Clausing 8520 Dro

Finster

Finster

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I feel like a little kid asking all these questions but it's not like I have a bunch of buddies that do machining. In fact, I'm one of the few that know what end of a screwdriver works!:chunky: Anyway, I'll be looking at a DRO for my 8520 this summer, all three axis obviously. Now I've used DRO's a lot but I've never installed or bought one. Money is a bit of an issue since tooling up for my new mill is killing me and pissing off the wife a little. So I'll probably go with China glass. However, advice on this is welcome. The bigger issue is installation. Am I drilling and tapping holes, attaching to existing things? I'm clueless? I've used them extensively in my machinist days (long ago) but never even looked to see how they are attached or installed. A little help my brothers. By the way, I'll be putting a DRO on my old Sheldon lathe also. Anything much different, please note that.
 
Take a look at this thread where I installed some iGaging DROs on my 8520. Not saying that it is the only way to do it, but it just shows how I did it. The iGaging units are very simple and use a magnetic scale instead of glass. I purchased all three for about $250 or a little less if I remember correctly, so they are great if you are on a budget. They are battery powered, but have an auto-shutoff feature so the batteries last for quite a long time. Take a look in the for sale section here on H-M, as member davidh used to sell them, but was looking at retiring. If he still has them for sale they should show up there. I believe Grizzly also carries them so you could look there if you are interested in them.
 
Thanks terry. Forgive my ignorance on the subject but why are you so worried about where you were putting the zero in that thread? Does it matter? You can just zero everything out when it's installed or are you talking directional? I'm a little confused about that part.
 
Funny you should ask.

I just started a project to install one on mine.
I'll be using some inexpensive Chinese scales and building a Bluetooth interface to use the DRO-Pro Android software for the display.
When it's all done, I expect to have about $175 invested for 3 axes... I'll add a tachometer later since I have converted the motor to a variable speed DC setup.

One nice thing about using the DRO-Pro with a tablet is that I can add scales to my lathe and horizontal mill later and just pickup the tablet and move it.
The parts to build the Bluetooth box (TI Launchpad) are about $2o and scales are $25-50 depending on how long you need them.

Warning: Shameless plug ahead.

Videos of the installation (ongoing) are on my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/chipmaker1066
Links for all the parts are on my new blog at http://chipmaker1066.blogspot.com/
 
Finster said:
Thanks terry. Forgive my ignorance on the subject but why are you so worried about where you were putting the zero in that thread? Does it matter? You can just zero everything out when it's installed or are you talking directional? I'm a little confused about that part.
Click to expand...

As you pointed out, zero can be anywhere that one wishes to put it. What I was concerned about was which direction would the numbers go negative and which direction would they go positive. That cannot be changed as a setting or option in the DRO itself, so you have to plan ahead and mount the scale appropriately.

Sorry I wasn't more clear about that in the original post!
 
I'm looking to purchase a Clausing 8520 or 8530 vertical mill. Does anyone here have one for sale or know of one? East coast location preferred but would not rule out other locations. Thank you.
 
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