# DRO on Southbend Milling machine.



## Mike23 (Aug 10, 2021)

Ive been getting my old SB mill back together after a tear down and clean up. I was thinking about putting a DRO on it as my old eyes just aren't up to reading old dials anymore. I took a look at all the DRO postings, but nothing pertaining to the SB mill was listed. Does anyone have any experience putting one on? What would be a good type and how easy would it be to install?  Thanks. Mike


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## hwelecrepair (Aug 11, 2021)

Ive put a few on before, not much different from any of the BP "clone" style mills that are close but not exactly a Bridgeport.  Don't be hesitant to drill and tap into the castings and make sure you check your tolerances before you drill and tap.  If you get a kit made for a Bridgeport, be ready to do some modifying or extra drilling and tapping.

Jon


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## Mike23 (Aug 11, 2021)

That kind of hat I was thinking.  Its not really a Bridgeport clone, so wasnt sure if there was going to be a lot of extra hassle.


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## markba633csi (Aug 11, 2021)

Any of the inexpensive DRO packages would work;  you would need to make sure when ordering the length of the scales travels match the travels on your machine, and you may need to make up some brackets to mount the scales.  Easy peasy. There are a couple choices as far as physical size of the scale reader heads and the scale widths.  The narrower ones cost a bit more.  Spend some time checking out the specs before ordering.
I've seen 3-axis packages on Aliexpress for around 300$ or less
-Mark


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## Mike23 (Aug 11, 2021)

That's not too bad. Do you think the igaging dro with magnetic scales would be good for this or should I be looking at one of the larger single head types with glass scales? I like the magnetic scales and it seems like igaging is an affordable option.   Mike


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## gradient (Aug 11, 2021)

A couple of years ago I put a DRO Pros set on a South Bend. Was actually pretty easy since they give you a ton of brackets and what not. The on-line examples were great and the folks there really helpful. I just called and told them what I had and what I wanted and they helped me choose the correct set-up. More expensive than some but it's been trouble free since I installed it and the help was really useful. Meant to say I did it on both a SB mill and lathe.


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## Mike23 (Aug 11, 2021)

Great,, thanks for that. Mike


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## pontiac428 (Aug 11, 2021)

Mike23 said:


> That's not too bad. Do you think the igaging dro with magnetic scales would be good for this or should I be looking at one of the larger single head types with glass scales? I like the magnetic scales and it seems like igaging is an affordable option.   Mike


Don't do igaging for anything but light duty tools.  It's perfectly suited for a Rong Fu (where I applied them), but that's not a high bar. 

I got Ditron DRO components for my big mill on Alibaba.  I went with the thin/narrow magnetic scales rather than the big glass scales, and I am happy I did, since they were super easy to fit.  It's pretty simple, size them for the travels of your equipment, mount the scales directly to the castings, and fab a little bracket to hold the read head in position.  Not much to it at all.  No need for a prefab kit, just a stick of bar stock to make brackets from.


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## tjb (Aug 11, 2021)

I am in the final stages of putting magnetic scales on both my mill (Vectrax) and lathe (Eisen).  I had glass scales on both, but the resolution was less than ideal.  Magnetic scales are undoubtedly more expensive, but the resolution on the ones I got was much better (5 micron X- and Y- on mill; 5 micron Z-, and 1 micron X- on the lathe).  DRO Pros has great products, but I bought Eason kits from machine.dro in the UK.  The nearly identical kits were a couple hundred cheaper even with international shipping.  I've already benefited from the improvement on the mill, and I'm down to bolting everything down on the lathe.  Bet I'll see similar improvements there, as well.

I've installed glass scales before, but in my opinion, the installs on the magnetic scales were easier and less prone to damage.  Took a lot of time but mostly profiling the job.  Once that was done, it was fairly straightforward.

I got quite a bit of wise counsel and hand-holding from one of our resident experts on the purchase and installation.  Regardless of which system you get, you'll get the same kind of advice from many here at HM.

Good luck.


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## MikeInOr (Aug 11, 2021)

Not owning a DRO and only having used one for a short period of time (I am trying to say I really don't know what I am talking about here) I have been eyeing this Dirtron head unit:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/329...f1df0b19-6&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id":"66081516312"}

I believe the 4th axis can be used for the knee or RPM.  Seems like a pretty trick DRO to me.


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## pontiac428 (Aug 11, 2021)

I can't/won't click on a Chinese link at work, but the head I got was the Ditron D80.  I put the Z on the knee and the U on the quill, and it does sum/difference calculation for the Z display so I get actual tool height regardless of what I do on the knee and quill independently.  It also does the usual hole patterns and stuff.  It isn't as fancy as some of the ones out there, for instance I can't reflect a pattern over a center line, but it's still a manual machine.


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## MikeInOr (Aug 11, 2021)

pontiac428 said:


> I can't/won't click on a Chinese link at work, but the head I got was the Ditron D80.  I put the Z on the knee and the U on the quill, and it does sum/difference calculation for the Z display so I get actual tool height regardless of what I do on the knee and quill independently.  It also does the usual hole patterns and stuff.  It isn't as fancy as some of the ones out there, for instance I can't reflect a pattern over a center line, but it's still a manual machine.


Yep, that is the one I linked to.  The Ditron D80.  The Ditron store seems to have several slightly different models of the D80.


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## pacifica (Aug 12, 2021)

MikeInOr said:


> Yep, that is the one I linked to.  The Ditron D80.  The Ditron store seems to have several slightly different models of the D80.


I have a d80-works good. If it isn't much more get 4 axis or at least 3 axis.


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