DRO'S are great as you can? see.? I like mills some jobs times. On a lathe if a beginner it can help. But on cross slide it will take up some capacity on some types of work unless you the one that mounts to screw.? I like DRO'S on carriage when doing snap ring groves.? Milling with a edge finders I can put holes on mark it does take math with DRO'S.? Most holes I just hand layout. They are nice but not need if money just buy a goid set. Low budget not need.? Dave?
?chrisser Dec 21? ?
I've been looking at DROs again. Seems I go through this exercise every six months or so.
Wanted to bounce off the conclusion I always seem to come to and see if you guys have a different opinion.
1) Tailstock. This seems like one of the easiest (cheap caliper modification) and cheapest. I'm not sure the accuracy of calipers is necessary, but it's so easy to do that maybe why not. The graduations on the tailstock are getting hard to read and a magnetic dial indicator is easily bumped.
2) Carriage This seems the easiest to implement, and also the most useless. Even if I put a handle on my leadscrew, the feed is awfully coarse. Typically I use the carriage to get close, lock it down, and then feed with the compound. The only time it might be useful is turning a diameter on a long enough piece that the compound doesn't have the range on it's own - even then, if I had to turn to a shoulder, I'd still likely set a carriage stop and advance the last few bits with the compound. Maybe I'm doing it wrong
3) Cross-slide. I think this one has some merit. Not too difficult to implement and with the slop in the screw, having absolute measurement would be useful. Leaning heavily towards this one.
4) Compound. This one would be most useful, but it's also the hardest to do especially without getting in the way, and it's complicated if you angle the compound. I'd like to do this one, but I'm not sure if it's doable enough to make it worth it.
?
What do you guys think?
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?davesmith1800 Dec 21? ?
They nice on mill but the they have a short life typically.??
On a lathe it takes up capacity depending how installed.?
The coolant kills the DRO's
I have set I use they installed the day need the dro and remove after the job is finished. Best of both worlds.?
On my mill I have DRO on quill on time it is up out of the coolant and oil.?
Most time I use long range dial indicators on magnetic base.?
Dave?
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?John Mattis Dec 21? ?
I mounted a 1-inch travel dial indicator on my tailstock that is adjustable.
I also have a 1-inch travel dial indicator mounted on the ways that can be removed.
I made a stop for the carriage that I use a lot.
The cross slide is fine as is, but i have replaced the gibbs with brass ones.
No batteries required.
See the photo attached.
Drawings are available.
Regards,
John Mattis (retired mechanical engineer)
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IMG_1382.HEIC
IMG_1381.HEIC
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?davesmith1800 Dec 21? ?
Old time machinist would set compound to 30¡ã for direct reading the dial.?
They also with toop post grinders set compound to 5¡ã to 11¡ã for even finder feed.?
Dave?
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?davesmith1800 Dec 21? ?
Here my draw full drop and dial indicators I use.
Dave?
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Mark Kimball
Dec 21? ?
I currently just have a DRO on my carriage. It's mounted on the back side of the lathe so it's out of the way (I removed the splash guard long ago). I also have a hand crank on the lead screw but it has a fairly long handle so I don't find it too difficult to move the carriage in .001" increments. I did get fed up with the large amount of backlash so I made a new bearing block for the right side of the LS that incorporates two thrust bearings, one on each side, that can be preloaded. Now the only backlash is what the half nuts contribute.
I just brush on cutting oil when I need it so my DRO stays pretty clean. I usually cut aluminum, brass and plastic dry, and they are the lion's share of what I machine.
Using the hand crank is how I determined that I had used the wrong lube on my LS bearing blocks. I had used grease and found that it really increased the torque needed to turn the LS. Now I use lubricating oil.
Regarding putting a DRO on the carriage, I've been experimenting with putting it below the lathe bed, using a sideways "U" shaped bracket attached to the back of the cross slide. However, the frictional force needed to move the DRO sensor deflects the bracket to the tune of something like .004". I'm looking at ways to reduce the friction. It will be tricky because there's a sliding contact that connects the rule to the sensor's internal ground, and that has to be a very good contact or the DRO becomes very sensitive to electrical noise.
