X2 mill 3-axis DRO.

[raynerd]

Hi

Just a quick one -  a nice day today so took the workshop outside and completed the mounting of my DRO bars. To be honest, this wasn`t such a huge feet as the parts were made by Matt when I bought the mill - I had to make one of the Y-axis mounts because it vanished during the journey home and of course I did need to tap and drill the holes for the mounting brackets. This was the first time I have actually modified a machine in terms of drilling and therefore I was a little nervous. Anyway, all turned out pretty well.....some pictures:

Mounting brackets for the Y axis bar and then with dro installed.






X axis mounted:




Z axis mounted:




X2 mill with all three bars installed:




Seems to work pretty well, perhaps I am mistaken but there seems to be a very very small delay between movement to read out - perhaps I am imagining it? The biggest issue is that the few jobs I did on it this afternoon covered up the dro and it is a pain moving about to try and read the dials. I am going to purchase a Shumatech and try and put that together for my 3axis readout. Seems a good unit and is recommended but is a little too expensive at present. I`ll have to save up for a few weeks before that comes but will update this when it does.

http://www.shumatech.com/products/dro-350/index.htm

Chris

[kvom]

If you could somehow mount the y-axis bar face up and the z-axis bar facing forward it would be easier to see. 

[raynerd]

Yea, that is a great point - I just followed the fignoggle plans but your right, it would be better. Should be OK when I get my shumatech up and running.

[Brass_Machine]

Nice job.

I have the fignoggle plans as well. My Z axis is mounted different than yours though... It is actually turned so I can read it head on. That's the way my plans read.

Eric

[raynerd]

Eric, that is really strange - perhaps I have made a huge error but by the fact the parts all go together and it does physically mount, I`m sure it has been done correctly. I wonder if these plans are older and they did decide that forward mounting would be better so changed? Perhaps I have just misread the plans but they are at work so I`ll take a look and double check when I get there.

Chris

EDIT: I just found this picture on the fignoogle website and although it is a really poor quality pic, I`m sure the DRO bars are orientated the same way as mine in all axis - no?

[raynerd]

Several months on and I have just received a Shumatech 350 at a bargain of a price! The Shumatech 550 has just been released so I suspect that there will be a few of these 350`s come up for sale. I`m really impressed with it, I need to mount it properly on a flexable arm or similar but it is good enough where it is for now.

It was used on a lathe by the original owner and so came with two custom cables with plugs that fit neatly into the Chinease scale inputs, the thrid axis I had to buy a 4 pin DIN, cut the ends and solder it to the scale:

Something I didn`t know when I bought it was that it actually powers the scales! No more leaving them turned on by mistake and no more batteries...


The Shumatech just sitting neatly on the shelf behind the mill ... I`ll make a proper arm but for now it is great just where it is!


And to all you net nannies, my milling vice is in bits ready for a mod and the little drill vice is mounted on there just to calc. the accuracy of the surface and edge finding with my new DRO setup. I`ve been thrilled with the DRO since I installed the scales but with all three axis together, this is going to make things 100% easier than the awkward places the displays use to get them into.

Chris

[JimM]

I'm going with a similar digital caliper type DRO for my machine - have you fitted any shields to yours to keep them clean or do you just brush off any chips etc when done ?

Cheers

Jim

[raynerd]

Hi Jim, I was just brushing them down after use but now I am 100% going to make shields and cover them completely. Firstly because with the DRO cables attached, the electronics are now more open to swarf and also because without the DRO console I had to look at the displays to get a reading but now I don`t need to see the display at all because it is all controlled from the Shumatech console.  In actual fact, that is my next job!

[matnewsholme]

chris

if your shumatech came off a lathe it presumably has the lathe software installed. Theres also a mill specific software for the shumatech which gives a different set of functions more applicable for use on a mill ( like bolt circles etc). you can change the software with a serial cable. Theres a different overlay for the keyboard too but only a few keys are actually different.

Matt

[seanacais]

I've read on a number of occasions that electric interference from the motors can cause the calipers to act funny.

This gent has a rather elaborate solution to fitting a capacitor into the battery compartment after you've hooked the caliper to a shumatech.  http://www.robotroom.com/CaliperCapacitor.html

Kevin

[John-Som]

I first fitted DROs to my X2 (Chester Conquest) Mill two years ago and was delighted with my new found ability to machine to finer tolerances.

However within just a few weeks I was receiving spurious readings due to the ingress of dirt and cutting fluids. Recently I decided to start again from scratch. I stripped off all the original DRO installation and started again with a view to providing much better protection.

An account of the re-installation procedure, with links to one or two useful resources, is described on my blog at http://start-model-engineering.co.uk/workshop-news/. 


JohnS

[raynerd]

John, smashing website. I have started to cover my scales with aluminium. I`ll post up when it is done.

Chris

[Space Fan]

Fine looking install!  Looks solid. YOu have encouraged me to install my DRO-350.

[ieezitin]

This has been an interesting thread.

I have been toying with the idea of buying these cheap Digiverns and installing them on my machines, I  also went down the rout of buying the purpose made equipment, still not sure what road I will choose. I know the benefits so I have to do something one day.

I guessed that the swarf and other foreign materials would effect these instruments and have been paying attention to how you all were going to overcome this little inconvenience.

In Mr. Stevenson case the profiled plastic cover is just so obvious but he had someone make that cover, the cost he did not reveal. But a nice job was achieved and I am sure works well.

I know when I make my choice I will purchase some round clear piping they make, its like regular pvc piping but only clear, buy lets say 2” diameter and slice it in half then make brackets for it. don’t know but I bet its cheaper than purpose formed plastic.

I have also found that’s Perspex is quite nice to work with, drills and cuts easy but you need to feed the drill and or cutter blade slow as not to gum up the tooling. It taps well too.

Anyone who has more to add to Perspex please feel free to enlighten us.

All the best.               Anthony.

[John-Som]

For UK members I can thoroughly recommend http://www.plasticonline.co.uk/ for making up protective scale covers. Simply send them a sketch for a quote, mine cost just a fiver each (plus carriage). They were robustly made from high impact resistant acrylic.
The usual disclaimer about Plastic Online other than a very satisfied customer - I collected mine as they are based reasonably close in Hull.

John Somers

www.start-model-engineering.com