Drilling holes in your machines

[Racey]

Finally got around to installing this DRO on my Graziano. Always exciting drilling and tapping holes in your machines....

I ended up not using any of the universal mounting hardware that came with the DRO. This will live on the machine and see daily use, so i wanted the best installation i could get (apart from hiding the scales in the ways themselves )

These magnetic scales are pretty cool, they can be shortened to custom length, so all of the scales on the machine i matched to the travel.

 

[Racey]

I picked this DRO because of the ability to custom length the scales easily, and also this unit has a vector summing mode for the 3rd axis which is on the compound, you input your compound angle and it automatically updates your Z and X using sin/cosine trig. This keeps tool position live and accurate on the DRO if you move the compound.

 

[Racey]

I'm still waiting on DB-9 connectors to have DaveH shorten the cables, since they move with the carriage i don't need any slack on them (apart from the compound which just needs slack to rotate it's angle)

I also decided to run air and coolant up to the carriage so i can have a blow gun and mister hookup all integral to the machine that is right there convenient to use right off the carriage. The cable track carries the power, air, and coolant lines up to the carriage. Still waiting on a longer power cord to pull through

 

[shan]

I installed those on my lathe and have been very happy with them.

 

[Sherpa]

Racey could you share where you purchased that system and $$--? looks nice. I've been searching on-off for DRO systems for my
recent lathe I got..... I've still figuring out replacing some of the rapid traverse power cables and using E-chain and reliable robotic
power cable I have left over from my automation and robotics job I used to do.

--Sherpa

 

[Racey]

Racey could you share where you purchased that system and $$--? looks nice. I've been searching on-off for DRO systems for my
recent lathe I got..... I've still figuring out replacing some of the rapid traverse power cables and using E-chain and reliable robotic
power cable I have left over from my automation and robotics job I used to do.

--Sherpa

This is a unit from DRO-pros.

Main reason i chose it was the ability to custom cut the scales yourself, and the 3axis lathe feature. My Z travel is about 100", so this kit had a 120"z that i shortened.

It was $3k

 

[Sherpa]

oh dang......... thats neat....... (Im gonna have to pic towards the much cheaper version! any recomendations on an inexpensive (IE: cheapo) brand/version/where to buy?

when you type "lathe DRO" on ebay, the el cheapo versions pop right up......... I have no idea if one would last thru install, or 1 year, or longer.

--Sherpa thank you for your references...!

 

[Racey]

oh dang......... thats neat....... (Im gonna have to pic towards the much cheaper version! any recomendations on an inexpensive (IE: cheapo) brand/version/where to buy?

when you type "lathe DRO" on ebay, the el cheapo versions pop right up......... I have no idea if one would last thru install, or 1 year, or longer.

--Sherpa thank you for your references...!

I have no idea about amazon ones... They are a lot of work to install so i'm not sure i'd want to go through all the trouble for something that turned out to not be accurate when relied on. If you can't rely on it for accuracy you might as well not even have it on the machine honestly, it will cause you more pain than benefit.

An X/Z kit for a normal sized lathe is much cheaper, like $700 for mag scales like these.

The one i had to put on is expensive because of the 3rd axis and the extremely long Z of 100"+

Electronica

These units all have unlimited lifetime warranty on the scales too




If $700 is out of the budget the cheapest way is a magnetic back for a 1" dial indicator , no joke. way better than relying on the dials. Most of your work will lie within a 1" of movement (2" diameter variation)

stick it to the way of your cross, this is what i used mainly before finally doing the DRO

 

[RiverDave]

I picked this DRO because of the ability to custom length the scales easily, and also this unit has a vector summing mode for the 3rd axis which is on the compound, you input your compound angle and it automatically updates your Z and X using sin/cosine trig. This keeps tool position live and accurate on the DRO if you move the compound.

View attachment 963108 View attachment 963109 View attachment 963110 View attachment 963111

That’s actually kinda bad ass.. not sure what I’d need it for as I always go back to zero.. but I’ll admit freely I have gotten distracted came back and forgot to zero and gone in to figure out I’m not at zero.. lol

 

[RiverDave]

I have no idea about amazon ones... They are a lot of work to install so i'm not sure i'd want to go through all the trouble for something that turned out to not be accurate when relied on. If you can't rely on it for accuracy you might as well not even have it on the machine honestly, it will cause you more pain than benefit.

An X/Z kit for a normal sized lathe is much cheaper, like $700 for mag scales like these.

The one i had to put on is expensive because of the 3rd axis and the extremely long Z of 100"+

Electronica

These units all have unlimited lifetime warranty on the scales too




If $700 is out of the budget the cheapest way is a magnetic back for a 1" dial indicator , no joke. way better than relying on the dials. Most of your work will lie within a 1" of movement (2" diameter variation)

View attachment 965545

stick it to the way of your cross, this is what i used mainly before finally doing the DRO

It is always interesting to see how people do things differently.

I to this day have never used a travel dial indicator for anything other than some height comparisons that didn’t have to be thst accurate on a surface block. I’m not even really sure wtf you’d do with it with regard to a lathe?


I will use an indicator to true the chuck, or make a part concentric by offsetting the chuck..

for diameters though surface cut, measure... move the dials cut rinse repeat? The dials on mine are accurate l.. but even if they weren’t perfect the measurement is gonna determine what I do next not the dial or the DRO in this case?

I ran lathes with DRO’s when I was a mold maker.. I’d use the readings to get close but after that it’s cut measure cut measure.. measure measure measure lol

 

[RiverDave]

Nice chuck by the way!!

 

[Racey]

It is always interesting to see how people do things differently.

I to this day have never used a travel dial indicator for anything other than some height comparisons that didn’t have to be thst accurate on a surface block. I’m not even really sure wtf you’d do with it with regard to a lathe?


I will use an indicator to true the chuck, or make a part concentric by offsetting the chuck..

for diameters though surface cut, measure... move the dials cut rinse repeat? The dials on mine are accurate l.. but even if they weren’t perfect the measurement is gonna determine what I do next not the dial or the DRO in this case?

I ran lathes with DRO’s when I was a mold maker.. I’d use the readings to get close but after that it’s cut measure cut measure.. measure measure measure lol

Never had a dial slip on you?

Never accidentally forgot to snug one hard enough?

ACME screws don't wear evenly, they tend to wear more in the areas of common travel

most of machining is figuring out ways to navigate around errors, this is just another easy trick to do that.