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mike allen
Dec 21? ?
I don't know if they still have them , LMS used to have these DRO's that mounted behind the handles on the compound & Crossslide that were made for these small lathes . As far as the carriage ya probably would need a linear scale , ya can go from a Digital caliper all the way up to a Magnetic scale for that one . Have ya looked at TouchDro ?
animal
On 12/21/23 8:29 AM, chrisser via groups.io wrote:
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?chrisser Dec 21? ?
I've looked at TouchDRO. I'm not sure i'm a fan. I hate touch screens, especially in the shop even though I do see some benefits.
On Thursday, December 21st, 2023 at 2:45 PM, mike allen <animal@...> wrote:
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Ralph Hulslander
Dec 21? ?
Chris, once you use TouchDRO you will love it! I have it on my mill, one of these days I'll have it on my lathe also.
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?ChazzC Dec 21? ?
See my article in the January/February issue of The Home Shop Machinist for how I added X- & Z-axis scales to my 7x16. For a number of reasons I used iGaging SS Absolute Plus scales and a TounchDRO adapter, but the same approach could be used with glass or magnetic scales:
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Ralph Hulslander
Dec 21? ?
Chazz, do you have a link to your article?
Ralph
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?ChazzC Dec 21? ?
The article will not be available online (or hardcopy) until early January. I got my advance copies today, but don't expect my subscription copy until maybe next week. Once it is available, you can either purchase a hardcopy of the issue or purchase a digital version (https://secure.villagepress.com/store/items/list/group/803)?
The content is copyrighted, so you can only access through a subscription or individual issue purchase. I don't get any commission for sales, but I think the article is worth the $5 for the digital version.
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Bruce J
Dec 21? ?
It¡¯s not up yet, but if you're a subscriber you be able to find it here https://secure.villagepress.com/store/items/list/group/775?
They are at long last adding digital archives that subscribers can read; they¡¯re back to Jan/Feb 2018; I know my own subscription started after that, but I can read it, so they¡¯re available to all subscribers.
On Dec 21, 2023, at 2:00 PM, Ralph Hulslander <rhulslander@...> wrote:
Chazz, do you have a link to your article?
Ralph
On Thu, Dec 21, 2023 at 3:55?PM ChazzC <chaz-creswell@...> wrote:
See my article in the January/February issue of The Home Shop Machinist for how I added X- & Z-axis scales to my 7x16. For a number of reasons I used iGaging SS Absolute Plus scales and a TounchDRO adapter, but the same approach could be used with glass or magnetic scales:
Attachments:
20231204 Lead Photo Lathe w TDROs.jpeg
--?
Bruce Johnson
The less a man knows about how sausages and laws are made, the easier it is to steal his vote and give him botulism.
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WAM
Dec 21? ?
Have DRO's on both mill and lathe. Couldn't do the work I do without them
https://www.ajawamnet.com/ajawam3/swarf/swarf.htm
DROPro magnetic on the mill and some cheap Shars caliper type on the lathe. When I install the 16" bed, I have another set of magnetics to install.
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?davesmith1800 Dec 21? ?
Edited Dec 21
When DRO is working they great.
I had a set on a Bridgeport for 20 years. They work great but the rest mills I had did not have DRO'S and still used them without any problems.?
When work as a Journeyman Machinist I would go into shop and DRO's work haft the time as you use the tool.
I finely got set I move from tool to tool if need.?
They are wonderful if treat with care.
Dave
FYI?
I have a set of Shars in my tool box since 2009.
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Chris Albertson
Dec 22? ?
A DRO is much more useful on a mill than on a lathe. What makes them great compared to the numbers on the hand wheel is that the DRO has no backlash. It shows the real location of the axis. The other good feature they all have is a zero-reset. If you need to move (say) 10 mm from current location, then set to zero and turn the handle until the DRO read ¡°10.00¡±.??
I used screws to mount them but as it turns out tonight I¡¯m ordering some powerful magnets for another project and I¡¯m thinking how easy it would be to use CA glue to put the magnet on the DRO and magnetically mount the DRO.
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?ChazzC Dec 22? ?
