What Dro For The Home Shop Guy... G4003g

Dman1114 said:
Hey dark Zero.... that looks like the Miester BC-10L Dro...... Same one that steve beadair did a write up on...


Thats the one i want.
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Yes, it's a rebranded BC-10L. At the time, I did not buy the Meister cause they changed the colors of the membrane. I hated the blue, yellow, orange, red buttons. I wanted the older one that was simply black & white like the one Bedair reviewed but it was no longer available. That was in 2010.
 
Coolidge, nice install. Agree with having a beefy backing or standoffs. I also usually add 4 set screws to the scale mounting back plate and add a small slot for the mounting bolts so yo can true up the scale in all 3 dimensions. Did a tailstock DRO, nothing was parallel, the set screws and mounting slot allowed me to tweak the mounting of the reader.

I have Acu-Rite DRO on my mill Easson on the lathe, both with glass scales. No complaints on either, magnetic scales are nice, but if you have a cover over the scale, I do not think they add anything. A few posts have had issues with El400 magnetic scales becoming erratic, I believe that the issue was the read distance of the head to scale was not kept very consistent. The EL400 looks really nice, but you can get an Easson ES-8A (or 12) with glass scales for quite a bit less and work just as well.

Tailstock DRO.jpg
 
The nice thing about the EL400 magnetic scales is you can cut them to length.
 
mksj I like that setup on the tailstock, I especially like the large numbers. Only why didn't you install it on the top vs the side?
 
I did give the position of the scale/head a bit of thought and did consider a top mount. If you mounted the scale/head on the top, it is more likely to get fowled by chips and fluids, and may interfere with grabbing the clamping lever. I would have preferred mounting the scale/head on the back of the tailstock, but there is no room. Mounting on the front side adds minimally to width and does not interfere with anything. The display is on a pivot in two axis, so can be positioned for easy reading from many positions. Not sure if the scale is a magnetic or capacitance type, but the hardened SS on the Igaging Absolute series is tough to cut, and needed to be shortened by about 1". As mentioned, magnetic scales are easily cut to size, but there are enough sizes of glass scales for the main DRO that this shouldn't be an issue (you just need to order the correct length or slightly longer).



Tailstock DRO side.jpg
 
The slot for my drift is on the side so I'd have to mount one on top.
 
Is the drift the only way to eject a MT arbor on the G4003G? Does it not eject when you retract the quill all the way with the handwheel?

I'm going to mount mine on the top too but not for that reason.
 
Id love to go with the EL400..... But that price tag is just intimidating. After reading MKSJ's post.... i think ill be fine with glass scales.

But i still want my display to read X Z.... so now I'm looking at that Dro Pros 2L with a 1 micron scale for cross slide (extra 50$)

Anyone else use the 2L?
 
Ejects when you retract the quill. If anything you loose almost an inch of travel with use of a tang, non-tang about 1/2".
 
Dman1114 said:
Id love to go with the EL400..... But that price tag is just intimidating. After reading MKSJ's post.... i think ill be fine with glass scales.

But i still want my display to read X Z.... so now I'm looking at that Dro Pros 2L with a 1 micron scale for cross slide (extra 50$)

Anyone else use the 2L?
Click to expand...

I have DroPros 3-axis glass on both of my mills and have had zero problems with the scales. Only reason I ponied up the extra for the EL400 on the lathe was because I may use coolant on the lathe at some future point and didn't want to run the risk. Functionally I see no difference between the two.
 
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