# Part 2 of 2 - G4003G DROPROS EL400 DRO Magnetic Scale Install



## coolidge (Mar 5, 2014)

Finally wrapped up this project phew! Here's the second half in pictures...

Here I have about 1" of travel left at the tailstock end. Note I have the read head pointed toward the tailstock vs the instruction video which points it towards the right, I felt this was a better orientation.




Here's the headstock end I have about .625 inches of travel left, this is with the scale cut to 37". Note that black Sharpy line upper/right that's where the backsplash fits there's not a lot of room at this end. That said the backsplash actually sticks out towards the tailstock, the carriage hits the backsplash so there's about 2" of travel towards the headstock you can't use with the backsplash installed. In the event I one day fashion a different stand and backsplash I'm good to go here with the full travel allocated for e.g. carriage bumping right up against the headstock housing.




Here's a shot of the cross slide, as I mentioned in part 1 I flipped the mounting block back around to locate the two tapped T bracket holes towards the left, this gave me more (.625 inches) travel left on the scale at the headstock end.




I'd rather be lucky than good the chip guard fit perfectly!




Here's a wide angle shot, I drilled and tapped 3 holes in my 3 x .75 x 38 inch aluminum bar for the chip guard.




Here's a close up.




Back to the cross slide install I had about 3/4 inch of travel left with the cross slide fully retracted towards the operator.




Here it is fully extended, there's only about 3/16 inch of travel left on the scale.




Final shot with the brass chip guard I fashioned.




Here I'm finally routing the cables, I later cut the zip ties securing the light and let it float free as before.




I tested three different paths for the cables, under the motor, over the back and around the electrical box, ended up going with the third in front of the electrical box. The instructions say keep it away from high inductive loads plus I didn't like it near the motor for other reasons.




Here's a close up. Not I mounted it to the side of the electrical box, the video shows mounting it to the front but that is not possible there are electrical components there. Also the kit gives you the bolts for mounting this but not the nuts and washers. I used a couple 1/4-20 bolts I had on hand. There's about 2' of extra cable for the X axis and about 4' of extra cable for the Z axis so I had to wind it up and secure it with some zip ties.




Here's a couple shots of the front, I like it!




They give you a threaded rod for mounting the display, I chucked it and replaced it with a shorter bolt. The threaded rod was about 1" longer and the display was teetering up in the air too high on that thing. This also gave me more bottom clearance between the arm and the headstock housing, the kit has that thick locking nut on the bottom of the threaded rod which is also why the arm mounting block is positioned slightly higher than the top of the electrical box. ALSO you need a jam nut to secure the display to the threaded rod or in my case the bolt. Otherwise the display just unscrews itself instead of the whole thing pivoting on the nylon washers. I suppose I could have used some Locktight but a jam nut is better. I found once installed I probably won't be pivoting the display anyway. Installed the way I did it here the whole thing will swing completely out of my way should I need to remove the top of the headstock housing or anything else on the lathe. I completed the setup procedures and it seems to be working just fine!




Last but not least while I had the backsplash off I decided to fix a quality issue. See how nice and level the motor is now, it was seriously crooked from the factory plus the pulleys were out of alignment to boot. I leveled the motor and had to use my puller to move the pulley out about .150. By the way the pulley wobbles (face palm) really a precision gunsmith lathe how do you get the motor pulley wrong? Also note the new Napa Auto Parts belts, these have a variable sized cog wide, medium, narrow pattern not that I really cared I just thought I would slap a couple new belts on while I was aligning everything. 




That's all folks, I'm off to play with a bunch of indexable tools that arrived while I was working on this DRO.


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## fastback (Mar 5, 2014)

Real nice job on the install.  I would love to see an installation on an old SB Heavy Ten.  Not too many right angles on the SB.

Paul


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## chuckorlando (Mar 5, 2014)

Very nice man. Very nice


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## dan12 (Mar 22, 2014)

coolidge said:


> Last but not least while I had the backsplash off I decided to fix a quality issue. See how nice and level the motor is now, it was seriously crooked from the factory plus the pulleys were out of alignment to boot. I leveled the motor and had to use my puller to move the pulley out about .150.* By the way the pulley wobbles (face palm)* really a precision gunsmith lathe how do you get the motor pulley wrong? Also note the new Napa Auto Parts belts, these have a variable sized cog wide, medium, narrow pattern not that I really cared I just thought I would slap a couple new belts on while I was aligning everything.
> 
> View attachment 71734
> 
> .


did you get wobble out?
& do you have belt #s?

