Hobby DRO

D

ddmckee54

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I was surfing the web the other day and found this site http://www.caliper2pc.de/en_index.html. I was wondering if anybody has any experience with this system and could give me their opinion of it. I'd like to get somebody's thoughts on this, besides the builder's, before I shell out my hard earned cash on what could be a lemon.

Don
 
Personally, I would pass on that system. I think that there are a number of dedicated DRO systems that would be cheaper (especially after factoring in the cost of a computer for this system) and much more reliable. I feel that the computer system is the weakest link in what you are looking at. Unless one has a system designed for being around "machining" (ie. vibration, swarf, oils, grime, abrasives, etc.) it's lifespan could be very questionable.

I would take a look at what dropros.com has to offer and there are even cheaper systems that I know guys on this board are using and having good experiences with. Hopefully they'll chime in and give you other options to look at.

Hope that helps,

-Ron

FYI - I went to college as an electronics engineer and spent the last 30 years as a programmer/ systems/network engineer/ and all around "tech".
 
I do not know what type of machine you have or how heavy of a user you are but I believe you will quickly become unhappy with this system, let me tell you why. Lets start by assuming you have a 7 x 12 late or mini mill and would like to improve the overall accuracy of your work. You can buy plain scales (IGaging is a good one, or Grizzly) and mount those on your machine. These type scales come with a remote read out so if you would like to have X and Y axis on your lathe you can mount the remote readouts in a convenient location be good to go for less than $100 for both axis.

Lets presume you have a larger piece of equipment and thus are more of medium to heavy duty user. You are probably going to want your display head close at hand because you will be using features such "relative position", "absolute position", "radius", "diameter", "bolt hole define/use", etc. While this company lists those functions it would appear from the ad that you must access them via the touch screen unit which in turn is connected to a PC. I have no knowledge of the quality of the touch screen unit but I do know that for $210 plus the cost of a PC you can buy a real DRO head. In this day and age of imbedded processors using a PC to provide the computational power does not make much sense. For two to three hundred you could buy a Shumatech head and be much happier.

If you are budget concience and a light duty user, check out the IGaging or other linear scales as a solution. I used that arrangement for several years and was very happy with it, especially when compared to try and keep track of how many turn I made on a feed knob. DRO heads such as Shumatech will read all different types of scales including the ones that I have mentioned.

That's my two cents.

Jim
 
The DROs that Furpo linked to are the iGaging ones that Jim mentioned. Unless you need accuracy to 0.001 or better, or need the ability to plot bolt circles with a DRO, these will do a good job for you. I'm using them on two mills (ZX-25 and Victoria U2) and a lathe (Hercus AR) and really like them.

They will do metric and imperial, absolute and incremental. I haven't had one skip on me. When the display is off, they are still keeping track of movement.
 
I use the computer software for bolt circles
Machinist's Calculator v5.0.44
 
i tried the calipers on the mill and lathe and the first hint of moisture they are done. after a few replacements i gave the idea up.
you have to be too careful not to get them dirty also
I'd save the money for something designed for the enviroment
steve
 
JimSchroeder said:
I do not know what type of machine you have or how heavy of a user you are but I believe you will quickly become unhappy with this system, let me tell you why. Lets start by assuming you have a 7 x 12 late or mini mill and would like to improve the overall accuracy of your work. You can buy plain scales (IGaging is a good one, or Grizzly) and mount those on your machine. These type scales come with a remote read out so if you would like to have X and Y axis on your lathe you can mount the remote readouts in a convenient location be good to go for less than $100 for both axis.

Lets presume you have a larger piece of equipment and thus are more of medium to heavy duty user. You are probably going to want your display head close at hand because you will be using features such "relative position", "absolute position", "radius", "diameter", "bolt hole define/use", etc. While this company lists those functions it would appear from the ad that you must access them via the touch screen unit which in turn is connected to a PC. I have no knowledge of the quality of the touch screen unit but I do know that for $210 plus the cost of a PC you can buy a real DRO head. In this day and age of imbedded processors using a PC to provide the computational power does not make much sense. For two to three hundred you could buy a Shumatech head and be much happier.

If you are budget concience and a light duty user, check out the IGaging or other linear scales as a solution. I used that arrangement for several years and was very happy with it, especially when compared to try and keep track of how many turn I made on a feed knob. DRO heads such as Shumatech will read all different types of scales including the ones that I have mentioned.

That's my two cents.

Jim
Click to expand...

Could you please give a little more detail on this unit? I couldn't find anything on pricing. How hard is it to build? any other info that would help me decide if it's right for me. I have a Bridgeport "J" head & a Bridgeport "J2" head& a Logan lathe I may equp.
 
Thanks for the link to the Shumatech stuff, Jim. I could easily build one of those but they're out of the kit. I wonder what the price difference would be between Digikey or Mouser and buying the full kit from Shumatech...or for that matter, getting glass scales and building a DRO-550 vs a Uniq/Sino head w/glass scales. I could get a Sino head and scales for my Heavy 10 for $595. If you're good with a soldering iron either of the Shumatech boards should be easy to do since they've soldered all the surface mount components for you. Wow, I forgot to say I've got the Igaging scales on my mill. Grizzly has them here. My experience with the Igaging units have been positive but for lathe work I think I'd rather go with something a little more accurate. YMMV.
 
Have to agree with ScrapMetal's assessment:
Computer will be the weakest link followed by the communication method -
a low voltage synchronous serial: The logic levels are -1.55 volts low and 0 volts high,
24 bit 90 kHz synchronous. The distance from the caliper to the readout is going to
be very limited and cabling has to be pristine - overall shield is absolutely necessary
to keep noise (e.g. motor) from interfering.
The information from jumps4 is alarming too - no sealing!
 
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