Can you set a DRO to add knee and quill?

[durableoreo]

Cheap 4 axis DROs from China have a Z axis summing feature.

Do you have any idea how to turn on the summing feature? I've poked around the .......... configuration menu and tried pushing various buttons but no luck.

The manual that came with my cheap 4-axis DRO was for the 2/3-axis version. The manuals for these things are so bad I just assumed that was the best this seller could do. Tried looking online but have not been able to find a manual for a 4-axis import model. I finally emailed the seller and he says he'll send a PDF via the email. Probably should have done that first. Depending on what he sends, the manual might solve my problem. If it does, I'll post the solution.

Also, there are hardware devices for combining quill and knee/column. It's a separate box with 2 ga-zin-tas and 1 ga-zow-ta. Cost is under 100 $. I guess it's a retrofit option. Or it gives you more choices because there are many more 3-axis models than 4.

 

[Illinoyance]

I was considering adding a rdouton the quill. I looked at some of the 4 axis readouts and discovered that some offered Z axis summing but that is as far as I got.

 

[pontiac428]

Which DRO head do you have? I'd be surprised if there is a 4-axis head out there that doesn't do sum/difference functions on Z. I have a D80 head, the scale setup menu has sum/difference functions in a couple of flavors. I also see a lot of people installing cheap, battery-powered quill DRO units (think HF calipers). That's a good thing when used with the knee dial. It's nice to have the knee and quill coupled, though.

 

[durableoreo]

I have the ToAuto brand. The seller is polite and responsive but I suspect a major language barrier. I asked for a manual and he responded "Dear XZY ,engineer said that we have the function you mentioned ,would you please take photos of it ,we will check on it ." So I sent a photo of the manual and readout.

The readout has inputs for X, Y, Z, and A. the readout can display X, Y, Z, A, and if you ask for it, W. The 10-dot configuration menu has settings for 4-MILL and 5-MILL. If I could configure W = Z + A, that would be great.

 

[pontiac428]

You should be able to choose W=Z+A, W=Z-A, W=-Z+A, and so on. In other words, you should be able to control the addition or subtraction of the two, as well as the +/- direction of travel to get exactly the output you want. It's already in the software in some form, it should be just matter of displaying the data. Hopefully. Unless it isn't. Mine was advertized as having that feature, which drove my decision.

 

[durableoreo]

You should be able to choose W=Z+A, W=Z-A, W=-Z+A, and so on. In other words, you should be able to control the addition or subtraction of the two, as well as the +/- direction of travel to get exactly the output you want. It's already in the software in some form, it should be just matter of displaying the data. Hopefully. Unless it isn't. Mine was advertized as having that feature, which drove my decision.

I found the direction controls in the power-up-dot menu. Still haven't figured out how to set up summing.

I see what you mean, though, about configuring the summing. Here's a video someone made about how his 4-axis DRO sums the quill and knee. It shows exactly what you describe. There are some drawbacks for his unit. Apparently it's done with math based on the display values instead of counting up and down based on scale input pulses. I don't quite understand the problem but this guy stopped using it and purchased a separate electronic device to combine signals.