Mitutoyo Glass Scale Compatibility

[NegativeK]

Has anyone had luck using TouchDRO with Mitutoyo Digimatic glass scales?

I recently acquired a mill with a Mitutoyo DRO + scales from the 90s. I looked into upgrading the head without buying new scales. Not only is there minimal info online about people trying to make them compatible, the vendors I spoke to basically responded with "lol nope". The info I could find on the TouchDRO site was limited to the Mitutoyo magnetic scales, mostly in the context of iGaging's implementation.

A replacement isn't high enough priority for me to spend money on a whole new system, since the system works, but it would be really, really nice to have more than just a zero button and inc/abs mode.

 

[ycroosh]

I suspect your scales won't be compatible, but without documentation it's hard to say. I've had a chance to "touch" Mitutoyo scales only once, and those were from early 80's. They used a proprietary connection scheme similar to their newer Digimatic protocol scales. Many of the newer scales that I can find online output two sinusoidal signals offset by 90 degrees. Those require a dedicated interpolation circuit which TouchDRO lacks (and would be pretty expensive to add).

 

[NegativeK]

Thanks for the reply! Maybe some day I'll get around to seeing what the scales put out, but like I said.. It's hard to justify poking too much when I've got a working system.