Dro Install On Mill *Updated*

[Eddyde]

Hi All,

I was going to wait till I have all three axises installed before posting this project. However, with all the recent inquiries about these Chinese DRO kits, I figured I would be best to post what I have done so far.
I bought a Easson DRO on AliExpress the end of last year. The transaction was smooth and the DRO arrived within a week. The instruction manual is written in proper english and well illustrated. The kit came with a nice assortment of mounting brackets, however I opted to make my own:

 

[tomh]

Eddy how do you like that mill so far, that's the most fascinating one I've seen yet.
I like the style better than a regular BP, You definitely got a gem there!
It's funny how you will spend years using a dro punching the numbers taking them for granted, never paying any attention at how they are set up or work till you don't have one.
Tomh

 

[Eddyde]

Eddy how do you like that mill so far, that's the most fascinating one I've seen yet.
I like the style better than a regular BP, You definitely got a gem there!
It's funny how you will spend years using a dro punching the numbers taking them for granted, never paying any attention at how they are set up or work till you don't have one.
Tomh

So far I love the mill, its a RB-1 made in Taiwan for a Swiss company Siber Hegner it was only in production for a few years, mid eighties-early nineties. I was super lucky and bought it new old stock, from a dealer who had a couple of them sitting in his warehouse. Love the DRO too, one of those "how could I have lived without it" things.

 

[Eddyde]

So more than a year later, I finally got around to installing the Z axis on my mill.


The electromagnetic drill press came in handy.

I used a common wood spade bit to cut the washer seats, as I didn't have a proper counterbore that size. It cut surprisingly well and is still usable.

Always use a safety cable with the mag drill!

If I had a 8mm spiral tap, I might have tried running it in with the mag drill, but I just used it to align the tap wrench.

There are still some shallow voids in the casting but I figured ther is more than enough surface area for the washers to sit on.

The mounting bar indicated parallel to the head travel.

The scale mounted and finally working.

The read head is mounted to an angle bracket that passes under the mounting bar.

The scale is mounted to the bar with 5mm screws.

The bar is mounted using convex/concave alignment washes, some spacing washes and shims

The bracket also uses convex/concave alignment washes.

Finally the guard in place.
Next time I'll work on straightening out the cables...

Thanks For looking.

Eddy

 

[hman]

Very nice, clean installation! (and pretty way surfaces on the mill)

 

[Eddyde]

Very nice, clean installation! (and pretty way surfaces on the mill)

Thanks!

 

[rock_breaker]

Thanks for the great pictures of your installation. Is your mill constructed so that you don't lose travel or measuring distance parallel to your vise? Would that be the "Y" axis"?
Again sharing of your pictures is greatly appreciated.
Ray

 

[Eddyde]

Thanks for the great pictures of your installation. Is your mill constructed so that you don't lose travel or measuring distance parallel to your vise? Would that be the "Y" axis"?
Again sharing of your pictures is greatly appreciated.
Ray

Hi Ray,
No loss of travel or measuring on any axis with the DRO installation. I had plenty of room on the mill so I was able to order scales as long as I needed. I am eventually going to incorporate the scales into a CNC control system for the mill, hence the extra heavy duty mounting. Also I figure if I ever have to change the scales it will be much easier to remount them to the bars than directly to the mill.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

clever idea to mount the scale on standoffs, then run the read head bracket underneat the scale. Alot neater than mounting the scale flat and then making the read head bracket go over then behind. I'll have to keep this in mind when I add a DRO to my mill, thanks!

 

[jarhead]

great information, Thank You!