Adding a DRO to my mill

[sco]

Having dodged a domestic crisis this week by managing to repair the 14 year old washing machine for the umpteenth time by simply replacing the motor brushes at a total cost of £3.50 I decided to quickly spend the money saved on a DRO for my mill ;-)

I decided to go with magnetic scales due to their compactness and a graphical type readout for it's easy of use, pictures show manufacture of the mounting bracket for the x-axis and the installation so far.

Simon.

[Jo]

Having dodged a domestic crisis this week by managing to repair the 14 year old washing machine for the umpteenth time by simply replacing the motor brushes at a total cost of £3.50

I will keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't go again in a time frame that anyone might remember what you spent the money on 

Sexy has been trying to talk me into buying him a DRO and as he is an  imperialist I have been tempted but most cheap DRO's don't go as accurate as he does so I have been avoiding it and using large diameter dial gauges.

Who did you buy it from and if we can ask  what did it cost.

Jo

[sco]

It was a toss up between Colin at CBR and Machine DRO who were both very helpful - Colin couldn't supply the magnetic scales (and didn't recommend them) and was also more expensive for the display so Machine DRO got my order.

Cough £700 cough, so yes the all the boring domestic appliances need to keep going for a good while yet.  My only excuse was I was egged on by Chris (modelsteam) and Jim (ImIndoors) 

Simon.

[Jo]

  You can get two for that price. Eric has expensive magnetics on all of his and wouldn't recommend glass scales 

I wait to hear how good it is.

Jo

[sco]

Maybe - I know the graphical displays are more expensive than the LCD's and the mag scales are more expensive than the glass - don't think twice though.

Perhaps Colin is prepared to cut you a better deal than he was me!

Simon.

[vcutajar]

Simon, I am sure you won't regret using linear magnetic encoders.  I have three on my mill and they are a godsend if you do not want to loose axis travel.  I got them also from M-DRO.  One of the heads was faulty but was quickly replaced.

One thing I did which I do not know if it will make a difference was to replace all the fixing hardware they sent with non-magnetic stainless hardware.

Vince

[Jo]

Yes the graphical displays are a lot more expensive, Colin and I had a good chat about them. The major advantage being that you can work with the item on a slant and it does the co-ordinate corrections taking into account the slant angle.

I could have done with that today but I got away with drawing it up in Alibre and rotating it to the required angle then reading off the co-ordinates  .

Jo

[Arbalest]

Looking forward to seeing your install progress Simon. Very wise to fit Magnetic scales I reckon given some of the gripes I've read about the glass ones. Should be fit and forget.   

[sco]

Here's the display mounted to the wall.  One thing I forgot to ask Machine DRO was how careful you need to be with mag bases around mag scales?

Simon.

[sco]

Y-axis install now done, just Z to do and Z is looking tricky if want to have a cover to shield the scale from swarf - which I do.

[Mosey]

I take it that you drilled and tapped into the table and machine base to mount these?
Mosey

[Arbalest]

That's a very neat installation Simon. 

[sco]

 The mill did come pre drilled and tapped but most of the holes have been in the wrong place.

Z is proving a bit more of a challenge....

Simon.

[sco]

Used some angle to mount the Z-axis scale so that it faces the operator - might seem to make more sense to mount it directly on the side of the column but that will make fitting the shield much more tricky.

Still need to stick the magnetic strips on and align the reader heads and fabricate the shields...

Simon.

[Jim Nic]

Looking very neatly done Simon. 
Just one query in my mind, as I see it you have the Z axis read out measuring the position of the head but do you have any indication of the position of the quill?
Jim

[sco]

Hi Jim,

I think I use my mill the opposite to you - so on mine the quill feed just has some crude 1mm divisions so I use the head fine feed which has 0.05mm divisions for precision work.  So I have the dro for the position of the head and will continue to use the quill for drilling when I'm not fussy on depth.

With them being magnetic do you have to take care with mag bases?

Simon.

