I Think I Might Have Killed My DRO

N

Nyala

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I recently encountered a problem with loose screws that hold down my X-Axis lead screw nut on my Precision Matthews PM-25. I took off the table and tightened everything up then went a step further and took advantage of the situation to disassemble everything and clean and re-lube both X and Y components and clean out any swarf. I reassembled everything and it worked perfectly, except for the Y-axis DRO. It moved, as normal, but I got nothing from the readout.

This morning I disassembled the Y-axis DRO and found that there was a small metal arm with a ball attached that is apparently used to read the scale. It had broken off the small trolley that moved it back and forth.

The broken surface area is only about 1/32" at its widest point, which is triangular in shape and about 3/8" long.

Is it toast?
 
Can you reattach the broken piece? Sounds like it's just a mechanical failure and the electronics are ok
 
The problem with reattaching is that it would likely have to be with glue. That very small surface area that I mentioned on the broken part is all there would be to hold it together.

I agree that it appears that the electronics are OK.

I'm going to contact Precision Matthews tomorrow to see if parts are available for this.
 
Would you like butter and jelly/jam with your toast?
First try the oem both pm and the scale manufacture, sometimes you get lucky.
But take and post some pictures for everyone's benefit.
We can all learn from your experience.
 
Pictures are good. Helps us see, what you see. Otherwise, we are just guessing.

May need a new read head, but this is not a big deal. I had to replace a read head, and the physical reassembly into the scale, really only takes a minute or so. My read head had a bizarre skipping problem, and after some correspondence, PM sent me a replacement head.
 
I was thinking maybe you could reproduce the broken piece but I'd need to see it
You can do some pretty amazing and strong repairs with JB weld epoxy
 
Sounds like a project. As others have said, let's see a photo of the broken part.
 
He's probably talking about the shuttle spring, here:

Untitled.jpg
 
Nyala said:
I recently encountered a problem with loose screws that hold down my X-Axis lead screw nut on my Precision Matthews PM-25. I took off the table and tightened everything up then went a step further and took advantage of the situation to disassemble everything and clean and re-lube both X and Y components and clean out any swarf. I reassembled everything and it worked perfectly, except for the Y-axis DRO. It moved, as normal, but I got nothing from the readout.

This morning I disassembled the Y-axis DRO and found that there was a small metal arm with a ball attached that is apparently used to read the scale. It had broken off the small trolley that moved it back and forth.

The broken surface area is only about 1/32" at its widest point, which is triangular in shape and about 3/8" long.

Is it toast?
Click to expand...
Ken226 said:
He's probably talking about the shuttle spring, here:

View attachment 447845
Click to expand...
I have been fighting DRO issues since February and that little ball is one of the culprits that can cause distress. The ball sits in a socket and the wire is a spring which pushes the reader into the glass scale. If the ball isn't in its socket the thing does not work.
 
verbotenwhisky said:
I have been fighting DRO issues since February and that little ball is one of the culprits that can cause distress. The ball sits in a socket and the wire is a spring which pushes the reader into the glass scale. If the ball isn't in its socket the thing does not work.
Click to expand...

Yea, I've been there. I keep a few spare scales on hand, just in case.

I've cannibalized parts from the spares a few times.
 
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