I checked their website. Awsome price! One "Gotcha" is that they only have scales in lengths of x times 100 mm. The Carriage would need the 500 mm (you'd crash the readhead if you ever used the full travel with the 400, especially with the tailstock removed)Thanks again Ruben!
please find attached a drawing of the slim scales from drokits.com
Could you find out for me, if they would fit on the 3536 lathe? (Don't worry, you don't assume any responsibility whatsoever ))
They have them from 9.25" up.
Slammed jam up against the motor mount on the spindle end, it would "just" fit, if you trimmed the spash guard enough to clear the read head at the spindle end, and trimmed off a big chunk of the splash guard where it mounts to the bed at the tailstock end (makes 25.375" available, you'd use 25.0 of that). You'd probably need to mount near the top of the motor mount, as below that the readhead would be in danger of crashing into the motor. Space at the top of the motor mount is very tight, about .750" between the motor and the bottom of the carriage. A scale about two inches shorter would be much better, although still very tight. Space on these compact tools is really at a premium.
Another approach would be to make a support the the scale that would run behind the motor buildout of the splash guard, then make an extension of five inches or so to connect the readhead to the carriage. I think that would actually work better, lots of room that way, the 500mm scale would work great that way.
The cross slide would require the 200 mm scale, which again is about two inches longer than needed, but the 100 mm is too short. It would stick way out on the splash guard side, but there's plenty of room, due to the shape of the splash guard, so it should work OK.
I had my sights set on the DRO-Pros http://www.dropros.com/DRO_PROS_Lathe_Digital_Readout#DPLathes , which allows me to use a 450mm (vs the 500mm) for the carriage, and a 150mm (vs the 200mm), which is still a bit tight on the cross slide, but gives me close to those two inches. A lot more money though, $692.00 US vs drokits.com $419.00 US, both including shipping and the one micron scale on the cross slide. Very tempting!
Hopefully, someone with experience with one or the other, or something else that would fit, will enlighten us.
Let me know how it turns out, I get by fine with the Igaging setup on my mini mill for now, but my lathe deserves a REAL DRO! LOL