# iGaging Absolute DRO - my install



## nobog (Dec 24, 2014)

My xmas present to myself:  iGaging Absolute DRO for my Grizzly G0463. I looked at all “the real” DRO’s but just could not get myself to spend the money – I’m not really in a production mode and an happy with a zero (origin) and the ability to not count how many times I cranked the hand wheel so these seemed to fit the bill. Fast shipping from Grizzly as usual, about $175 shipped for a 6” and 24”. 

Let’s get started – everything out of the package and lots of little parts, at first I thought they gave you 3 extra batteries but each DRO takes 2 so that leaves one set for a spare.  Take off the power feed for some working room.  Most of the time was spent measuring as I would prefer not to drill any extra holes as this involves the most work.  I used a spare chunk of Delrin as a drill/tap guide – nothing worse than your holes going in not square.  All together I drill and tap nine 8-32’s or 10-24’s so the Dewalt portable drill got a good work out.  For the X axis I ordered a 24” as the 12” was a bit too short.  I cut 9.5” off which was fairly simple.  The 6” Y axis travel was just about perfect. 

The “brackets” were almost useless.  There is about 4-5 different bolt patterns on the back of the reader yet the brackets would only work on one.  There is a bolt pattern on the edge that I would have used yet they do not supply the right size screw – it’s some micro small metric something - I even made a trip to the hardware store to find the right size but they had nothing that small.  The brackets that did bolt up were too short in length to be of any use – they needed to extend past the reader (and be slotted) but no luck. Also the casting on the mill is not square (draft) for the Y axis so the bracket needed to take that into account.  Some left-over metal scraps found their way onto the project then a shot of blue Loctite to keep everything in place.

I then made a shield for the X axis out of 1” x 1” aluminum; the Y axis is mostly protected by the table. I did not use the plastic mounting bracket that came with the unit for the DRO’s  – it swivels so every time you press a button you would need two hands to steady it, I just used a cheap left-over metal bracket and mounted it on my existing collet holder stand.

This was rather time consuming – you are not going to get this done in an evening – it took me about 12 hours total – but in the end it seems to work good (I set my X-Y origin off my vise and it does indeed remain at zero with the power cycled on/off) and it seems decent quality – except for the brackets.

Jim

on to the pics:




Drill / tap guide:



Y axis:



Cutting to length:



X & Y axis



DRO & AL shield



Ready to use !


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## xalky (Dec 24, 2014)

Nice neat install. The display is really nice on the new Igaging DROs.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Dec 24, 2014)

Great install and looking forward to more feedback on the absolute scales, as there aren't many people with them yet.

If you haven't already, check out Yuri's dro - some really cool software to run on a tablet and use a Bluetooth whatsit to interface with the scales. Bit of a fiddle and extra expense, but a lot of the features of a full drop for a fraction of the cost.


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## brav65 (Dec 24, 2014)

Nice work, I have been collecting all the pieces to build Yuriy's DRO project.  You should look at his plans as the controller is under $50 and you can use an android phone or tablet for the screen.  That would give you all the functionality of an expensive DRO.  I put a DRO Pros 3 axis unit on my PM25 mill, but am trying a less costly option on my mini lathe.  When I upgrade to a big lathe I will invest in a full DRO.  Thanks for the pictures, I am interested to see how they perform over time


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## C-Line (Mar 25, 2015)

Note that the iGaging Absolute scales will NOT work with Yuriy's Android DRO system. Yuriy is aware of the issue and hopefully will provide compatibility in a future release.


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## atunguyd (Mar 25, 2015)

brav65 said:


> Nice work, I have been collecting all the pieces to build Yuriy's DRO project.  You should look at his plans as the controller is under $50 and you can use an android phone or tablet for the screen.  That would give you all the functionality of an expensive DRO.  I put a DRO Pros 3 axis unit on my PM25 mill, but am trying a less costly option on my mini lathe.  When I upgrade to a big lathe I will invest in a full DRO.  Thanks for the pictures, I am interested to see how they perform over time


At the risk of sounding pedantic, yuris touch DRO is a full DRO with all the features of a unit worth thousands of dollars. If accuracy is important you can even tie yuris system to glass or magnetic scales. Advantage also is that yuris software gets regular updates  or you can get the code and add a feature yourself. The mainstream dro manufacturers can't boast that. 

Again I apologise if I am coming off as bullish but that comment felt like someone saying that they use Linux for simple stuff but only use a real operating system like windows for mission critical applications.


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