DRO Advice

I take function over " looks silly" any time. I jealously guard my capacity and will not give up any without a fight. However, since you opted for the shorter travel, I would not cut the lead screw. Place a stop there. So if/when you do need that extra 5mm, you can recover it.
 
RJSakowski said:
I take function over " looks silly" any time. I jealously guard my capacity and will not give up any without a fight. However, since you opted for the shorter travel, I would not cut the lead screw. Place a stop there. So if/when you do need that extra 5mm, you can recover it.
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I've been thinking about it more and I intend to add a hard stop to the travel. I think the easiest thing will be to drill and tap the floating end of the leadscrew. I'll then turn a cup shape that fits the crest of the threads inside and covers 5mm of the screw thread (this will attach with a cap screw to the end of the leadscrew. Easily removable if needed and it will also prevent me from unthreading the cross slide from the end of the screw which is moderately annoying to get back on.

Thanks for the warning:) I appreciate you guys looking out for me (or my machines more correctly).
 
I'm with David. I ordered all three axis scales the next size up and cut them to length. They are so easy to cut and it has no impact on the performance of the DRO.
 
macardoso said:
I've been thinking about it more and I intend to add a hard stop to the travel. I think the easiest thing will be to drill and tap the floating end of the leadscrew. I'll then turn a cup shape that fits the crest of the threads inside and covers 5mm of the screw thread (this will attach with a cap screw to the end of the leadscrew. Easily removable if needed and it will also prevent me from unthreading the cross slide from the end of the screw which is moderately annoying to get back on.

Thanks for the warning:) I appreciate you guys looking out for me (or my machines more correctly).
Click to expand...
In addition to the 5mm, you will also lose the thickness of the lead screw nut in your travel.
 
Here's a tip for possibly saving money on a DroPro's magnetic scale kit.

DroPro standard kits include scales that are longer than you need sometimes. I was able to save nearly $100 bucks by carefully measuring the actual travel I have, and buy a kit with a "shorter than standard" scale on the longitudinal access on my 12 x 36. It was still over long by a couple inches, I didn't need to cut it, and saved about $100 bucks. Use their formula for determining minimum length for the scale.

The installation videos on their website are very good, and useful regardless whose system you install.
 
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