- Joined
- Feb 22, 2012
- Messages
- 924
A little back story:
I've been using my benchtop mill for a few years now and was looking at going somewhat digital for quite some time now. While I have no problems reading the dials and managing backlash (have been doing so until now and as of this writing still doing so) I wanted to simplify things, and speed things up a tad especially for repeatable operations, finding centers of parts and the likes.
Obviously the first thing that came to mind is getting a DRO, but looking at pricing, and knowing of also the possibility of going the CNC router I put a hold on any upgrades until I figure out which path I want to take. If I am spending any large sum, might as well get what will work best for me than having to spend twice.
Eventually (after over a year of debating) I decided that CNC is adding too much complexity and parts (and maintenance, and parts that might require replacing, and who knows what more) than I have the time and focus for at the moment, and I do enjoy manual work. Another reason for going CNC is for auto feeding- but for long parts, I'll just do that manually for the time being as most the parts I work on are smaller scale.
Looking at pricing for a DRO I noticed 3 main price brackets which seemed aimed at hobby machinist:
1. The $1000 range (dropro and equivalent)
2. The $500 range (drostore, drokits)
3. The $300 and below range (iGaging, Shumatech, etc)
Being with a low budget I was planning to stay within the 3rd bracket, and the Shumatech seems like a really nice option with pretty advanced functions. unfortunately it seems they are now not as available as one would like (yes, I did find 1 online provider, but they did not carry any "compatible" scales, and at this point I would like to fine 1 provider to get all the parts from to avoid any incompatibilities issues) so that option was off the table.
I then found out about drokits website which seemed to offer Sinpo DROs with glass scales kits for an affordable price (sub 500) which hit my needs and affordability. There are not a whole lot of reviews on them, and when I posted about it here someone also mentioned drostore as an alternative which seems to be in the same price range, and same units for what it's worth (or very similar) with the 1 exception that they also offered a wider range of scale lengths which sealed the deal for me in addition to the more available online reviews.
I contacted them asking some questions, and they responded within 48 hours... not the fastest, but at least there was a response. I placed an order for their TDI-3 3 axis DRO kit and was responded a day later asking/confirming the scale lengths I wanted. 3 days later I got a call from US customs asking me what is in the package. I told the guy it's a readout and scales for a milling machine. "what is it measuring" he asks. I told him it's measuring the movement of the table. "why is the table moving?" he asked... I realized it will be a long call, but he explained that he simply isn't familiar with milling machines and just needs to know what to write in order to clear the package from customs. After we clarified that this is NOT for medical purposes the package was marked "clear" and a day later It was at my door step.
the parts were very well packed, and there are quite a bit of brackets and bolts that came with it (another reason I went with drostore as they claimed to provide all the extra hardware needed):
I unpacked carefully and connected the scales to the DRO unit for a test run to make sure everything is working before wasting all the time installing it only to find out if it's NOT. All seems to be in order:
Another thing I wanted to verify is scale max travel to make sure I have enough travel for my table as this is one of those things I was unsure about (and a few others I will cover in this writeout). For the following scales/lengths I ordered this was the actual readout (not necessarily connected to the "correct" axis at the moment):
* JCXE5:420mm, 16.5inch (Physical length:562mm, 22.1inch)
* JCXE5:520mm, 20.5inch (Physical length:662mm, 26.1inch)
* JCXE5:170mm, 6.7inch (Physical length:312mm, 12.3inch)
So slightly over advertised length.
Upon placing scales on the Mill to see placement and sizing, I realized that the X scale will present some challenge as if installed in the "common" location it is marginally fitting (including scale cover) so some precise measurements will have to take place.
My next step is to mill some jigs to help me locate hole drilling in a precise and repeatable manner so that I will have less of a chance to mess things up -after all, it's all pretty straight forward, but still nothing that should be taken for granted. And on that - in the next post.
I've been using my benchtop mill for a few years now and was looking at going somewhat digital for quite some time now. While I have no problems reading the dials and managing backlash (have been doing so until now and as of this writing still doing so) I wanted to simplify things, and speed things up a tad especially for repeatable operations, finding centers of parts and the likes.
Obviously the first thing that came to mind is getting a DRO, but looking at pricing, and knowing of also the possibility of going the CNC router I put a hold on any upgrades until I figure out which path I want to take. If I am spending any large sum, might as well get what will work best for me than having to spend twice.
Eventually (after over a year of debating) I decided that CNC is adding too much complexity and parts (and maintenance, and parts that might require replacing, and who knows what more) than I have the time and focus for at the moment, and I do enjoy manual work. Another reason for going CNC is for auto feeding- but for long parts, I'll just do that manually for the time being as most the parts I work on are smaller scale.
Looking at pricing for a DRO I noticed 3 main price brackets which seemed aimed at hobby machinist:
1. The $1000 range (dropro and equivalent)
2. The $500 range (drostore, drokits)
3. The $300 and below range (iGaging, Shumatech, etc)
Being with a low budget I was planning to stay within the 3rd bracket, and the Shumatech seems like a really nice option with pretty advanced functions. unfortunately it seems they are now not as available as one would like (yes, I did find 1 online provider, but they did not carry any "compatible" scales, and at this point I would like to fine 1 provider to get all the parts from to avoid any incompatibilities issues) so that option was off the table.
I then found out about drokits website which seemed to offer Sinpo DROs with glass scales kits for an affordable price (sub 500) which hit my needs and affordability. There are not a whole lot of reviews on them, and when I posted about it here someone also mentioned drostore as an alternative which seems to be in the same price range, and same units for what it's worth (or very similar) with the 1 exception that they also offered a wider range of scale lengths which sealed the deal for me in addition to the more available online reviews.
I contacted them asking some questions, and they responded within 48 hours... not the fastest, but at least there was a response. I placed an order for their TDI-3 3 axis DRO kit and was responded a day later asking/confirming the scale lengths I wanted. 3 days later I got a call from US customs asking me what is in the package. I told the guy it's a readout and scales for a milling machine. "what is it measuring" he asks. I told him it's measuring the movement of the table. "why is the table moving?" he asked... I realized it will be a long call, but he explained that he simply isn't familiar with milling machines and just needs to know what to write in order to clear the package from customs. After we clarified that this is NOT for medical purposes the package was marked "clear" and a day later It was at my door step.
the parts were very well packed, and there are quite a bit of brackets and bolts that came with it (another reason I went with drostore as they claimed to provide all the extra hardware needed):
I unpacked carefully and connected the scales to the DRO unit for a test run to make sure everything is working before wasting all the time installing it only to find out if it's NOT. All seems to be in order:
Another thing I wanted to verify is scale max travel to make sure I have enough travel for my table as this is one of those things I was unsure about (and a few others I will cover in this writeout). For the following scales/lengths I ordered this was the actual readout (not necessarily connected to the "correct" axis at the moment):
* JCXE5:420mm, 16.5inch (Physical length:562mm, 22.1inch)
* JCXE5:520mm, 20.5inch (Physical length:662mm, 26.1inch)
* JCXE5:170mm, 6.7inch (Physical length:312mm, 12.3inch)
So slightly over advertised length.
Upon placing scales on the Mill to see placement and sizing, I realized that the X scale will present some challenge as if installed in the "common" location it is marginally fitting (including scale cover) so some precise measurements will have to take place.
My next step is to mill some jigs to help me locate hole drilling in a precise and repeatable manner so that I will have less of a chance to mess things up -after all, it's all pretty straight forward, but still nothing that should be taken for granted. And on that - in the next post.