Milling Machine DRO, 3 axis or 4? (Poll)

[RandyM]

Please define, "Keep doing it the hard way"? If you are referring to manual operation it is not the hard was, just a tad slower. I will keep doing it that way. It has served me well for over 40 years.

"Billy G"

You are correct Bill. The hard way is "counting the turns of the crank and remembering". My mind is getting old and rusty. Many a time I had to start over, particularly when I get past 10. Not saying can't continue on that way as well, but I am getting soft, I do tend to like creature comforts.

 

[nickmckinney]

I vote 4 as I can't count how many times I got interrupted, stop the work, come back and say where the fudge was I with this. If you look at the top of an old mill table and see a gazillion "oops", a knee/quill DRO would have probably prevented 90% of them. So far my current mill has zero oops, but the vice has a couple drill bit marks.

I am going to be putting DRO and those LED light rings on every mill and drill press in my shop as the budget allows. You can do DRO cheaply enough with these kits as well if not concerned with 001 accuracy: