# Grizzly 1006/7 Mill with digital scale on Z axis



## epj (Jan 13, 2014)

The micrometer on the Z axis of this machine is almost worthless. While the digital scale isn't perfect, it's a whole lot better. Cost about $40 and took less than an hour to mount. Once I decided how to do it, that is. Took several hours of looking first. There is an aluminum bracket wedged between the quill and the nut for the stop. Not the most rigid deal going, but it is accurate within a couple of thou, which is good enough for my purposes. The scale is attached to the faceplate for the feed stop. Biggest problem is that it is attached to a plastic piece that is attached to the mill. Not perfect, but so much better.






Very soon, I'm going to be adding a real DRO to the X and Y axis. I'll get some pics of this as well. I'd love to hear from someone who has put a DRO on one of these style mills.


----------



## TomS (Jan 13, 2014)

I have the Enco version of your mill.  I put a digital Z axis DRO on it a couple of years ago.  I too was concerned about how to mount the DRO so I could have confidence in the readings.  So I built an aluminum bracket to replace the plastic cover on the front of the machine.  I machined the front surface flat and mounted it to the mill using the four screws used to mount the plastic cover.  I was then able to align the aluminum cover true with the spindle by mounting a dial indicator holder in a collet and running the spindle up and down to check for vertical alignment.  Once the bracket was in vertical alignment I installed the DRO.  Wish I could attach pictures but I'm traveling for the next three weeks and can't take a picture.

Hope the description of the bracket helps.

Tom S.


----------



## epj (Jan 14, 2014)

Tom, that sounds interesting. Does your machine house the on off switch in the same plastic housing? I just attached a dial indicator to the quill and ran the quill up and down a few times. The scale seems to be right with the indicator and the readings are repeatable. That's probably good enough for me. Tomorrow I plan to order a 2 axis DRO from DRO Pros. Do you have dro's on your XY axis?  If so, I'd love to see how you have them
mounted.


----------



## TomS (Jan 14, 2014)

My on-off switch is mounted on the left side of the milling head.  I only have a Z axis DRO, none on the X and Y axis.  You may already know this but the lower spindle bearing is not protected very well from swarf, coolant, and oil intrusion.  Another reason why I built the aluminum bracket.  I also installed a sheet metal plate on the bottom of the milling head behind the spindle, installed a thin wall sleeve in the spindle to seal off the drill drift slots, and made a lip seal carrier that seals the spindle to the spindle housing as the factory design is not very good at retaining bearing grease.   

These are good machines.  They just need some TLC to keep them in good working order.

Tom S.


----------



## epj (Jan 14, 2014)

Yeah, they seem to get a pretty bum rap on this forum due to the round column. I see it as a very sturdy machine. The round culumn is a non issue to me as I never move the head. I don't use coolant for a couple of reasons, mostly 'cause I don't want to deal with the mess. Thanks for the heads up on the lower bearing. 
Ed


----------



## JOEZ (Jan 17, 2014)

epj said:


> The micrometer on the Z axis of this machine is almost worthless. While the digital scale isn't perfect, it's a whole lot better. Cost about $40 and took less than an hour to mount. Once I decided how to do it, that is. Took several hours of looking first. There is an aluminum bracket wedged between the quill and the nut for the stop. Not the most rigid deal going, but it is accurate within a couple of thou, which is good enough for my purposes. The scale is attached to the faceplate for the feed stop. Biggest problem is that it is attached to a plastic piece that is attached to the mill. Not perfect, but so much better.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I have a Grizzly 1007 and have mounted an  I-Gaging DRO on X-axis. I'm going to mount a Aluminum angle  to protect it from chips. I will try posting some Pics.


----------



## epj (Jan 18, 2014)

My DRO setup should be here next week. It looks like I'll have to remove the rubber flap that covers the way in the rear. I'll probably do some sort of al angle shield as well. I'd like to see a
pic of yours.


----------

