# Mounting my new DROs



## Rick Leslie (Nov 16, 2013)

I hope this is the right forum for this thread.

I got a screaming deal from Davidh on his Igaging DROslast week. The price was great and he shipped immediately. He also made me promise to show the install on my Induma mill. I ordered 4 scales from him: one 36", two 24" and a 6". 

Here's his sale thread: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/17863-dro-s-are-in-stock-again

This is what I was greeted with Tuesday afternoon.




And the goody boxes opened.



I did the X axis first because it was the longest and I thought it would be the hardest. I used one existing hole and drilled a second hole for the mounting bracket. The 36" scale was too long for the table, so I did as David said and cut it. I used a bandsaw. (And yes, it still works after you cut them.)



Here's some shots of the mounted X scale.






The Y axis proved to be a bear. I even had a bracket mounted by a previous owner.







That's as far as I got today. Tomorrow I'll tackle the Z axis and the quill feed. I also need to make chip guards for them. 
I will say that the kits are very complete, right down to spare batteries. I powered up these two units just to see how responsive they are. I think I'm going to be very happy with my new set-up.
More to follow.


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## HSS (Nov 17, 2013)

Looks real good, Rick. Are the operating instructions in english or chinglish? The operating instructions for my dro were very difficult to understand. 
Patrick


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## Rick Leslie (Nov 17, 2013)

Thanks Patrick. To be honest; I didn't pay a lot of attention to the instructions. From my basic 'scan', they are well written and easy to understand, but just cover the parts and operation. No installation specific instructions included. (Unless they're on the back or the paper and I just didn't get that far into the reading.)


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## Rick Leslie (Nov 20, 2013)

Got the Z axis mounted. It's not aa pretty install, but it works. 




The original chip guard isn't going to be much help on this one. I'll have to do something different here.




Here's the X axis with the guard install. I used a piece of 1.50 x 1.50 x .1875 angle for the guard and the mounting brackets.
Without the guard.




And with.






And here's the Y axis. The guard is the same material mounted to the existing holes. There's a gap that I'll probably have to deal with at some point. Admittedly, the Y guard doesn't do the job as well as I was hoping.





Next was the readout units. They come equipped with magnets and that will have to do for now. I fashioned a bracket out of angle and uni-strut. The mounting plate was some scrap I had handy and treated to a Krylon rebuild. 




Now to find a cheapie 'book' light to illuminate the readout displays.


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## RemMax (Mar 18, 2014)

Rick Leslie said:


> Got the Z axis mounted. It's not aa pretty install, but it works.
> View attachment 64739
> View attachment 64736
> 
> ...




Did you ever get your Quill scale mounted and working?
Otherwise looks nice, hoping to have a similar unit attached to my own bridgeport before long so I won't have to try to see those 40 year old hash marks on te knobs anymore! 
RemMax


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## Rick Leslie (Mar 20, 2014)

Sorry for the slow reply. I don't get as much computer time as I would like. The quill DRO is still in the box waiting on me to stop playing and mount it too. I'm thinking of a set for both lathes as well.


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## RemMax (Mar 21, 2014)

Thats OK
I was just wondering since I didn't see a 4th readout, 

I was also wondering about using these on my lathe
i have a southbend 14x50 that like my Bridgeport is 40 or 50 years old
As such my dials unlike yours are worn, faded and hard to read, since I'm starting to do more precise work with it now having a DRO on it would definetely make things a lot easier
Oh Well, I'm just waiting a few more days to order mine for my mill then once they get here I will look at them and see if I can figure out a way to mounth them to the lathe

Till Then.....  )


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