# Tpac Tools Dro



## dennys502 (Jan 2, 2017)

Just a warning for those purchasing DRO for their lathe.
I just installed a DRO from TPAC Tools and realized the X axis scale only had 38.5 inches of travel. 
My bad - I didn't notice the travel of their scales was 39 inches - I just saw the 13 x 40 and ordered that for my Clausing Colchester 13 x 40 lathe. 
I actually have 41 inches of carriage travel so I will have to be careful that I do not move the carriage too far and jam the reader against the end of the case.
This is the first time I've come across someone advertising DRO for a 40" lathe with scales shorter than the travel.

The ones that were $50 - $100 more all had 40.3" of travel on their x axis.
For most people this may not be a problem but I want to have use of the full length if I need it.

Denny


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## petertha (Jan 13, 2017)

I don't know Colchester lathes, but I'm curious now. You say you have 41" of travel on a 13x40 lathe. So what does the '40' correspond to? My (typical Taiwan) lathe is a 14x40. In my specs it shows 40 = distance between centers & travel = 35.25". I just assumed all lathes had a similar travel : center distance reduction factor. I've never actually validated travel extend by removing the tailstock, but I suspect the right side of carriage would go clunk on the end bar that holds the leadscrew assembly. Maybe yours is different in some manner?

FWIW I went through a similar thing for DRO installation on my lathe. The chosen encoder length had more to do with accommodating the mounting hardware & of course facilitating full travel.


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## dennys502 (Jan 13, 2017)

The specs for the Clausing are the same -13 1/4" swing and 40" between centers. The carriage has 41.5 inches of travel with the tail stock on. I didn't look to see what it was with it off.
 I'm not sure about the Chinese lathes. 
I've got mine all mounted and I like the way it fits and works - just not happy about the short scale. Obviously designed for the chinese lathe and shouldn't be sold for fitting all 13 x 40's.
I did some research and found out TPAC tools on ebay is CDCO machinery in shaumberg Ill and also toolprecison on ebay.Xinan Fan is listed as the owner*.*
Lots of mixed reviews about CDCO.


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## petertha (Jan 13, 2017)

Glad you got it mounted. Hopefully the shortfall will be in a place you don't use it often. Maybe consider a bumper of some sort so you don't inadvertently whack the encoder head one day.  I know various DRO scale systems vary in their mounting hardware & therefore lengths too. I have Newall & their catalog provides some installation guide sketches like attached. Even so I  had to go back & forth to my machine to plan out a mounting strategy just because the castings & shape can dictate where things go & encoders come in specific, non-changeable length increments. The X-axis was pretty straight forward, but I had to think out the cross slide & compound a bit. But their mounting hardware was particularly nice to setup & adjust in any of 3 dimensions without too much fuss. The cost is more than DRO Asian options nowadays, but its installed & I love having it.


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## dennys502 (Jan 14, 2017)

I had to take the carriage off and machine it out so the scale would fit. While I had it off I drilled passages so the cross slide was lubed on both sides - one side you had to oil with an oil can. I don't know why they didn't do it when it was built - just a 
 couple of extra holes as they had already drilled some for the passages.


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## petertha (Jan 14, 2017)

Looks good. Hey while we're talking about all this, I (foolishly) did not get a back splash (or whatever you call the rear vertical sheet metal) for my lathe at the time. Its now on my list but was wondering - do you just lay the cables over the top of the metal on its way to DRO box & it just slides along the ridge when traversing? I was thinking maybe they could exit low like they are now, but that wont work well with slots or holes in the metal.

ps I also put encoder on Z-axis. Go big or go home. (The 3-axis was on sale same price as 2 & I didn't want one port to be lonely ha-ha)


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## NCjeeper (Jan 14, 2017)

dennys502 said:


> I did some research and found out TPAC tools on ebay is CDCO machinery


I did not know that. Thanks.


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## dennys502 (Jan 14, 2017)

You are welcome - he also has Tools precision on Ebay. Its nice to have a heads up when buying online. At least it makes one aware of who they are dealing with so they look a little deeper at what they are buying - not that will help in some cases though.


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## dennys502 (Jan 14, 2017)

petertha said:


> Looks good. Hey while we're talking about all this, I (foolishly) did not get a back splash (or whatever you call the rear vertical sheet metal) for my lathe at the time. Its now on my list but was wondering - do you just lay the cables over the top of the metal on its way to DRO box & it just slides along the ridge when traversing? I was thinking maybe they could exit low like they are now, but that wont work well with slots or holes in the metal.
> 
> ps I also put encoder on Z-axis. Go big or go home. (The 3-axis was on sale same price as 2 & I didn't want one port to be lonely ha-ha)



I just have a cable tie holding the cables to the top of the back splash and then ran them along the back. They are positioned in the center of  the travel so I don't have a lot of cable exposed. 
I'm putting an Igaging readout on mine as my DRO is only X Y.


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