# Dro Vs .050" Lead Screws On The Mini Mill?



## CarlosA (May 8, 2016)

So I have just tried using my mill for the first time laying out a bolt pattern. The .0625" graduations on the knobs are beyond frustrating when calculating complicated x/y movements for a bolt circle. 

For those with experience with these machines: Would you buy the $59 lead screw kit from LMS OR a pair of cheap iGaging DRO's first? I assume the cheap DRO's would cancel out the knobs entirely... but i`m not attached to either idea. Its frustrating enough that i`m going to order this stuff by tomorrow... either way.


----------



## compsurge (May 8, 2016)

I'd get the DRO. To me, that is the best value in this decision. You will get absolute position and won't have be to worry about backlash.


----------



## BGHansen (May 8, 2016)

+1 on the DRO.  The only regret you'll have is you didn't buy it sooner.

Bruce


----------



## Baithog (May 8, 2016)

I have an iGaging type scale on the Z-axis of my mini mill. I have Grizzly glass scale DRO on my mill/drill. The glass scales and the control head with them are worlds better than the low cast scales  and have neat things like bolt circle and multiple user zeros. They also don't go to sleep and never loose their location. Down side, a quality dro will cost more than your mill. The low cost scales are better than nothing. They will loose their way on occasion. Sometimes you will traverse back to zero and be nowhere near where you should be. Mine has this exasperating penchant for auto shut down just when you come close to the end of a cut. Accuracy might also be a problem. iGaging lists the accuracy of their 12" scale as .0015. You can do way better than that just looking at the dials... even with the 16T screws. 

So I guess its up to you what it is worth. The screw upgrade is easy and quick to install and on the X and Y axis can have decent accuracy. The scales are harder to install and cost more. They take up mounting space, but they look cool and I suppose they would take some brain work out of making a cut. If I was to do it again, I would get the screws, then the scales as I could afford them. I ended up doing the ultimate dro for my mini mill. I set it up for CNC.


----------



## RJSakowski (May 8, 2016)

A DRO is the way to go.  If you can afford it and you have room to install it, a glass scale system is the way to go.  Chinese glass scale systems from e-bay have been getting good reviews and are not much more than an iGaging type system. 

I have the iGaging scales on my lathe modified with Yuryi's Touch DRO readout and it works well.  It doesn't do an auto-shutoff and the scales are capable of resolving to .0004".

I have also installed two Grizzly glass scale systems on mill/drills, one of which has been operating for eleven or so years.  I should also add that it has been under power for almost all that time and I have had no component failures.  

From what I have observed, there is little difference between the Grizzly system and DRO Pros system or, for that matter, the China sourced systems other than possibly support.  DRO Pros offers a 1 micron resolution scale system as do some of the China sources.  Whether you would gain anything with increased resolution on a small mill is questionable though.


----------



## CarlosA (May 8, 2016)

Right after this post i saw the yuriys toys remote dro and decided that is definitely the way to go. For now I'll get the plain igaging set and start collecting parts for the remote dro. Thanks for all the input.


----------



## Andre (May 8, 2016)

Igaging DRO's aren't super accurate, but for most work they are handy to have.


----------



## CarlosA (May 8, 2016)

Andre said:


> Igaging DRO's aren't super accurate, but for most work they are handy to have.



Yeah I was thinking that.. if I can get a bolt circle within .001" I'll be on for now - and upgrade the scales down the road after getting the remote set in place. This is just a basic x2 mill anyway.


----------



## Eddyde (May 8, 2016)

Before you go that route, check this seller out http://www.aliexpress.com/store/1021179?spm=2114.10010108.0.623.RTyAL6
I got a great DRO delivered to my door in a week.


----------



## CarlosA (May 12, 2016)

Eddyde said:


> Before you go that route, check this seller out http://www.aliexpress.com/store/1021179?spm=2114.10010108.0.623.RTyAL6
> I got a great DRO delivered to my door in a week.



Thanks for the info, this is a great option for the future. Right now its overkill for my apartment machine shop ... the one thing I would like to have a big DRO for is calculating bolt circles, but its nice to do them manually for practice.
However, I always ignore this aliexpress site when i`m searching for chinese crap .. found a set of gear cutters on there that I needed, for cheaper than the best deal on ebay - so thanks for that!



I received and installed the X/Y set of cheap iGaging scales today - took about 20 minutes of playing with the brackets and making another to get it all aligned ... works great. I attached using loctite 5 minute epoxy after doing some cleaning... I tested this stuff out on a spare mini lathe I have to see if it would bond to the paint and a piece of sheet metal and it was very strong - more than these scales will ever see. I just really didn`t want to drill into this machine when I may very well change the whole setup in the future. Seems like a great setup!


----------



## San Juan (May 26, 2016)

I have installed the Igaging DRO's on all three axis on my LMS High Torque Mill. 3990.  Easy to install.  Need to make a bracket to mount the displays but that wasn't difficult.
Just completed a project where I drilled two holes in one piece, Slotted two holes in another piece where the slots were only .001-.002" larger than the bolts and the bolts threaded into the first piece by hand.


----------



## CarlosA (May 26, 2016)

San Juan said:


> I have installed the Igaging DRO's on all three axis on my LMS High Torque Mill. 3990.  Easy to install.  Need to make a bracket to mount the displays but that wasn't difficult.
> Just completed a project where I drilled two holes in one piece, Slotted two holes in another piece where the slots were only .001-.002" larger than the bolts and the bolts threaded into the first piece by hand.



I did the same but used epoxy to hold all the scales on - zero problems so far and I wouldn't change it for anything at the moment. Also haven't had that auto shut off problem I read so much about. One day when I get a real mill, i`ll get a better dro setup that also does some math...


----------



## San Juan (May 26, 2016)

I do have the auto shutoff but it holds it's reference so when I turn it back on, it still reads where I zero'd it.
I just installed a 24" Igaging DRO for my lathe and it stays on.
I replaced the batteries for the 3 on the mill but still they shut off if you don't move them.


----------



## San Juan (May 27, 2016)

I sent a note to Igaging asking about the Auto Off feature.
They said the new units don't have the auto off any more and it isn't a setting you can turn on or off on the older models.


----------



## CarlosA (Jun 24, 2016)

Yeah would be nice if the auto on/off were adjustable. I noticed mine have been on for about a month... the entire time I was too busy working to actually use the mill. 

Also an update: The epoxy eventually failed and detached itself from both bare metal and painted surfaces. I will be drilling and tapping holes - but also trying to position the scales in a way that they don`t interfere with the maximum travel.


----------