I bought a G400G THURSDAY,shipped yesterday
found a 10% off code on woodworkingtalk.com saved $330
after searching all week,your posting on this lathe sealed the deal on what I wanted


I'm looking at the DroPro for the cheaper glass scale $499
Easson ES8A 2 Axis Digital Readout 12" x 36" 

it might have to wait awhile,looks like it takes more time then I have right now.

great write ups,thx
I'm reading all I can):jester:


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## coolidge (Mar 29, 2014)

dan12 said:


> did you get wobble out?
> & do you have belt #s?
> 
> I bought a G400G THURSDAY,shipped yesterday
> ...



No it still wobbles I would need a new pulley to fix that but its not so bad that I'm worrying about it, there is no vibration is just an annoying quality issue. I don't have the Napa belt number handy, just take the stock belt in to Napa they had no trouble at all cross referencing it in fact they had one of the two I needed in stock and had the 2nd one sent over from another store the same day. I'm glad the write up was helpful, here's some more info. 

Take the 8" 4 jaw chuck out of the box and check it upon arrival, I just recently took mine out and found out it was the wrong chuck. It was a D1-4 3 cam chuck that comes on the less expensive lathes, it should have been a D1-5 6 cam chuck. It sounds like the factory makes this mistake now and then talking to Grizzly. I just received the replacement chuck and one of the jaw screws has a big gouge in the screw that hangs up. I'm debating just grinding it down vs sending it back and waiting another week for another replacement. I'm going to replace this chuck with a Bison combination chuck so its probably not worth my time. Remove your 3 jaw chuck and check the cam bolts they should thread in/out fairly easily, one of mine had a mashed thread and they just jammed it in with a wrench. I replaced it with one from the extra set they give you for the back plate and it works good now, I also had to adjust two of the cam bolts out a turn as they were too tight from the factory. 

Hmmm what else...the tailstock is a retarded design. (channeling Mark Levin) That's right I said it! lol The MT3 shank tools (drill chuck, dead and live centers) are about 1.25 inches too freaking long OR the quill is 1 1/4 inches too short. Stick with me for a minute. The way the tailstock works is you retract the quill and when the tool bottoms out in the quill you give it another 1/4 turn and it pops the tool out for you. That's fine, here's the problem. Grizzly says don't extend the tailstock quill more than 2 inches or you may have accuracy issues. Okay but because the tool shanks are way too long (or the quill is not designed for a standard length MT3 shank) you have to extend the quill at least 1 3/8 inches minimum to do anything, any less and the damn tool pops out. So you lose 1 3/8 inches of quill travel right off the rip. And if you go by what Grizzly says about accuracy this only leaves you 5/8 inch of quill travel for accuracy. My brother said just hack 1-1/4 inch off the tool shanks with a chop saw, yeah okay that would work but seriously the design is retarded imo and I don't have a chop saw.

The good news is we put a special indicator my brother has for his CNC machine and checked the spindle to tailstock, it was within .001 so close we didn't even bother to try adjusting it closer. There's lots of great things about the lathe so don't think the above means I'm negative on the machine I'm not. I expect quality issues with every Asian machine I buy its just the way things are. No show stoppers on this lathe so far and I'm satisfied overall.

- - - Updated - - -

Also get yourself a can of hammered green paint, here's how mine arrived from the factory. There were some thin spots on the sides as well. As for the lathe the paint job on that isn't very good either, love the lathe but the paint job is half assed.




I hit the thin spots and the bottoms, looks factory the color match was perfect.


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## tdrago (Mar 30, 2014)

coolidge said:


> Finally wrapped up this project phew! Here's the second half in pictures...
> 
> THANKS for all the great photos! I am about to follow you down the DRO path by adding some glass scales on a Grizzly 12 x 36... The pics gave me some insight into what needed to be done. Please pass on some thoughts of your new post-DRO work compared to the pre-DRO days.
> One day more, One day less.
> TonyD


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## coolidge (Mar 30, 2014)

Dude loving the DRO already, DEFINATELY get the lathe specific DRO those X/Y Zero buttons are a must have imo. Navigating through a menu to get to those functions would be highly annoying as frequently as I'm setting zero. Its great to say so long to the dials and graduations, I just glance over and can see exactly where I'm at. This speeds things up a lot, I take a pass, spin out without any thought to keeping track of how many turns on the dial or whatever, quite useful when threading when you need to completely back out past zero, reposition and spin back in right where I want to be. Big time saver. 

Random tip...at 4 threads per inch back off the RPM to 70 lol I was running 360 RPM's and the threading screw spun so fast oil flung all over hell yesterday. lol

Here's that belt info


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## Walsheng (Mar 30, 2014)

I am going back some 30+ years but when we changed dual belts we always bought matched v-belts.  The tolerances on the belts was very close so one belt was not doing all the work and the other just along for the ride.  I see that McMaster still sells matched belts but with the belts these days does it matter.

