (glass scales) from the company that advertises on the right here. 'Had to fabricate one small bracket myself for the X-axis, otherwise, those supplied by the company did the job, although, I freely admit that photographs of a colleagues 2B DRO system from the same supplier helped shorten my installation time considerably. My Centec is probably about 60 years old so Jim's comments above about (a) backlash is particularly relevant and (b) the transformation in usage of the machine is mightily significant.

Al,

Here are a couple of pics of my installation of a system from Machine DRO. My Sharp Mk 2 mill is perhaps more similar to your Centec, having a rising knee and being convertable to horizontal, than some of the more common vertical mills. The scales are 2 standard and one slimline; which is on the long traverse as I needed to keep the height below the table top. Pretty straight forward to fit with a few home made spacers and angle pads - the full functionality and range of movements have been retained. I've got the budget console but it seems to do everything I need. I think it's a major improvement. I don't really feel the need to add anything to the lathe though.

Hope this helps,

Rod

Thanks for all the replys chaps will give them a ring on Monday, how do the DRO cope if the workshops suffers with a bit of damp, can't wite to much because the computer keeps crashing, just moved and the broad band singnal's crap.

Al.

Thanks for all the replys chaps will give them a ring on Monday, how do the DRO cope if the workshops suffers with a bit of damp, can't wite to much because the computer keeps crashing, just moved and the broad band singnal's crap.

Al.

Al If its really damp i would go for the magnetic 1 micron jobbies. ie rising damp.

Theres no point of contact in a glass scale having had mine apart to clean several times. The read head is well clear of a 45 degree angled bit of glass inside the casing. The glass could condensate up and give same errors as when need cleaning ie dust and debris.