I have been debating which DRO to buy for Emma (my M-head Bridgy). A 3 axis, a 2 axis or those ones that Grizzly sells.
Well I settled on a 2 axis DRO from DRO PRO's
Easson ES-8A two axis Milling Machine kit.
I am going to order it tonight or tomorrow.
Dan.

You won't regret it. I have a DRO on my mill and it is a tremendous asset. Installing it was quite time consuming so keep us posted. I still have a DRO to install on my lathe. Putting the scale on the cross slide and means you lose a bit of range. Either the carriage can't get as close to the headstock or the tailstock can't get as close to the carriage. The installation on the mill didn't have any impact on the range for it.

Chris

Chris, I am going to splurge on the DRO for the lathe and buy one that has the thinner magnetic scales instead of glass scales. They are thinner and more compact, so less loss of range.
I am going to document the install on the mill. I am debating on locations for the scales right now. The X will have to be on the front of the table as I would not want to crush the scale if I switch over to the Bridgeport Vise I have here. The Y scale could go on either side of the knee as it sets now. I will know more once the kit arrives.
Dan.

Well I ordered the 2 Axis Easson one from DRO PRO'S.
I figure it will ship Monday, so it should be here by next Friday, they ship FedEx 2 - 5 day delivery so we will see.
On to the mount bracket to attach the support arm to the mill's round ram. I figure to see if I have a friction clamp that will fit the ram, then add a plate that will bolt onto the accessory mounting point for the slotter. Then add a piece of angle iron across the two to mount the arm to.
We will see what develops today.
Dan.

The DRO on my mill is a Shooting Star and uses toothed racks and high resolution optical encoders. It has worked very well for +5 years. I managed to mount everything with existing holes.





Everything in aluminum was added to support the scales.

I bolted a piece of 1.5" x 1.5" x 1/4" aluminum channel to the front of the table to protect the scale. It also made the top of the tablle a little bigger. Putting the scale at the back would have cost me some range.

Chris

Chris, I am kind of stuck until I get the actual kit here on where to mount the scales. But I was planning on getting a head start on mounting the readout head. But the initial plan went south when I discovered I did not have a friction clamp that would work.
I am working on Plan B right now. That is using a set of holes in the base to bolt a column to. Who knows what might work, I could end up on Plan ZZ before it is done. I also thought of adding a set of trays to the column to hold the collets, the drill chuck and boring head. We will see tomorrow if I have the material to build the column.
Dan.

I built a bracket for mine that attached to a shelving unit but it could as easily bolt to a wall. The height is fixed but I can move the display in the other two directions and change the angle on a vertical axis.







It was just some aluminum offcuts left over from something else. I suppose I could paint it someday but it gets the job done.

I spent a bit of time planning how to mount the scales.

Chris

Chris, I spent a little more time last evening looking at the mill, there are more than a couple options to mount the readout head IF the column idea is not acceptable or practical.
I am waiting for them to confirm shipment, that will most likely happen Monday.
I had thought of an arm like yours to mount the head on but for now I will see how I like the stock arm.
Dan.

a dro is the cat arse on a mill u wont be disappointed after install...money well spent. mine is an old sony millman, 2 axis. very simple to use. my brother in law installed it new about 20 years ago, has mag scales on it. works great, im sure its way out dated by now.....

nnaatz, I have wanted to get a DRO since I bought the mill, I can remember using one in Tool & Die in Vo-tech. It was a big cumbersome looking thing.
I really need to be able to duplicate several bolt patterns to build the Cadtrac. So I decided buying one now would be money well spent.
I will need to make a block to mount the reader head to the saddle for the X axis.

The bolt.

The angle iron mounting tab.

The front of the angle iron tab.

Bolt installed.
Dan.

Mounting tab test fit.

DRO side of the ram.

I am making a washer for this side of the ram.

Here is the arbor to turn the washer on.

Threaded for 1/2" - 20TPI
After drilling the hole to 29/64", I discovered that I do not have a 1/2" - 20TPI bolts here.
So I will have to go get a couple of them tomorrow.
Dan.

The washer.

I am using a piece of 3/16" plate that has been kicking around the shop for a few years for the washer.

Ready for bolts and washers.
Dan.

I got the bolts today and turned the square plate into a round plate, I did this with a plunge cut on the face of the plate and then turned the edge down until I had the flats gone.

The nuts backing plate almost finished.

A closer view of the backing plate. I did run a file over the edges before I removed it from the arbor to remove the burrs left from the machining operation. It is now installed on the mill and it fits real well.
I did spend an hour or so cleaning the mill up, so I could clamp my next project down to the table.
I spent the rest of the day drilling out four bolts on a mower deck bearing housing. I ended up heli-coiling two of the 4 holes. This little operation took 4 hours to do.
Now I am waiting on the DRO to arrive, no shipping information from the company as of yet. But it is only 5:30PM on the west coast as I write this and Mondays are probably a little bust for them.
Dan.

No news as of today on the DRO, but they did say they ship the same day as they are paid for it. If it shipped Monday it should be here by Friday.
Dan.

No joy as yet.
The DRO did not arrive yesterday, we will see today.
Dan.

The DRO arrived Friday afternoon about 2PM by FedEx.

The box it was shipped in. It arrived without any visible damaged. So I unpacked it to check out the parts.

The readout works.
It survived the cross country trip unscathed.
Dan.

It was too dang hot yesterday to work in the shop so I read the less then stellar installation instructions in the manual.
I have decided on two things.

• One to install the y-axis scale first.........
• And two to install the x-axis scale on the front of the table.

Rating.
I am going to list the pro's and con's of this kit as I go and assign a value to both the pros and cons. Such as a -2 for the installation instructions.
Since I am starting out at 50 the rating is now at .....
48
The instructions could be clearer on what goes where as to the hardware included in the kit.
All the hardware is metric so I am thinking of replacing it all with SAE hardware so I will not have to buy a bunch of metric taps to get this installed.
Some of the Metric hardware will have to be used as the holes they fit into are already drilled and tapped for them.
This is not a real problem, more like I have a bunch of SAE taps and replacing the hardware is the cheaper way to go here.
I am off to the shop to try to finish the Steadyrest for the Clausing lathe today so I can really start on this project.
Dan.

Okay, forget the original bracket to mount the DRO's display head on. I built a new one.

I decided to use the two ram clamp bolts to attach a bracket to instead of the accessory pad on the ram.

3" X 3" X 1/4" angle iron 12" long, laid out for the bolt pattern of the clamp bolts. If I had it to do over I would use 4" angle instead.

The holes drilled and a relief notch cut to clear the curvature of the turret.

The face that will mount the DRO's arm.
I did a test fitting of the bracket, I had to drill a hole for the axle of the rams tilting mechanism. I did that and then I could go ahead and mount the bracket.
Dan.

Mounting the arm.

First I installed the bracket I had built.

Then I could position the arm with a couple of spring clamps.

The arm positioned and the holes locations marked with a transfer punch.

The holes drilled and tapped to 5/16" - 18TPI instead of the metric ones that came with it.

Closer look at the bolts.

One thing I did do was to elongate the hole for the axle to prevent it rubbing on the bracket.
Dan.

The display head mounted.

I mounted the display head and ran the power cord along the arm. I still need to get some Adel clamps to finish mounting the cord and the leads from the scales.

View from the front of the mill.

Overall view.

The kit includes a vinyl cover.
The 6mm X 1.00 taps and tap drills should be here today. I will start on the scales as soon as I have them.
Dang I hit the "SUBMIT" button a minute too soon, my order arrived just after I submitted this post.
Dan.