2 or 3 Axis DRO for the mill

I have a 3 axis & personally I don't think the Z is really that useful. But I got my 3 axis DRO set up for $400 shipped which was the exact unit that came off my mill. No way I could have passed that offer up & all I had to do was bolt it back on & align it. I think I could live without Z but I'm the type that would get it anyway. But a quill DRO is definitely a necessity on a manual machine.
 
sanddan said:
I had a similar question recently. I had installed a quill digital scale (similar to a digital caliper) and wanted to add the z and y axis. I found a 2 axis DRO kit that included the 3rd axis on the display. To make a long story short I ended up buying another scale and will remove the small digital scale and replace it with the third glass scale. Here is the link for the DRO kit on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Rea...EW-/260788914814?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:1120
Click to expand...

Just to clarify my post, the z axis scale is on the quill, not the column. On a RF45 style mill I would never use or need a scale on the column. I had this type at first but will be changing to the third scale so all of the readouts are on the main display.

installed1.jpg
 
I went with a 2 axis since my Craftex benchtop mill does not have a knee. I can raise and lower the head on the column, but don't really need a DRO on that and there was all ready a digital reader on the quill.

Like others have said, the dro is very nice for doing hole patterns accurately. The other main reason I wanted the DRO was to get the metric readouts since much of what I need to mill is done in metric and my mill is in imperial.
 
On my machine, having the Z-axis on the knee is almost a "must" (Although I'm still trying to decide what DRO to get. :dunno: :rolleyes:). I prefer to leave the quill alone and locked and move up the knee to get my depth (Might be the wrong way but I like the idea of being as rigid as possible.) when I can. The Wells-Index 860 also has a horizontal milling component that is, of course, immovable so being able to track the vertical movement of the knee becomes that much more important.

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-Ron

WIM008.JPG
 
Thanks everyone, I think I will go with the 3 axis and may even put something on the quill as well.

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