DRO question

T

Tamper84

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Well after Bill Gruby's thread about his Clausing mill I have been researching. Can you add dros to these smaller mills (Clausing hardinge etc)? Is there any write ups on it?

Thanks,
Chris
 
If you're not looking for production accuracy, some of us have installed iGaging DROs and really like them. I have them on two mills and my lathe.

The first installation is covered here: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/4224-Economy-DRO

I have since added Y and Z axes to this machine, with a longer scale on the X-axis.

The readout is to the nearest 0.001, so you can't quite count on 1 thou accuracy. But, for my purposes, this is good for most machining. The stuff that really counts gets micrometers anyway.
 
Tamper84 said:
Well after Bill Gruby's thread about his Clausing mill I have been researching. Can you add dros to these smaller mills (Clausing hardinge etc)? Is there any write ups on it?

Thanks,
Chris
Click to expand...

Hi Chris-

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/claus...ode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

Review all the pics in this folder.

Typical DRO's run around $1200. You can spend less or double that - but on average that seems to be about the going rate. There are no specific 8520 kits (that I know of). I made my own and after completing it, felt it was a very worthwhile project. All the scales came from ebay. Take your time, the right lengths and price will eventually show up. The readout came from where I purchased my refurbished Servo power feed unit. The Heidenhain ND 550 unit was discontinued and the dealer offered it at a great price ($400 IIRC) for 3-axes. I took the extra step of adding the knee scale... and so glad I made that choice. I use that Z-axis a lot more than I ever thought I would. All the brackets need to be tailored to the scales you find. Dive in - it's a fun design effort that you'll enjoy for years.

-Dave
 
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