Help needed Newall Digipac 4 DRO

[micktoon]

Hi All, I am after information on a Newall Digipac 4 DRO , either a manual or used guide or explination of what does what on the keypad. I also need one scale reader as shown in the following photos.

  This is the main unit I think 1980's vintage ?



  Its a 2 axis Newall DRO with one reader missing and a fault on the imperial/metric switch on the keypad, it all seems to work other than this. I was taking it apart to see how the kaypad was constructed to see if it looked possible to repair the metric switch somehow. I was then lucky enough to have a visit from Bob KRV3000 just at the right time, well anyone that knows Bob will know he can not resist ripping things apart and fixing them lol , so as I put the kettle on for a cuppa Bob was taking the thing apart.
  This is what Dr Bob found.



  The circuit board contact second one down on the left hand side had been repaired before with solder, this had shorted the switch contacts so the display was jammed on imperial, this photo is after Bob had de soldered the area and made good. The front plastic cover with the kaypad printing on it has small metalic discs bonded onto the reverse side, these make contact with the circuit board behind as the keypad is depressed from the front.



You can see the solder repair th the circuit board better here. I am glad to report this did the job and it now switches from imperial to metric as it should, the plastic was then stuck back down and the unit reassembled.

 I now need a reader head , I think called Spherosyn ?  as shown in the following photos, its 130mm long, 50mm tall and 40mm wide, a scale bar of 15mm runs through it, I have the bar and brackets just need a reader head like this. The plug is as shown too, the smooth round collar pulls back so the plug can be unplugged then released and the springloaded action locks the plug in place. The plug will be about 15-20mm round.




 

 



 I have looked on the net for info , Newall do not have anything on the Digipac 4 and from past experiences of contacting companies about old goods its a waste of time.

   The help I need is any info on the unit or a manual and also a scale reader head does anyone have one of these or know where I can get one second hand ?

  Thanks goes to Bob for his magic touch on the circuit board, good timing Bob.

  Cheers Mick.

[lordedmond]

Mick

Make sure you are sitting down with a quad whisky in hand and contact these guys

http://newall.co.uk

There are two types Microsyn. The one you have and they are inter changeable the micro one is smaller

They also do the adapters from 9 pin to round as you have

To prepare you I have fitted a longer table yo my mill and needed a longer rod no reader £180 for on about 800mm

If you need both well I will leave it for you to find out 😊
They do two 5 micro and 10 micro

Have fun
Stuart

[greenie]

I can understand your reasoning with this lot Stuart, ------- you sure do need to be sitting down and have taken a good belt of whiskey, to calm the frayed nerves when you here the price of the Newall bits.

I can vouch that they would have to be one of the best companies in the world, to stand behind their products when something does go wrong.
That five year warranty WAS honored, even though the reading head was buggered and it was at least 6 years old, no problems at all with replacing it, one phone call to the Australian distributor and another was dispatched the very next day.

The original price was a 'doozy', but well worth it though.

[awemawson]

Very good kit though. I've had a Newall dro set up on my lathe and my surface grinder for the last 10 years without issue. I choose them as the tube arrangement is coolant and swarf proof. The rod is just a tube packed with ball bearings, with a screw clamp at one end to compress them together.

Scales and heads do occasionally pop up on ebay. A few years back I picked up a spare display head for mine 'just in case'

 

[BillTodd]

 It is telephoning newall (dont bother emailing ) . the scales are spherosyn (about 5/8")  and micosyn (about 1/4") they are expensivebut the parts for the readers are not too bad - bought a keypad for a b60 before xmas , which turned out to be  complete front panel, for about £90 + gubinz.

Newall are usually very helpful over the phone

[micktoon]

Thanks for the info so far lads, sounds like Newall is good stuff anyway  . I will try giving them a ring Bill to price the reader and see if they have any info manual wise, they do have quite a few instruction and fitting manuals on the Newall site for free but typically not the Digipac 4 , I have looked at the others but none are like this one really.
  I will repeort back if I have any luck.
  Thanks Mick.