Needing Dro Digital Readout Advice For Clausing 1500 Lathe

gr8legs

gr8legs

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Rest In Peace
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Oct 31, 2014
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Hi all -

I'm thinking I need a DRO for the lathe. What that means is 1: I don't have a DRO on it yet and 2: I have some cash available.

I'm not sure how I will mount the scales to the lathe, and I'm not sure which of the scale technologies would be best and which vendor provides the best service and all that jazz. I've seen dropros on eBay and they seem to have good feedback but which of their offerings would be optimal for my machine?

If someone or two of you have already gone down this road I'd love to hear your advice!

Opening the discussion and standing back :)

Stu
 
At the shop where I work the manual machines have Accu-Rite dro's, these seem bulletproof even with hard use and neglect.
 
I have a TPAC tools 4-axis on my Jet vertical mill. Been very pleased with it. The unit is made by mTech. My scales are glass and are the 5 micron (0.0002") resolution scales. There are other technologies out there, most for more, some for less. I can only vouch for my set up which has served me well.

Bruce
 
I GOT A DRO-PROS KIT FOR MY LATHE . ( $960 )
THIS USES MAGNETIC SCALES THAT CAN BE CUT TO LENGTH
AND A DISPLAY UNIT THAT IS PACKED WITH FEATURES .

I MADE MY OWN BRACKETRY & DIDN'T USE ANY THAT WERE SUPPLIED WITH THE KIT .
I THINK IT TURNED OUT WELL , ESPECIALLY THE DRAG CHAIN SETUP FOR NEAT & OUT OF SIGHT CABLE ROUTING .

THE DRO HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST UPGRADES . IT MAKES AN OLD LATHE INTO TWICE THE MACHINE THAT IT WAS .

DSC_0442.JPG DSC_0440.JPG DSC_0619.JPG
 
Might help to clarify budget and what you are looking for. The DRO Pro stuff is very nice, but one pays a premium for the magnetic scale packages. I have an Easson ES-12 on my lathe, an Acu-rite on the mill both with glass scales, very pleased with both units. I think you can't go wrong with any of them, just pick your price point and see what is available. My suggestion would be to go with a US purchased system, so if there are any issues you have some recourse and support. My Easson is from QMT, the Acu-rite was Enco. At this point for the price of the Acu-rite, I would also look at the DRO Pros units. Magnetic scales may be a bit more compact, but they are not as bullet proof as they lead you to believe, chips and alignment issues can give reading errors.
 
I have the Tpac Tools DRO on my Frankenmill, less then 400 bucks and it made the machine a joy to use.
I also have a couple of 9 x 14 lathes, a Smithy combo and Jet. I picked up a couple of these small digital readouts from Micro-Mark.
http://www.micromark.com/remote-digital-readout-12-inch-capacity,9900.html
I haven't installed them yet but building a couple of small brackets to hang on the back of the cross-slide, is about as difficult as it will get.
Micro-Mark also has a couple of "higher end" readouts.
http://www.micromark.com/absolute-d...out-12-inch-capacity-high-accuracy,11645.html
These aren't big dollar professional readouts but they also didn't break the bank. If they work, great, money well spent, if not, oh well, we'll still eat tonight. :)
Mark
 
And I bought the glass 3axis kit for my mill from the DRO Store. What I looked at was the scales from DRO Pro and it appears they are the same chinese scales As the ones I paid 500 for from DRO Store and received them in 3 days time. On two of my lathes I installed the accuremote stainless steel scales and they work great. I've been looking at Yuri's site and thinking about doing the tablet thing using the accuremote scales and senders and an android tablet. Either that or buying a display unit from the DRO Store for the lathes.
 
I am a tool snob, so I went with a Newall, I also have the parts for an Acu Rite setup. You have a nice enough lathe that putting a good name brand DRO would help you sell it later. Tim
 
I have DRO's on two of my lathes and find them to be very helpful. I'm not an experienced machinist and this is probably a big factor why a DRO is so helpful for me. I work in Metrics and the dials on the biggest lathe are Imperial. This is quite difficult to handle when work piece dimensions, tolerances, calipers and micrometers are Metric. The DRO can be selected for Metric and Imperial readings, and is almost a must for this lathe.

Since the lathe is relatively big for a small garage shop, and there is a lot on space on the lathe, I also mounted a scale on the top feed and use a 3-axis DRO. So I'm very pleased with the DRO functionality, and also on a Metric lathe that I have.

I use glass scales and haven't had any problems with them.

There a a few pics on page 3 in this thread. http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/mickes-vintage-munktell-lathe.32889/page-3

DSC04824.JPG
 
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