DRO or not?

i4Marc said:
Ok, thanks guys. A lot to consider. Since I'm brand new to lathes can you help me understand which axis is which? At this point I am assuming that X axis is the carriage left and right and the Z axis is the cross slide in and out? What is the Y axis?
Click to expand...

Exactly the other way around. X is the cross slide (positive is the direction of increasing diameter). Z is the carriage feed parallel to the spindle. A lathe typically doesn't have a Y axis. If it did, it would be vertical movement of the tool perpendicular to the floor (this is present on some CNC lathes).

On my setup, I'm just pretending that "Y" is really the Z axis.
 
X is the cross slide -X is towards the center line. Z is the carriage, -Z is towards the chuck. There is no Y on manual machines, if there were, it would be up and down. Some CNC lathes have a Y axis.
 
There's a thread on the subject of axis designations, https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/x-y-z-on-a-lathe.44499/
I'm not sure it clears anything up.

Coming from a math/science background, the conventional designations for a lathe are just counter-intuitive to me. Just as Descartes intended, on my lathe X is horizontal (carriage) and Y is the cross-feed, the same as the mill. I can't help it, anything else confuses me.

Long travel indicators are (were) a good option. Now a DRO is cheaper more economical than anything over 1 in. travel.

We had Trav-a-dials on all the lathes at my business. They make it very easy to count the revs, making it possible to perform some operations at higher speed/feed rates. They are surprisingly durable and very accurate, but being mechanical they can be a little finicky. My best friend still makes good money maintaining them for my former business partner. I was given a high-end metric/imperial Trav-a-dial when my friend Spud passed. I tried to figure out how to mount it on my Heavy 10, but it would have consumed about 4 in. of carriage travel. I sold it on eBay, bought a cheap economical DRO and pocketed $150. I couldn't be happier.
 
Does anyone have experience or knowledge about the Weiss lathes sold by DRO PROs, particularly the 11X29? Are they good people to deal with? Good customer support, etc.?
 
i4Marc said:
Ok, thanks guys. A lot to consider. Since I'm brand new to lathes can you help me understand which axis is which? At this point I am assuming that X axis is the carriage left and right and the Z axis is the cross slide in and out? What is the Y axis?
Click to expand...

Flipped. Z is the spindle axis (left and right) and X is the cross-slide (in and out)

Jon
 
i4Marc said:
Ok, thanks guys. A lot to consider. Since I'm brand new to lathes can you help me understand which axis is which? At this point I am assuming that X axis is the carriage left and right and the Z axis is the cross slide in and out? What is the Y axis?
Click to expand...

X axis is cross feed and z axis is along spindle axis (left/right). There is no y axis which would be up/down.
edit: I seeit has been already answered. Sorry, I hadn't got to page 2 yet.
 
I would vote for a DRO!! As a new lathe operator, it will give you less to think about and allow you to focus more on the process and safety than on measurements from the wheels.
Ryan
 
It is not that hard to use your hand wheels, everything in my shop is manual only, no CNC, no DRO.
The two primary advantages I see to a DRO is bigger numbers (those hand wheel numbers are pretty small) and keeping track of how many revolutions I've made.
One full rotation of the hand wheel only results in a very small distance traveled, so many jobs will require multiple rotations of the hand wheel and it is easy to wind up hearing Dirty Harry in your head "Did I make 5 rotations or 6?, Well do you feel lucky Punk!" :grin:

Since DRO is simply tracking movement it takes care of that issue, it doesn't care how many rotations you have made, just how far the carriage has moved. When you lose track of your position without a DRO, you need to stop and measure to find your location, no big deal but an inconvenience.

Personally if I was spending the money for a new lathe I'd probably add the $500 for a factory installed DRO just for the convenience of it.
 
Ok, thanks everybody for the information about DROs.

Does anyone have experience or knowledge about the Weiss lathes sold by DRO PROs, particularly the 11X29? Are they good people to deal with? Good customer support, etc.? Seems like a slightly better machine than the PM but comes with less stuff.
 
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