Dro's On Budget For Mill

middle.road said:
Oh-boy... I was just surfing the store at the link you provided in post #15 earlier, and they've got a 5μm set for only ~$290.
There is however a timer on the listing counting down and it's currently at 6 hours+ at the time of this post.
Chewing on this, the (3) Ditron scales on Ebay will cost ~$311.00 ---- *SIGH*

If only we had unlimited budgets for our shops - eh?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't worry too much about the time stamp. The sale will just start over once the timer runs out. It is similar to the set up Ebay uses, there has to be an end point to a sale
 
Just an FYI, I remembered why some people said glass scales are better. If you look at dropros documentation, you will see magnetic scales have an accuracy of +- 10 microns, while the best glass scales have an accuracy of +-4 microns.
 
I wouldn't sweat over $21 dollars to much. Of course I would want to save the money if I could but I wouldn't let that amount cause me to make a hasty decision. That is about what I'm going to be paying for 1u scales. I can go with 5u for $5 less per scale.

I'll probably be ordering after they return from New Years in a few days. I don't know what it would cost to ship them to you but you are welcome to buy with me. My guess is the turn around would take about two weeks from China & maybe another week from me.
 
I think I'll step back from it for a bit.
The head unit - SNS 3V - looks to be of better quality that a lot of the other Chinese units I've looked at recently, which is intriguing.
Doesn't look to be sloppily made as are some of the others.
This is the 5μm version I've come across: -=- LINK -=-
$289 w/ free shipping. What's the price you're looking at for the 1μm?
 
About $85-$90 a piece & appear to be of the best quality so far that I've found. They sell 5u about $5 cheaper. I also found another company that is just a little cheaper but I don't believe they are quite as good of scales. They all look the same from the outside. I've been talking to one of the sales people for this company for a few weeks & they strike me quite well so I'm going with them.
 
My understanding is that the Chinese have really nailed glass scale manufacturing down.
I would be surprised if there is any problem with the scale or the reader.
Differences in quality (if there are any) will be in the quality of the wire, bearings, and other electricals.
So make sure you have robust stress relief on the wire coming out of the read head, and make sure the cables are well hung so the make nice big curves.
I figured I could buy 3 of the cheap ones for the cost of 1 "good" unit.
The Chinese are not exactly known for quality electronics. I would not pay $1000.00 for any DRO with a Chinese display even if it had a Starrett or Mitutoyo sticker on it. Chinese electronics are throw-aways, get the cheapest thing and toss it when it breaks.

as for glass vs magnetic. Glass are very stiff and pretty forgiving about mounting and flexing. Magnetic scales are floppy and need to be fixed to something flat and rigid. Magnetic scales are supposed to be more resistant to liquid and dust, but they are not immune to swarf and will give false readings when they get fouled. I think magnetic scales are probably over all better than glass, but not for the cost difference. They are much smaller, so that would be the only real argument in my mind for getting them. Wait two years, and they will be super cheap.
 
The ones I decided on are the only ones quoted to me that has barrings. A little cheaper ones have metal blocks they travel on & a little cheaper yet had plastic.
 
I just got a glass 2 axis kit from tpactools.com for $375 delivered(for my grinder). Looks just like the the ones I received from Shars in the past. No problems other than the mounting bar was too thick for the coolant shields to fit over which isn't a big deal for me (seller may have substituted thicker bars for my application). I placed the order online and Tom emailed me to check what machine it was going on before he shipped and I had the kit within 48 hours of placing the order. At this point I would not hesitate to order another kit from him if the need arose.
I tried the igaging dros in the past and had a high failure rate I think due to swarf getting in the reader.
 
i have both iGaging and Absolute in stock, the iGaging set of three would be less than $100 and they work fine for most folks. the Absolute are a step up, and a set of three would be around the $200 mark. . . i have many again. . . . .
 
On the DRO I just installed there is one difference I like between it and the one I got from TPAC.

The TPAC has five digits past the decimal point, and the new one has four. Not a huge deal, but when your used to working with 4 digits and then come home to something different it takes a moment to adjust to it.

20151231_133325.jpg 20151231_133311.jpg

The other difference is that the more expensive TPAC unit has the slim scales, the new one does not.
 
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