# Annoying DRO display switch



## Ken226 (Jun 23, 2021)

I have a ToAuto 2 axis DRO on my lathe from Amazon.  It has a ToAuto 5 micron Z scale and a Sino slim 1 micron X scale.

The thing works quite good, but the lack of a front panel on/off switch has been annoying me for awhile.  Reaching around the back and feeling around for the rocker switch is a pain.   

There's a video on YouTube showing that you can press and hold the mm/inch button and put it into sleep mode, but that doesn't seem to work on mine.  The Chinglish manual doesn't help.



This morning I decided to  order a 16mm power switch from ebay,  to wire in series with the rear rocker switch and mount in the front panel.

Unfortunately, while drilling the hole for the 16mm switch, the mylar decal that is the front panel ripped, making it look like crap.  

While that sort of thing is cosmetic only, it would trigger my OCD every time I saw it and cause premature balding and likely an ulcer.

I decided to cut out a piece of aluminum and make a cover plate for that area.   I cut it out, belt-sanded the edges strait, then cerakoted and engraved a logo on it.

The hole is still a bit chingered up, but the flange on the front of the switch should hide it.

It looks pretty decent, I think?






This is the switch that's going in:




I'd prefer to have a sleep button on the front, but beggars can't be choosers I guess.


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## markba633csi (Jun 23, 2021)

Looks great!  As if you planned it that way
I'm partial to mini-toggle switches myself
-Mark


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## JimDawson (Jun 23, 2021)

There is a power switch on those?   I haven't turned mine off in 3 years since I installed it.

Looks good!


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## Ken226 (Jun 23, 2021)

Unfortunately,  when the mylar tore I must have severed a circuit trace in the mylar.   I tried to drill as far as possible away from the buttons.     The X and Y zero buttons no longer work.  I'm glad the display was cheap.

 I'll take it as an opportunity to order a Ditron LCD display.


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## BGHansen (Jun 23, 2021)

I have a DRO on a lathe and mill and don't turn the power off either, though I might if the switch was convenient to get to.  Nice save on the panel.  Mine is a Sino or MTech unit and needs to be in INCremental mode to sleep.

Bruce


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## darkzero (Jun 23, 2021)

Ooh, I had no idea DRO displays had a sleep function. I don't think my M-DRO or Easson displays have that feature. They are about 10 yrs old though.

Not sure what kind of lathe you have (how it's powered) but I wired my DRO for 220V & connected to the lathe's incoming power. So when I flip a switch to cut power to the lathe, the DRO turns off with it. Same for my work lamps, powered off the lathe so they turn off as well when the power is cut.

And same for my mill, DRO & work lamps are powered off the mill. I do wish the power feed for my mill was wired this way too. I forget to turn it off sometimes. For now it's plugged into a 110V outlet. I've been meaning to find a way to have it powered off the mill's 220V.


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## Ken226 (Jun 23, 2021)

I may do that next time I pull the lathe away from the wall.  My lathe has both 240v and 120v switched circuits in the box, it should be easy to do.

That's a good idea, thanks.


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## hman (Jun 24, 2021)

I have two DROs - one 3-axis unit on my mill, branded Precision Matthews; the other a 2-axis unit on my lathe, from TPAC Tools.  They pretty obviously use the same circuitry from the same factory.  The cosmetics are a bit different, as are some of the button legends (possibly because they're meant for different machines).  But both have a way to turn off the display LEDs.  There's a button on each of them (called "REF" on the mill DRO, "RI" on the lathe) that performs this function when the DRO is in "INCremental" mode.  If in "ABSolute" mode, it invokes the SDM (multiple datums) function.   Looking at your DRO, I don't see anything like REF or RI ... but wonder if the "HA" button might be equivalent.


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## Ken226 (Jun 24, 2021)

I appreciate the info, but I already screwed mine up when I drilled for the switch.  

I ordered one of these Ditron d80 displays on ebay.  If it works, it's a steal for 60$.









						Ditron D80-2V Large LCD Screen Ditron 2 Axis Digital Readout/DRO/Digital Display  | eBay
					

Ditron D80 2 axis display. - LCD display. - Default set for mill, but can be set to lathe functions as well.



					www.ebay.com
				




It's TTL/RS422, so should work fine.  The seller is DRO PROS,  who sent me the required pinout.   Their listing says it will need a different "ribbon cable", to work with glass scales, but the pinout they sent seems to actually be correct for my scales.

It looks to already be compatible with my Sino RS422 scales, as in TTL/RS422 and has the same db9 connector pinout.


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