# DRO for Grizzly 1006 Mill



## epj (Dec 3, 2013)

Good evening Gentlemen. I have a Grizzly 1006 mill with power feed on the X axis, which I recently added. I need to add a DRO to the mill, probably a 2 axis unit. I don't do anything real fancy. I basically need to be able to find center easily and do some repeatable cutting. I have a very small hobby business in which I build sight pushers for semi-auto handguns. I've looked at some units on eBay that are around $400, and a Shars unit that is around $500. Anyone put a DRO on one of these machines or a similar one? Looking for the most bang for the buck. The digital scale option isn't accurate enough to suit me. Maybe for the Z axis. All input is much appreciated. BTW, I have no training and little experience as a machinist, so be gentle please.


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## Rick Leslie (Dec 8, 2013)

I don't know your accuracy requirements, but for the money you can't beat David's offering on the Igaging DROs.
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/17863-dro-s-are-in-stock-again


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## bloomingtonmike (Dec 8, 2013)

Get the iGaging and then an arduino and do Yuri's Bluetooth wireless Android DRO. Very cheap and ten thousandths accuracy.


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## kizmit99 (Dec 8, 2013)

bloomingtonmike said:


> Get the iGaging and then an arduino and do Yuri's Bluetooth wireless Android DRO. Very cheap and ten thousandths accuracy.



Uh...  "ten thousandths accuracy"?  Can you site any evidence for this?

I'm building one of these at the moment, using the (self proclaimed) "Super High Accuracy" AccuRemote version of the scales, and I'm not seeing this level of accuracy.  The scales themselves report their position in 1/2560th of an inch.  Assuming everything is perfect, this limits them to .00039" per tick.  The read head that comes with the scales does have a .0005 indicator.  BUT, having looked at the data stream directly I can tell you for a fact that the last bit position "flickers" even under the best circumstances.  AND, the AccuRemote scales are only spec'd at .002 over 24 inches; I believe the iGaging scales are .004 (or .006) over 24 inches.  I have looked very hard, and have found no hard data on how repeatable these scales are - but my experience with them leads me to believe that their stiction are enough to introduce a significant repeatability error.

I believe these scales are certainly a good value for the price, and are likely to be more accurate than anything I work on will require.  But, I think saying they have sub-thousandth accuracy is giving them significantly more credit than they deserve.


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## epj (Dec 8, 2013)

The digital scales are probably good enough for my Z axis, but I want a real DRO for the X and Y axis. Right now, I guess I'm leaning toward one of the sets from DRO Pro. I can certainly find cheaper, but I like the idea of someone I can talk to who speaks English. Any other good suggestions?


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## bloomingtonmike (Dec 16, 2013)

OK - good for a thousandth accuracy for $15. LOL.


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