Just trying to catch up (well pretty much always trying to catch up.

John


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## Splat (Mar 1, 2019)

Necroposting this....  Coolidge, sweet setup!   I bought a used SINO dro off Ebay and had started to mount it to my G4003G but didn't get it finished. That backside of the lathe was driving me nuts because mine was slightly bowed too. I'm going to get a flat bar like you did and try that. BTW, I figured out that DRO pros must be getting their stuff from EMS International in England. The reader brackets are parts BKTA-10-0020 (y-axis) and BKTA-11-0020 (z-axis). Maybe gonna contact them about buying just these mounts. That would make install  a heckuvallot easier. I can't see how you routed the cables to the display. How'd you route them? Oh, unless I missed it... did you do anything about the crosslide lock screw when mounting the scale? Thanks.


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## jmarkwolf (Mar 2, 2019)

Splat said:


> Necroposting this....  Coolidge, sweet setup!   Oh, unless I missed it... did you do anything about the crosslide lock screw when mounting the scale? Thanks.



Hi Splat. This thread is so old I'll be surprised if Coolidge responds. Hope he does though.

I just encountered this thread also, and was wondering the same thing. I make heavy use of the cross-slide gib lock, and would be very reluctant to give it up. I don't yet see how it can be avoided.

I like the DroPros EL400 and magnetic scales as well, and have installed/transplanted it to 3 different mills. Will likely install the same on my G4003G.


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## Splat (Mar 2, 2019)

jmarkwolf said:


> I just encountered this thread also, and was wondering the same thing. I make heavy use of the cross-slide gib lock, and would be very reluctant to give it up. I don't yet see how it can be avoided.



Is it possible to drill and tap the other side of the CS to position the lock screw there? I gotta check into that. I'm planning to get the dro installed next weekend. Well, I hope.


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## darkzero (Mar 2, 2019)

Splat said:


> did you do anything about the crosslide lock screw when mounting the scale? Thanks



Here's a solution:









						G4003G Lathe  :  X-Axis DRO Scale Install
					

So I am finally getting my DRO PROS DRO installed.  I was not willing to lose access to the cross slide lock screw as happens with many scale installs.  This is what I did instead.   Installed the scale on the tailstock side of the cross slide.  The hole in the center is for the lock screw...




					www.hobby-machinist.com


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## jmarkwolf (Mar 2, 2019)

Hi Splat

I looked at the hole on the chuck side of the cross-slide but there is no gib over there, so the point of any screw would drag directly on the internal dove tail, so I think that is a no go.

The solution in DarkZero's post is interesting, particularly for the older magnetic scales, but after further contemplation, I think I may move my gib screw towards the front of the lathe about an inch or so. Then there should be plenty of room to mount the new shorter super-slim magnetic scales on the aft side of the gib screw (see pic below), and the read-head on the aft "outrigger" of the saddle. Will likely have to remove the cross-slide to drill and tap the new hole for the gib screw but that's no biggie. My cross slide travel is only about 6-1/4 inches.

I'll call DroPros next week for more info. I really like EL400 digital head I've had on my mill for about 6 years. Won't be too happy to change heads but alas.


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## mksj (Mar 3, 2019)

If you put the magnetic scale horizontal vs. vertical you will have access the the gib lock, the scale takes up the same space either way. Alternative is to set the veticakl scale off with a 1/2" spacer and turn a locking arm lever, there are lots of previous examples. You can also put a lock on the other side, I did that on my 1340GT and will be doing the same on my new lathe. I toss all the scale brackets that come with the DRO's, they look pretty junky and cobbled together. I have been installing the DRO below the last 2 days, it is an Easson 12B with glass scales for the X and Zo, and a magnetic scale for the tailstock. A lot more cost effective then the EL700 that I have on my mill.








						Cross slide gib adjustment with DRO scale
					

Just wondering if anyone has come up with a way to access the cross slide gib adjustment screws with a glass slide installed? I know moving it to the left side is an option, but that comes with it’s own set of issues (can’t use steady rest, damaged by chuck, chips, etc). I’ve thought about using...




					www.hobby-machinist.com


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## Mitch Alsup (Mar 4, 2019)

jmarkwolf said:


> I looked at the hole on the chuck side of the cross-slide but there is no gib over there, so the point of any screw would drag directly on the internal dove tail, so I think that is a no go.



DRO PROs has a video (4) of them installing their DRO stuff on a G4003G. You should look those up.


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## jmarkwolf (Mar 4, 2019)

I have watched the videos and on the cross-slide they just cover the gib screw hole with the scale.


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## MSD0 (Mar 4, 2019)

The scale on my cross slide is mounted on standoffs so that the gibs can be adjusted with short allen wrenches.


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