# I will be selling a DIY TouchDRO Kit again



## ycroosh (Mar 6, 2020)

Good part of the day,
By [persistent] popular demand, I will start selling a DIY adapter kit in a few weeks (here are the details: DIY TouchDRO Kit). It's basically a DIY version of the adapter for iGaging and/or Shahe capacitive scales. I have the kist ready to ship already but still need to write-up assembly instructions, etc. Before letting them loose I would like to have a few people go through the build process and give me some feedback (i.e. if there are things that need to be clarified, etc.). 
The kit will sell for $48 ($40 + $8 for USPS Priority shipping). If anyone is interested to be a beta tester for the build (and get the kit for $10 less), please let me know in the next few days. 
Regards
Yuriy

P.S. I'm also working on a kit for Glass/Magnetic scales, but that is still a month or so out.


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## scoopydo (Mar 6, 2020)

Hi Yuriy,

I bought one of your kits for the iGaging scales a couple of years ago and love it. I'm ready to do DROs for my lathe. I'd like to try and Beta your new kit on my milling machine and move the old one to the lathe. I see the new board has a connection for the tach as well. I have a tach on my mill but never could get it to work before this would be something I'd like to see working.

Thanks for your consideration.
George Chambers


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## Z2V (Mar 7, 2020)

Hello Yuriy
If you are going to do the same with your glass/magnetic kit, I’m in.  I’ll be watching.

Jeff


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## Lo-Fi (Mar 7, 2020)

Cool! I'm game for test driving both diy kits. I'll put glass on my mill, igaging on my lathe


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## deadwat3r (Mar 7, 2020)

I am planning to do a glass scales build on my lathe. I would be interested to do beta with that kits if you do a beta on them.


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## Garryloy (Mar 7, 2020)

I would love to build your beta kit for igaging scales.  I installed the scales on my RF 31 a few months ago with the intention of adding your TouchDRO later.


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## ycroosh (Mar 8, 2020)

scoopydo said:


> Hi Yuriy,
> 
> I bought one of your kits for the iGaging scales a couple of years ago and love it. I'm ready to do DROs for my lathe. I'd like to try and Beta your new kit on my milling machine and move the old one to the lathe. I see the new board has a connection for the tach as well. I have a tach on my mill but never could get it to work before this would be something I'd like to see working.
> 
> ...



George,
The kit ships with V 2.0 of the firmware. One of the biggest changes is the tach functionality. It can deal with very low pulses no (down to 1-2 pulses per second) and all the way to thousands of pulses. Overall the tach works a lot better now.
Regards
Yuriy


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## ycroosh (Mar 8, 2020)

deadwat3r said:


> I am planning to do a glass scales build on my lathe. I would be interested to do beta with that kits if you do a beta on them.


I will have that in a few weeks (depending on how many times I need to revise the PCB. I will definitely want to have the kit Beta-tested.


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## ycroosh (Mar 8, 2020)

Cool. I will post a link to the ordering page tomorrow or Monday. 
Thank you


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## scoopydo (Mar 8, 2020)

Thanks a lot for the reply Yuriy. How do I go about getting the kit from you? Should I contact you at your website?

Regards
George


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## Joe in Oz (Mar 9, 2020)

If you would like a beta test done upside down (i.e. in the southern hemisphere) I'll be your man!
I'd love to be a beta tester. I have built a DIY touch-dro when you first started your blog, but looking forward to a kit for my mill.
Cheers,
Joe Hovel


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## ycroosh (Mar 9, 2020)

Joe in Oz said:


> If you would like a beta test done upside down (i.e. in the southern hemisphere) I'll be your man!
> I'd love to be a beta tester. I have built a DIY touch-dro when you first started your blog, but looking forward to a kit for my mill.
> Cheers,
> Joe Hovel


Hey Joe,
Good to hear from you. I didn't realize these were your stomping grounds...
You've helped a lot back in 2014 with app beta testing, so I'd be more than happy to send you a kit to make sure it works next to the positive magnetic pole  If you cover the shipping cost ($38 for priority or $18-ish for the standard), I might have one with you name on it.
Regards
Yuriy


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## ycroosh (Mar 11, 2020)

Hello,
I just added the product page for the DIY DRO Adapter Kit where it can be purchased. The price is set to $48. For orders placed before end of the day Sunday, once I get your feedback from the build I will refund $10. (I will ship the first batch by Monday)
Regards
Yuriy
P.S. The page and the build instructions are still "work in progress" but both will be done by the end of the week.


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## Lo-Fi (Mar 12, 2020)

Cool! Is the glass scale DIY kit to follow soon? I'm interested in one of each and happy to send feedback.


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## ycroosh (Mar 12, 2020)

Lo-Fi said:


> Cool! Is the glass scale DIY kit to follow soon? I'm interested in one of each and happy to send feedback.



Glass scale kit is still "under development" so it will be a few weeks before it's ready.


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## scoopydo (Mar 12, 2020)

Thanks Yuriy, I just ordered one.

George


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## ycroosh (Mar 16, 2020)

Quick update:
I'm running a few days late on the shipment - the parts are all ready but in the last moment I realized that I would be a good idea to include a jig for lead forming. My 3D printer has been in process of "remodeling" for a few months, so I spent most of the weekend putting it back together. If I get it to work today, I'll print the jig and ship the kits early tomorrow. 
Yesterday I posted the DIY DRO Kit Build Instructions, minus the photo that shows forming of the leads.
I will keep y'all posted...
Regards
Yuriy


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## scoopydo (Mar 26, 2020)

I got my kit a couple of days ago. I haven't built it yet but the circuit board looks really good. I need to order in some micro USB breakout boards before I put it together. I can't wait to see it working. I noticed it has a connection for a probe. Are there any docs on this?


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## ycroosh (Mar 27, 2020)

The probe functionality will be added in the upcoming version of the app. I'm still tweaking it, but once it's finalized I will post some details here.
Thank you
Yuriy


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## scoopydo (Mar 27, 2020)

Super. I didn't remember anything about the probe so I figured it was something new. I really am looking forward to the new version of Touch DRO too!

Thanks George


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## Garryloy (Mar 27, 2020)

I bought the magideal micro usb breakout boards from Amazon, 10 for 6.99 with pin headers.  I was pleasantly surprised when they came that they were not separated, and the pitch between boards matched Yuriy's adapter board design.  I bent the pins over and rotated them to connect the grounds.  The sequence is shown in the first picture.  The finished board in the 2nd picture.  I finished building my adapter board and soldered the one scales connector board on, and it works perfectly.


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## scoopydo (Mar 27, 2020)

*Garryloy*
Thanks for the heads up. I just ordered a set from Amazon.


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## Garryloy (Apr 5, 2020)

I built the adapter kit yesterday.  It went very well. I followed the instructions.  They were very clear and concise. It took me sbout and hour and a half.  If I had chosen to not lay the Bluetooth module flat it would have been about one hour.  Getting the plastic pin header off the module was by far the most difficult part.  It would have been easy to damage the module doing this but I was extremely careful  (and slow).

This may not be very important, but when I removed the caps from the carrier strips, I deliberately cut the leads so that one leg was about 1/4" longer than the other.  I also did this on all the ceramic caps and the resistors.  It makes manual board insertion much easier.

When I finished it (see my comments about the scale connections in the forum), it was literally plug and play.  It worked perfectly.  All I had to do was calibrate my ez view igaging scales (CPI=2561), which are already mounted on my mill.

This will end my beta feedback comments.

Here is a picture of my workspace setup (had to use my wifes sewing table since I didn't want to spend two days cleaning up my workbench in my workshop), and the finished product.


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