New DRO

Yup game changer on a mill :)
 
I see many two axis installations, omitting a scale on the headstock quill or the tailstock quill. The first digital readout that I added was on the headstock of my RF30 clone and when I got my G0602 lathe, one of my first additions was a DRO on the tailstock quill. The tailstock quill has a graduated ring but it is .06" inches/rev. Actually .0591"/rev. When boring to a precise depth, it was necessary to do the math. Even worse was the RF30 clone. The fine feed was .085"/rev. and if needed to drill, mill, or bore to depth, it required counting revolutions and multiplying by .085 and calculating the partial rev. required. Additionally, if I wanted to do a rapid return, of the quill, I would lose my position.

For the relatively small increase in cost from a two axis DRO to a 3 axis, I would never hesitate to go with three.
 
They tried to teach me during my apprenticeship (early 90s) to use the dials bs the DRO and I wasn’t having it.

When asked what I was going to do if I went to a shop that didn’t have DROs I said I would tell them to move up into the 80s and get them.

Figured if I was ever in that situation where my boss was dumb enough to have not figured this out on his own I’d get fast tracked.

Today I can and do use dials, none of our lathes at work, nor none or the three I own have DROs on them, but for milling it’s a must.
 
Yeah.....my problem is I have no clue how to use most of the functions. Hard to learn an old dog new tricks I guess......
 
brasssmanget said:
Yeah.....my problem is I have no clue how to use most of the functions. Hard to learn an old dog new tricks I guess......
Click to expand...
Old dog here.

It’s easy to learn as most stuff can be found on line.

What’s hard is remembering it all…
 
Yeah....I had trouble remembering where this post was from a day ago! lol
 
I went so far as to put x, y, knee z, and quill z on my mill

I started at least a decade ago with x and y from a clearance tool sale...

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk
 
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