# The Big LCD for Lathe Install



## xnaron (Feb 25, 2020)

I picked up one of these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000228070775.html . 





 It arrived today!





I am going to put it on this.  The third axis will be the tailstock.  Busybee markets this as a 12x28 lathe but really it is 11.5" x 27.5" and pretty much the same as the PM-1127 from Precision Matthews.





I will document the install here.


----------



## DavidR8 (Feb 25, 2020)

I'll be interested to watch this progress. Nice looking lathe!


----------



## xnaron (Feb 25, 2020)

No Worries about this being hard to read.  It is very bright and the numbers are huge.


----------



## DavidR8 (Feb 25, 2020)

How does the manual look? Helpful or a mystery book?
Blatant self interest as I'm looking at the same unit for my new mill.


----------



## xnaron (Feb 25, 2020)

DavidR8 said:


> How does the manual look? Helpful or a mystery book?
> Blatant self interest as I'm looking at the same unit for my new mill.



It's actually pretty decent.  The translation to English is pretty good and there are lots of pictures to help clarify.


----------



## Nutfarmer (Feb 25, 2020)

Looking forward to the install. Totally in self interest mode. Having never used a read out  until I bought a used mill with one on it. I love it. Looking to add one to my lathe.


----------



## Shootymacshootface (Feb 26, 2020)

Subscribed


----------



## middle.road (Feb 26, 2020)

Love the size of that readout. 
Wish that style had been on the market four years ago...


----------



## ErichKeane (Feb 26, 2020)

That looks pretty nice!  I have one of the cheap Chinese DROs on my mill, and the special features end up being pretty difficult to use.  I can use bolt-circle and a couple of others, but it is pretty weird to use otherwise.  I'm hoping one day these LCD ones get nice enough/feature-full-enough to be worth it.

Actually, what I would LOVE is the ability to buy the hardware to one of these in a programmable state so that I can implement my own functionality.


----------



## MontanaLon (Feb 26, 2020)

ErichKeane said:


> That looks pretty nice!  I have one of the cheap Chinese DROs on my mill, and the special features end up being pretty difficult to use.  I can use bolt-circle and a couple of others, but it is pretty weird to use otherwise.  I'm hoping one day these LCD ones get nice enough/feature-full-enough to be worth it.
> 
> Actually, what I would LOVE is the ability to buy the hardware to one of these in a programmable state so that I can implement my own functionality.


I have found the features on this model to be very easy to use, more of a learning curve than any difficulty with the features. For the bolt circle I made a pattern on my indexing head with known dimensions and then used the DRO to check the coordinates and they lined up really well to what I had made on the indexing head.


----------



## BrentH (Feb 26, 2020)

The on board calculator with trig is sweet!


----------



## ErichKeane (Feb 26, 2020)

MontanaLon said:


> I have found the features on this model to be very easy to use, more of a learning curve than any difficulty with the features. For the bolt circle I made a pattern on my indexing head with known dimensions and then used the DRO to check the coordinates and they lined up really well to what I had made on the indexing head.


On mine, the confusing thing (not the LCD one btw) was that the bolt circle took start-angle, end-angle, center, and # of bolts.  The only way I could get it to give me the right answer was to put in 1 extra bolt and get it to start/end at 0 degrees. Otherwise the numbers were wrong.

I also guess there are enough small-features (or more easy to understand features) to these things that I'd love to be able to write custom firmware for one.


----------



## aliva (Feb 26, 2020)

Looks great. I'm a little leery about purchases like this from China, in regards to service, warranty and future repairs.
I also have a Chinese  knock off, its a Sino 2 axis but at least the vender can supply service and repairs. On my mill I have a 2 axis Fagor. 
Fours years in and no problems yet with either.


----------



## xnaron (Mar 2, 2020)

I've never worked with these scales before.  Can someone tell me whether this red plastic spacer is just there for shipping purpose?


----------



## DavidR8 (Mar 2, 2020)

I haven't seen anything like that on other similar scales so I would hasten to say that it's not necessary but I would proceed with caution.
Are you able to see anything inside if you pop off the end cap?


----------



## darkzero (Mar 2, 2020)

xnaron said:


> I've never worked with these scales before.  Can someone tell me whether this red plastic spacer is just there for shipping purpose?
> 
> View attachment 315476



Yes, it's just a protector for the read head for shipping. Remove before use.


----------



## xnaron (Mar 2, 2020)

Thanks


----------



## LEEQ (Mar 2, 2020)

I'm not sure if we still do the you suck thing. If we do, you sir suck. I'm 2 days out from receiving a similar dro I ordered at the end of the year. I learned that adds abt 2 weeks to the process. Anyhow, I'm jealous and I look forward to seeing your progress and thoughts on the equipment and manual.


----------



## xnaron (Mar 2, 2020)

LEEQ said:


> I'm not sure if we still do the you suck thing. If we do, you sir suck. I'm 2 days out from receiving a similar dro I ordered at the end of the year. I learned that adds abt 2 weeks to the process. Anyhow, I'm jealous and I look forward to seeing your progress and thoughts on the equipment and manual.



lol. I was just lucky to order from a seller that could ship quickly.  I think I ordered around mid February.  They were shipped via UPS.


----------

