# DRO mounting tip



## digiex_chris (Jan 30, 2015)

I mounted my DRO scale sensor in the wrong spot. It hits the end of the scale before I hit the end of travel. Groan. It was pretty annoying getting that hole located at the right height too, to keep from binding up or pulling the scale up or down. 

Hard drives have these high power neodymium magnets inside them, in a weird trapezoidal curved shape, epoxied to a bracket. They're used with coils as a stepper motor for accurately positioning the read/write head. Since hard drives fail regularly, I've got a small collection of these magnets. I've used that bracket as a handy attachment point for all sorts of things. I drilled a hole through the bracket and tapped it, loctite'ed a bolt into it, and used it to mount the stationary sensor of my DRO (the bit that stays put and the scale slides through) to it. The magnet holds it securely in place, and if I screw up and something hanging over the table hits the sensor (or hangs up on the scale as it's falling, or any number of unpredictable things that destroy tools), it slides the magnet over instead of crushing the sensor. It holds it more than securely enough for normal, "proper" (non crushing) DRO use. Just slide the magnet around to set the location. Easy. 50 or so lbs of clamp force keeps it in place.


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