True DRO (with fully functioning Display) is just as valuable on a lathe as a mill: you can set locations of various features in X & Z, and until you have experienced being able to turn to a diameter instead of a radius you don't know how big a difference this is.
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Miket_NYC
Dec 22? ?
DROs aren't worth the money and trouble to me. I use a dial indicator with a magnetic back on my mini-lathe, my my 11" Logan lathe, and the Z axis of my mini-mill. Not as pretty or cool-looking as a DRO, but I can move it around as needed.
For the mini-mill's X travel, I have a 2" travel dial indicator (The calibration for the X travel of the Imperial mini-mill is ridiculous. It has a 16-tpi leadscrew, which requires a fractional number of thousandths on the dial. The factory in China maybe figured Americans were too stupid to notice, and since we're the only country that still uses the Imperial system, maybe we are. I wish I had bought a metric mini-mill.
Finally, I like the 2" travel indicator on the mini-mill so much that I now wish the magnetic dial indicator I move around on the lathes and the mill was also 2", but it's just 1". Maybe 2023 is time to change that.?
Mike Taglieri?
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?Les Orton Dec 22? ?
I first started using a lathe without any gratiants on the handles, you ahd to guess how much you were taking off. I've used mill with DRO but not lathes and always though of it as an overkill on lathes.
I recently bought a sendhand lathe with DRO factory fitted.
At first they didn't seem that useful, but now I use them all the time and miss them when I'm using my smaller lathe.
Not essential, but if you can afford them they are very useful.
Just my opinion.
Lez
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Charles Kinzer
Dec 22? ?
Actually, there are three countries still using the Imperial system: The U.S., and also the industrial powerhouses of Myanmar and Liberia (both of whom are actively converting to metric).
Regarding the inch marked metric threaded (1 mm per handwheel turn) 39.4 thousandths masquerading as 40 thousandths. This makes each handwheel turn come up 0.0006 thousandths short...OK, so that's about a "half tenth" which is usually trivial in the mini lathe world, but multiple turns have a cumulative error.
It always surprised me that more people didn't complain about that with their mini lathes. But I got responses that people make final cuts to a measurement anyway and it didn't bother them. And maybe if only working on smaller parts, they were depending on many, or any, full turns of the hand wheel to final cut.
At least one mini lathe I saw long aga at least had the handwheels honestly marked. Instead of 40 even divisions, it had 39 that DID represent one thousandth each and then smaller division just before you reached zero again to cover the 0.4 thousandths.
On a mini-mill, I think it is much more of a liability. You are often doing a lot of table travel (often by counting a fairly large number of turns) and that error per turn will add up to something often unacceptable.
When I bought a Chinese mini-lathe and mini-mill many years ago just for fun (and ended up using them far more than I expected as I have larger machines) I got the Micro-Mark "True Inch" variety. It seems Micro-Mark has some exclusive agreement with Sieg (who manufactures them) so that nobody else can sell them.
I recall that Little Machine Shop at one time sold conversion kits to make your lathe or mill have truly inch based travel screws with new handwheels. I don't know if they sell that anymore. I looked a little and couldn't find it.
For DRO's, I believe the answer to that, and almost any such question, is that there is no answer. It depends on the person's needs or perhaps merely desires or available funds or even their eyesight.
Charles E. "Chuck" Kinzer
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 07:01:06 AM PST, Miket_NYC <mctaglieri@...> wrote:
DROs aren't worth the money and trouble to me. I use a dial indicator with a magnetic back on my mini-lathe, my my 11" Logan lathe, and the Z axis of my mini-mill. Not as pretty or cool-looking as a DRO, but I can move it around as needed.
For the mini-mill's X travel, I have a 2" travel dial indicator (The calibration for the X travel of the Imperial mini-mill is ridiculous. It has a 16-tpi leadscrew, which requires a fractional number of thousandths on the dial. The factory in China maybe figured Americans were too stupid to notice, and since we're the only country that still uses the Imperial system, maybe we are. I wish I had bought a metric mini-mill.
Finally, I like the 2" travel indicator on the mini-mill so much that I now wish the magnetic dial indicator I move around on the lathes and the mill was also 2", but it's just 1". Maybe 2023 is time to change that.?
Mike Taglieri?
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