# Touch DRO vs Commercial DRO



## JFL4066 (Feb 15, 2020)

Hi Yuriy,
I'm in the market for a DRO for my knee mill. I have been looking at the Easson ES-12C with magnetic scales. I really like your DRO (the tachometer feature is great) but I would like to compare features.  Does your DRO have all of the features of a Easson 12C?  I could not find a complete listing on your website. Some type of manual would be greatly beneficial.


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## mksj (Feb 15, 2020)

The Easson will be much more accurate and more reliable than using something like the Igaging scales. Both options have a host of features, most people rarely use many of the features. The magnetic scales are easily cut and installed, but much cheaper to purchase with the Easson 12B/C kit  vs. separately. A tachometer is a $20 item, biggest challenge is where to put the sender, I typically integrate them into a LED light ring that mounts on the nose of the machine ram. I have the Easson 12B on my lathe and an El700 on the mill. The Easson will be more expensive


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## ycroosh (Feb 15, 2020)

HI,
I'm working on a manual (and a new, more organized website), but being a one-man show, it's pretty slow going. 
TouchDRO covers all of the standard DRO features, plus some that standard DROs don't have. Looking at ES-12C, the only features that I can find (that are not in TouchDRO) are shrinkage calculation and incline milling calculation.

It's hard to make apples-to-apples comparison, though. It's like comparing features of an old flip-phone to iPhone. Once you jump into the software-defined world, many "features" don't make sense. For example, I don't list the number of tools/datums you can save because the number is astronomically large. On a basic Android device, you can have millions of tools and coordinates stored. Each coordinate takes up about 30 bytes. My phone comes with 128 Gigabytes of storage, so in theory, it can store around four billion coordinates.

Some features are implemented very differently. For example, TouchDRO doesn't have a "Calculator" button - you can input equations directly into the fields (i.e. you can type "7/16+1/32" into position preset dialog). Saved Datum memory works very differently as well. TouchDRO has a concept of workspaces (i.e. separate datum banks) that you can switch between. Each workspace can have a separate absolute origin that will be recalled when you load the workspace. Stored datums are treated as a third coordinate system. I.e. you have Absolute mode, incremental mode and then you can select and deselect stored coordinates. Additionally, TouchDRO has a graphical view mode that shows your 2D layout and auto-selects the nearest point, etc. 

Regards
Yuriy


Below is the feature list from the new site:

*General Features*

Display for up to five axis readouts
Three linear axes
Angular axis
Tachometer

Per-axis Absolute/Incremental display modes
Per-axis Inch/mm display modes
Fourth axis input summing
Real-time Feed Rate and Chipload display
Integrated calculator
Center finding function
Near-zero audible warning (on compatible devices)
Graphical layout view
Linear error compensation
Power-off memory
*Milling Features*

Bolthole pattern calculations
Pitch circle or arc
Arbitrarily spaced circle or arc

Bolthole grid pattern calculations
Layout step-and-repeat
Tool radius and length compensation
*Turning Features*

Tool offset compensation
Radius/diameter turning mode
Real-time cutting speed display
Real-time feed rate or thread pitch display
*Sub Datum and Tool Memory*

Practically unlimited Stored coordinate/datum memory
Practically unlimited predefined tool memory
Support for multiple stored coordinate sets/workspaces
Per-workspace origin setting
*User Interface Customization*

User-configurable display precision
User-configurable display font
Individual axis visibility control
Up to Six settings banks


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## ycroosh (Feb 15, 2020)

mksj said:


> The Easson will be much more accurate and more reliable than using something like the Igaging scales. Both options have a host of features, most people rarely use many of the features. The magnetic scales are easily cut and installed, but much cheaper to purchase with the Easson 12B/C kit  vs. separately. A tachometer is a $20 item, biggest challenge is where to put the sender, I typically integrate them into a LED light ring that mounts on the nose of the machine ram. I have the Easson 12B on my lathe and an El700 on the mill. The Easson will be more expensive



Well, TouchDRO works with the same scales and in practice will likely be more accurate, since it can do proper floating point math (most traditional DROs work with integer math, since they use much less powerful embedded microcontrollers, so you get funny rounding errors). I don't know if this particular unit has this issue, but many Chinese DROs round the numbers down to the scale resolution. I.e. if you have 5-micron scales, 0.005mm / 2 * 2 = 0.010mm. Second, TouchDRO will likely be more expensive, unless you scratch-build the adapter. The adapter for Glass/Magnetic scales sells for $120 and you will need a tablet, which is another $100 for a good one. For the price, you get a properly designed USA-made adapter that uses name-brand components, better user interface, and future updates/expansions that will make your DRO even more capable in the future. Whether you need all this it's really up to you. 

Regards
Yuriy


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## mksj (Feb 15, 2020)

The same magnetic scales will cost $650 or more, the ES-12B/C with same magnetic scales is around $750 or $650 with Easson glass scales. Resolution wise, I have not seen any calculation issues with the exception of using a 5 micron scale in diameter mode on a lathe. On a mill, with 5 micron scales I have not encountered any calculation issues, you are pretty much at the limit of the scale resolution that a 0.0002" change is not going to be noticeable. There is also resolution, and then there is accuracy depending on the type of scale. Pretty much most of the electronics and/or components are made in China, it is how they are made and the QC that matters.


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## JFL4066 (Feb 16, 2020)

ycroosh said:


> For the price, you get a properly designed USA-made adapter that uses name-brand components, better user interface, and future updates/expansions that will make your DRO even more capable in the future



Thank you for your detailed reply Yuriy.  Cost is not a real big issue for me. I just want to invest in a solid product without having issues in a machine shop environment. I like your innovations and fresh take on the DRO features. Being able to to talk with the creator/engineer is a huge bonus!


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