[sco]

Only had half an hour of play time in the workshop tonight but can already see the benefit of the graphical display - picture below shows using the PCD function - you can set the start and end angle and it updates the picture to show your entered parameters.  So I entered a start angle of 25 degrees and end angle of 360 degrees with 8 holes - as you work through the holes it updates the display so you can see where you are - surely much less chance of lulus!

Simon.

[Jim Nic]

Hi Simon

On the very rare occasions that I have used magnetic bases I can't say I noticed any interference with the mag tracks on my DRO. I would be surprised if such a thing did occur given the close proximity that the read head has to be to the track in use.
Nice display, wish I had one of those.  You will, I am sure, have realised that in your run through of the PCD function you have ended up with unevenly spaced holes because you omitted to add your offset starting angle to the final position. (or is it subtract - no matter, your lovely display will show you when you have it right  ).
Jim

[Jo]

I do like that ability of the graphical displays but sadly it looks like my next mill won't be getting one as the machine I am looking at already has a Topaz display with Spherosyn linear encoders 

All I need is to find the space for it 

Jo

[Jasonb]

You could always buy a better display than the Topaz which would take the scales

Got your heart set on that one then

J

PS Do you think I will get a finders fee

[Jo]

If you are quick you might get one of my muffins 

Jo

[sco]

Quick at what?

And what's this about a new mill - Sexy is barely bedded in surely?

Simon.

[Jo]

  I have only arranged to go and have a little look.

I might just take my cheque book

Jo

[Jasonb]

Simon, I think jo feels the need for something larger!

Jo Keep your muffins hot, I won't be long and I come bearing gifts.

[sco]

I've been hankering after something smaller;

http://www.lathes.co.uk/advertphoto/140916boleydrill/

[Jasonb]

You don't want one of those, no use for through holes as there is no clearance hole in the table

[sco]

Just needs some lateral thinking....

Enjoy Jo's muffins.

[Jo]

They didn't last long 

Jo

[sco]

Never mind the muffins what about the mill?

[ths]

They didn't last long 

Jo

What are those interesting looking wooden items? Hugh.

[sco]

One of them looks like the music box from Camberwick Green.

[Jasonb]

Jo will be hoping to get a different tune out of them, and I did leave some non metalic stuff with you and will return tose whan complete along with the third one(s)

You could always share a photo of your intended new addition.

J

PS Lovely pair of muffins

[sco]

I counted three wrappers!

[Jasonb]

A gentleman does not eat them all

Forgot to say we also had a measure up to see who's was biggest.

[sco]

What's all this polluting my hi-tech thread with rough old castings, bits of wood and food items anyway?

[Stuart]

PS Lovely pair of muffins

not heard them called that before

Stuart

[Stuart]

Jo

the topaz head end is quite good but the new head end is about £700 and does just about the same a few more bells and do dahs
I have a microsyn setup on the mill with the latest head end they do have a 5 year GT though more info you can mix the scales micro and spherosyn and well as resolution with no problems and the rods are sold without the reader head


Stuart

[sco]

Got some plastic angle designed for flight case edges fitted to protect the scales - install pretty much finished!

Simon.

[arnoldb]

That's a nice tidy installation Simon 

You'll enjoy the DRO system.

Kind regards, Arnold

[Jo]

It is pretty 

It seems to be missing a power feed  .

Jo

[sco]

It's not missing any such thing mischief maker    Have found a bug with the calculator function though 

How did the potential purchase turn out?

Simon.

[Jim Nic]

Very neat Simon, we like neat.     But please, no more picture of the graphic display or I'm going to be feeling a pain in the wallet. 
Jim

[Jo]

How did the potential purchase turn out?

  It had a noisy head: the PTFE bushes had gone in the varispeed pulleys and the power quill feed was not engaging, so it will be £1250   for the parts plus the repair cost. Luckily I had someone with many years experience in the trade to take with me to advise on these things, so with the price he can keep it .

And as making space in the workshop for it was going to be hard work when I find one it will have to be a really, really good one 

Eric left me with the Feeney castings to make me feel a bit better, as well as the required bits of come in handy to make my Titan 60  Just need to finish this Versatile Dividing Head

Jo