- Joined
- Jul 31, 2019
- Messages
- 12
Finally added a DRO to my 1324. The DRO is the Shooting Star device sold directly by Smithy. I also bought the installation kit, as I thought this would help with any installation issues. Unfortunately I ended up making or modifying most of the mounting hardware myself. I think my machine is a newer model, I just got it about 2 months ago, so not sure why most of the required mounting holes either didn't exist or were in the wrong place. Full detail on each axis below. Suffice to say, the effort of getting the device(s) installed was well worth it. The level of accuracy that this device affords is well worth the price as it completely eliminates any issues with backlash.
X- axis (running along the ways) install: The install kit provided by Smithy comes with a goose-neck for mounting the DRO control head. Unfortunately, the holes required to mount the goose-neck did not exist on the back of my machine. There were two smaller holes vertically oriented just at the far end of the ways. These are the holes I decided to use instead of drilling and tapping new holes. In order to mount the goose-neck and the end of the longest encoder track, I used a piece of 4x5x3/16 steel plate. I drilled two holes for the mount, two holes for the goose-neck and 1 hole for the encoder track. I mounted the goose-neck using several bolts with the heads facing the machine and the threads sticking out. I used two of the standoff cylinders that come with the Shooting Star kit to mount the plate about an inch from the base of the lathe. For the far end of the encoder, I ended up drilling a hole through the motor mount in order to anchor the encoder. The only problem that this leads to is a vibration in the encoder when turning a piece in the lathe. I can reduce the vibration, which tends to cause the last digit in the DRO display to flash between 2 digits, by simply placing a finger on the encoder rod. The encoder itself mounts on the bottom of the cross slide. The mounting hole locations were correct and the angle plate supplied by Shooting Star worked properly. The encoder mounts to this plate.
Y-axis (cross slide table) install: From a mounting perspective, this was the easiest part of the install. Unfortunately, the pre-existing holes that are drilled into the cross slide were drilled too low, which caused the mounting plate to interfere with the gib adjustments on the slide itself. The holes in the mounting plate were correct in terms of placement, but the holes in the slide were simply too low. In order to solve this problem I used the mill to cut slots in the mounting
plate. The last piece is a properly drilled mounting bar supplied by Smithy. This bar is correctly drilled and attaches to several threaded holes found at the end of the cross slide.
Z-axis (mill head): The mounting kit for the Z-axis includes a plate for mounting the encoder (4 holes) and two other holes for mounting the plate to the mill head. Unfortunately, the required holes in the mill head did not exist. I ended up using some of the left over plate from the X-axis install, which I mounted to the front of the drill head and then simply drilled two holes in the plate along with two drilled and tapped holes along the side of the Smithy supplied mounting plate. This created an L shaped bracket that allows the encoder to be properly mounted on the side of the mill head.
For all axis, it's up to the installer to measure and trim the encoder rods to fit each axis. Each encoder rod comes with a plastic covering that is split such that
the encoder can slide back and forth along the encoder rod while still providing protection against oils and other milling debris that could harm the encoder wheels.
Last but not least, wire management is critical for a proper install. The wires must be routed and protected in order to guarantee that movement of the axis does not catch the wires and potentially break them. I routed mine along the lathe body using the mounting holes that already existed on my machine. The Shooting Star kits comes with some wire looms that allow the wires to be easily tucked away.
I'm really enjoying my new DRO setup. It has really helped with accuracy and definitely helps to negate simple accidents like bumping your lathe wheel handles after you've painstakingly set them up properly for a cut.
--Corey
X- axis (running along the ways) install: The install kit provided by Smithy comes with a goose-neck for mounting the DRO control head. Unfortunately, the holes required to mount the goose-neck did not exist on the back of my machine. There were two smaller holes vertically oriented just at the far end of the ways. These are the holes I decided to use instead of drilling and tapping new holes. In order to mount the goose-neck and the end of the longest encoder track, I used a piece of 4x5x3/16 steel plate. I drilled two holes for the mount, two holes for the goose-neck and 1 hole for the encoder track. I mounted the goose-neck using several bolts with the heads facing the machine and the threads sticking out. I used two of the standoff cylinders that come with the Shooting Star kit to mount the plate about an inch from the base of the lathe. For the far end of the encoder, I ended up drilling a hole through the motor mount in order to anchor the encoder. The only problem that this leads to is a vibration in the encoder when turning a piece in the lathe. I can reduce the vibration, which tends to cause the last digit in the DRO display to flash between 2 digits, by simply placing a finger on the encoder rod. The encoder itself mounts on the bottom of the cross slide. The mounting hole locations were correct and the angle plate supplied by Shooting Star worked properly. The encoder mounts to this plate.
Y-axis (cross slide table) install: From a mounting perspective, this was the easiest part of the install. Unfortunately, the pre-existing holes that are drilled into the cross slide were drilled too low, which caused the mounting plate to interfere with the gib adjustments on the slide itself. The holes in the mounting plate were correct in terms of placement, but the holes in the slide were simply too low. In order to solve this problem I used the mill to cut slots in the mounting
plate. The last piece is a properly drilled mounting bar supplied by Smithy. This bar is correctly drilled and attaches to several threaded holes found at the end of the cross slide.
Z-axis (mill head): The mounting kit for the Z-axis includes a plate for mounting the encoder (4 holes) and two other holes for mounting the plate to the mill head. Unfortunately, the required holes in the mill head did not exist. I ended up using some of the left over plate from the X-axis install, which I mounted to the front of the drill head and then simply drilled two holes in the plate along with two drilled and tapped holes along the side of the Smithy supplied mounting plate. This created an L shaped bracket that allows the encoder to be properly mounted on the side of the mill head.
For all axis, it's up to the installer to measure and trim the encoder rods to fit each axis. Each encoder rod comes with a plastic covering that is split such that
the encoder can slide back and forth along the encoder rod while still providing protection against oils and other milling debris that could harm the encoder wheels.
Last but not least, wire management is critical for a proper install. The wires must be routed and protected in order to guarantee that movement of the axis does not catch the wires and potentially break them. I routed mine along the lathe body using the mounting holes that already existed on my machine. The Shooting Star kits comes with some wire looms that allow the wires to be easily tucked away.
I'm really enjoying my new DRO setup. It has really helped with accuracy and definitely helps to negate simple accidents like bumping your lathe wheel handles after you've painstakingly set them up properly for a cut.
--Corey
