Looking for a quill scale for SX2.7 or LMS 5500

[Clif123]

Hi, I just upgraded my LMS 5500 (SX2.7) mill with X/Y scales/DRO. These mills come with a battery powered DRO/scale integrated into the quill assembly.
I recently saw a video from James (Clough42) where he changed out a similar DRO/scale on his Precision Matthews mill. I have been unable to find something that looks like what he is using. It is basically a drop-in replacement with no display and a cable for the output. I'm assuming that it would have to have quadrature encoding but I'm not sure. If anyone has some knowledge on this, I would really appreciate some advice. Thank you.

 

[darkzero]

Maybe something like the igaging units that have remote displays? If not, can you post a screenshot of what you are talking about?

 

[Clif123]

For the life of me, I cannot find a still image on the video again to post. It was apparently from DRO Pros and resembles the scale above but the read head was blue and paired up with their 4-axis Electronica DRO. They have it where they can sum a scale on the Z-axis adjustment and the quill. After having a large display of a DRO, they tiny LCD display of the quill scale/DRO is really tough to look at.
That's what happens when you have many years on your eyes.

 

[Clif123]

Maybe something like the igaging units that have remote displays? If not, can you post a screenshot of what you are talking about?

View attachment 352876

After digging around, I found that James is using a DRO Pros EL404M 4-input DRO that will sum Z+U inputs so you can have a scale on the head and on the quill. I also confirmed that the iGaging/Accuremote style scales is the form factor that would go in the SX2.7 quill. My concern is that the above scale is probably not compatible with a normal quadrature glass scale. Is there a way to adapt the above style scale to work on a standard Chinese DRO input?

 

[darkzero]

There are modules that you can plug 2 scales in to get axes summing say like if one only had a 3 axis DRO display. But I'm not aware of any converters that will allow you to use igaging style scales with a DRO display that uses glass/magnetic scales.

Maybe check out Yuriy's forum here or his website or ask him personally? Or check to see if his TouchDRO offers that feature which uses igaging scales.

 

[Clif123]

There are modules that you can plug 2 scales in to get axes summing say like if one only had a 3 axis DRO display. But I'm not aware of any converters that will allow you to use igaging style scales with a DRO display that uses glass/magnetic scales.

Maybe check out Yuriy's forum here or his website or ask him personally? Or check to see if his TouchDRO offers that feature which uses igaging scales.

I sent an email to DRO Pros to see what they did for Clough42. I'm OK short term using my X+Y DRO but I'm not above tossing out my current display and going TouchDRO route with a hybrid sensor board.