# M-DRO lathe install



## GreatOldOne (Oct 25, 2019)

I've spent the last couple of days removing my touchDRO system from my lathe, and installing a new M-DRO system in it's place. TouchDRO worked OK... But the tablet I was using wasn't great (and wasn't holding up well in a shop environment) - and maybe the scales I was using weren't the best (resolution wise - they used to flicker between digits and always seemed to go up in 2 or 3 hundredths of a millimetre). And then there was the odd times when it took half an hour to persuade the tablet to connect to the bluetooth on the scale interface.

Anyway - I treated myself to a full 'universal' two axis lathe package from Machine DRO, and by picking it up at the Engineering show last friday, I got a discounted price. Here's some pics I took whilst installing it.




The long 'Z' axis was the easiest to install - it just took a couple of tapped holes for the aluminium extrusion to attach to, and then the mag tape is stuck to it in a groove, and a stainless steel strip slotted over it with rubber seals pushed to the top and bottom along the length of the extrusion keeping it firmly in place - and keeping muck out. There's a cover you can see that is attached to the main extrusion that curves over the scale and read head. I used the provided brackets to attach the read head to the back of the saddle and reach down and around the cover to the scale.

The 'X' axis on the cross slide was more difficult to install, but still not too bad. I took a leaf out of the demo unit they had at the show where they had installed the scale tape to the underside of a Myford 7 cross slide - this entailed making a small extension piece to attach to the back of the slide so the read head can be off the back of the saddle and still read when the slide is at full travel toward the operator, and taking the cross slide off and then milling two grooves - one slightly deeper than the other for the mag tape and cover strip respectively:






The extension is a block of bronze i had laying around... It's not used for any other reason than it was about the right size and was available 

I then had to fabricate the brackets to hold the read head in place under the cross slide - none of the brackets I had left in the kit where suitable so I milled some out of scrap aluminium I had.





The L piece on the saddle is slotted to allow for height adjustment. The piece that is held on to it is stepped to clear the dovetails as the top slide is wound out, and to place the read head in the centre of the mag tape.






Both of the readhead cables are cable tied to the brackets to prevent strain on the heads themselves, and are plugged into the die-cast readout via d-sub connectors.




It's attached to an arm that is screwed to the workshop wall above the headstock.




Very pleased with how it all turned out - the readout is very robust and has a dust / oil cover, and the accuracy of the scales it spot on according to my DTIs - at least to the 100th of a millimetre they resolve to. The scale is down to 5um... 

You can also see my new work light. It's 1000 lumen, USB rechargeable and the goose head is magnetic. But the light head and gooseneck can be unscrews and be used on other clamps etc. It's very bright!


----------



## Martin W (Oct 25, 2019)

Looks Great
Cheers
Martin


----------



## brino (Oct 25, 2019)

Nice clean installation.
-brino


----------



## Briney Eye (Oct 26, 2019)

Looks good.  There is a YouTube video of a similar installation on a Myford Super 7.  I have a TouchDRO setup too, with the same issues as you, which is why I just started looking at the M-DRO system a couple of weeks ago.  I currently have my X axis scale installed in the space above my cross slide screw, which is why I was very interested in whether the magnetic scales could be installed in just the way that you have done.  Besides being extremely compact, it minimizes the Abbe (sine) error, too.

-Jon


----------



## darkzero (Oct 26, 2019)

Nice job. I've got a DRO by M-DRO also (just the display, not the scales), different model though. Very happy with it.


----------

