Just ordered my 1236T, Now what DRO

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michiganman18

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Hi guys,

Ordered my 1236T. I went with the 1236T over the 1340GT because I want a small, specific, footprint and plan on ordering the 1640 or 1660 TL in a few years as I get more work.

I use the lathe daily but or only a couple hours and am excited to see how it performs. I did order it 3 Phase, and do plan on doing a VFD conversion. I do not have 3PH in my shop and do not plan on adding it. I looked, and looked, and looked, for an industrial lathe, leblonds, clausings, worn out south bends, but went through the usual debates and had the usual issues. Looked at a couple different ones. Finally got sick of the flakes, and the worn out stuff, and lack of features and ordered new. I want to use this lathe to make parts, and make money. Not to have a project (other than the VFD set up )and to spend all my time looking for a taper attachment and etc.

My question is what DRO should I look at, I have yet to decide if I want a light industrial quality unit or a clone/import DRO and roll the dice. Any issues with the cheaper stuff?

Thanks
 
Based on sage advice from HM contributor Bob Korves, I just ordered this DRO directly from AliExpress. This is the 3-axis unit, but they also sell a 2-axis unit that's cheaper.

If you go this route, you will be dealing directly with a reseller from China, so there is a bit of a language challenge. But that was no issue. My unit arrived 12 days after I ordered it. Well packaged and the scales were cut exactly as I ordered them.

The operating manual is pretty good. And while no installation instructions were included, you can simply use the generic ones you can find on-line. (I used the ones that came with the Easson unit on my PM lathe.)

Installation was straight forward. I checked accuracy using gage blocks and all axes were right on. I did have to use the Linear Compensation function on the y-axis due to my machine's characteristics, however.

HTH, Bill

Here's the AliExpress DRO I just installed on my 3-In-1.

Smithy with new DRO Installed.jpg

Lastly, If you take a look at the reviews for this DRO, you will see some photos showing the unit in its shipping packages, and also a photo just as it comes out of the box. I think I am the reviewer named W***w
 
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I have the EL400 with magnetic scales from DRO Pros om my PM-1440GT. 100% trouble free over the last three years with almost daily use. Easy to install and can be cut to a specific length if need be. I went with the costlier magnetic scales after some issues with the import glass scales going bad on another machine.
 
You might look at these DRO's with mag scales per ddickey"s. I have had two of the Easson ES-12's have the ES-12B on my current lathe with glass scales. You can can now get the magnetic scales for not much more, makes for an easy install. The ES-12B is a vertical format, the ES-12C is a horizontal format otherwise they are the same. They come with three scale inputs, I used the 3rd axis on my tailstock with a mag. scale. The graphical color displays are easier to read, I do not get any flicker of the last digits which goes to 4 digits (vs. 5 on some DRO's). The yellow Xo indicates diameter mode. I would recommend you get a 1 micron scale for the cross slide no matter what DRO you get, a 5 micron in diamter mode will jump in 0.0004" increments and with the rounding when doing calculations the error increases. On some of the cheaper DRO's I have heard of issues with the displays not working in cold temperature, but they are quite inexpensive these days.
www.hobby-machinist.com

Ditron D80 and Easson 12B DRO Kits w/ Magnetic Scales now available

Ditron offers quite a few different DRO's, more recently they can be purchased with magnetic scales for not much more than glass scales. There new D80 display is a graphical interface which is a bit more adaptable to different types of machines. The pricing for a DRO with magnetic scales use to...
www.hobby-machinist.com www.hobby-machinist.com

20190316_101528.jpg
 
@MrWhoopee I see the X axis is at zero. Do you have both the X and Y connected on your install?
(curious because I'm interested in DRO installs on South Bends)
 
In lathe mode the ES-12B/C screen displays the cross slide as "X", in diameter mode it has a slash through the o and the screen color changes. The long bed axis is the "Y" axis button, on the screen it becomes Zo, the third axis which is the "Z" key becomes the Z1 axis that can be used on the tool post slide or the tailstock. I cannot recall on the ES-12B if it will do summation of the Zo and Z1 in lathe mode. My mill has the EL700 and it will do axis summation and also factor in the cross slide angle if you enter it. I used the EL700 on the mill because it was 4 axis, has summation and magnetic scales. It works well overall, but the touch screen is a real PTA with greasy fingers, and it was/is expensive. I helped another person install an EL700 on his RML-1640 lathe and he liked it, the 3rd axis was put on the tailstock. Had the ES-12B been available with magnetic scales it would have been 1/3rd the price and in my opinion just as good. I also like the tactile buttons on the ES-12B/C, very positive click when pressed and it is a sealed membrane.

I have installed both the DRO Pros and SRA magnetic scales, the SRA are very forgiving as too alignment, both scales are very accurate with no problems.
 
My plan was to get 3 axis, and use one for the tail stock. Great point for the 1 micron. Anyone have the cheaper DRO's fail? So far the MachineDROuk, package seams like a deal. I wasnt thrilled bout ordering from ali- express... but if the other selections were just clones/imports anyway why pay more for the same thing. I was planning on Magnetic Scales.
 
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