DRO -- Educate Me Please

Bob Korves said:
I am the wrong person to answer that question. I don't have a BP, and I have not looked critically at many installations. A careful installation of any DRO, with additional protection added where needed, pays dividends long term. It is really important to keep the oil and swarf out of glass scales, and to not let them get bent or otherwise physically damaged. Hardware is usually included, but quite often it must be modified or new parts made to achieve an accurate, protective, and robust mounting.
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I've fitted a few to Blidgepolts (Chinese ones), not that difficult but most of the supplied hardware went in the scrap for melting... it's important to ensure the scales are EXACTLY parallel to the movement, I run a dti gauge along the scale to check horizontally and vertically, aiming for zero to a few thou" divergence, with the dti mounted where the read head is going.
You will probably need to make adjustments so mounting on pads with grubscrews at their corners will give fine adjustment on castings with draft and allow fitting the scales more neatly than the supplied hardware (clunky cast ally angle brackets).
Leave the plastic shipping shim between scale and reader in place until you get to mounting and shimming the reader to ensure the right alignment and spacing. If you can, make removing the shim the last step (you may need to remove its retaining screws while you can get to them though, and tape it in place - bloody awkward!)

Dave H. (the other one)
 
Rick_B said:
What is your impression of the accuracy and repeatability of the DRO's you are using? Also - they see to have all of the features of the more expensive models - would you agree with that or are there things/features that you don't get?

Thanks
Rick
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Long story short, my first DRO was bought from a fellow in Hong Kong maybe 13 years ago for about $480 shipped. It's a Meister Top 10 3 axis unit. In all the years since I've barely dipped a toe into the included features the unit has built in. I've never even tried the calculator function since there's a stack of them on top the tool box. I have used the bolt circle and straight line hole layout and chop milled a large radius in using the programmable function. Mostly I set zero and watch the numbers.

The first unit I bought from the current seller went on my Traytop which also had a Trav-a-dial on it and they jive perfectly for accuracy. I checked the second one on the Clausing with gauge blocks and it matches as well.

The unit comes with a small bag of screws, a mount for the DRO , 3 angle brackets and scale covers for each one. I'll get something posted on the installation in a few days, The X and Y are done and I'm finishing up the Z axis tomorrow.
 
mmprestine said:
I purchased one for my mill and one for my lathe from aliexpress, very nice units and the price was unbelievable for what you get. Plus it was free shipping and came in 5 days to my door.
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Those links don't work

I would be intersted in knowing the actual units please.

Cheers
Bruce
 
So here's a high level question - I have a line on several acu-rite DRO's - both are two axis units. One is an ACU-RITE III and one is an ACU-RITE D200. Both include scales and cables as well as the read out units. I don't believe either of these are currently offered and may not be supported - I'm going to check that out. Cost is sub $400 range.

I can get a 3 axis import unit for a little less money that seems comparable in terms of published specifications.

So the question - is an older used ACU-RITE 2 axis unit a significantly better buy than a 3 axis import - assuming the same price range?

Thanks
Rick
 
Rick, there are several different brands/names and I'd venture to say the chineses ones are all very similar if not the same. Whatever you get you will be happy with. These are all elctronics and usually if they work when you get them, they'll work for a good period of time. I know that you will find (after installing and using a DRO) that it makes machining a LOT easier and you will wonder why you didn't install them years ago!

Hawk
 
Given that an older used DRO unit is as is and lacks some of the newer functions of DROs. I would opt for a new DRO. I have also seen issues with older DRO head units with regard to the resolution of the scales they support. I did have an Acurite View DRO on my last mill and it was great, they offer very good quality DROs, but the two models you are looking at are quite old. Personally at the price range you are looking at, for about $100 more I would seriously look at the Easson ES-12B. This would be a step up on the generic Chinese DROs, a number of us have the ES-12 series and they work great..
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...xis-DRO-system-and-3/1021179_32789719488.html
 
mksj said:
Given that an older used DRO unit is as is and lacks some of the newer functions of DROs. I would opt for a new DRO. I have also seen issues with older DRO head units with regard to the resolution of the scales they support. I did have an Acurite View DRO on my last mill and it was great, they offer very good quality DROs, but the two models you are looking at are quite old. Personally at the price range you are looking at, for about $100 more I would seriously look at the Easson ES-12B. This would be a step up on the generic Chinese DROs, a number of us have the ES-12 series and they work great..
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...xis-DRO-system-and-3/1021179_32789719488.html
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I did/do have a concern with used, older prducts that may no longer be suported. I'm curious about your recommendati regarding why you consider it a step above other imports? Is it functionality, build quality/robustness, customer service?

How is the customer support fromthe imprt dealers?

Thanks
Rick
 
DRO Pros are known for providing good service after the sale and for standing behind their products and honoring their warranty. That comes as a cost. Much of their product is Chinese import equipment, and is sold at much higher prices than the cheapest priced stuff from eBay or Ali Express. If you want somebody to hold your hand, they are a good choice. If you want to save considerable money at the cost of manuals that are at times indecipherable and maybe looking for help on the web and here on H-M, then go with the bargain price stuff. Lots of the cheap stuff has been installed quite successfully and is in regular use with good results.
 
Easson has been around for a long time, and both from a quality and reliability stand point I would consider to be better built units over the generic Sino DRO. The manuals are in comprehensible English. The DRO head unit is very functionally laid out and the graphical display for milling is a bonus . Alliepress is the cheapest, I would also consider Quality Machine Tools or DRO Pros if you want a unit shipped form the US with better support but at additional cost. The ES-12B/C is about 1/2 to 1/3rd the price of an comparable Acu-Rite or Newall DRO. Other than a generic rebranded Sino DRO, Easson DROs are often supplied with machines for both lathe and mill (ES-8, ES-12).
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/easson-es-12-b-dro-install-on-a-pm-833t-mill.56329/
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/easson-12b-install-details-on-a-pm1340gt-long-post.55949/
 
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