The Shop > Electronics & IC Programing
DRO questions
kwackers:
--- Quote from: HS93 on February 19, 2011, 06:13:52 AM ---as you have used them does swarf stick to the slides as they are magnetic? or are they very weak and cause no problemss
thanks
peter
--- End quote ---
It does a bit, as in the magnet is strong enough to attract some of the smaller bits but not so strong they're not easily brushed off.
Ideally a small piece of felt as a wiper on the read head is all you need (something I need to do).
z3t4:
Hi Jason
I've used Scott Shumate's DRO 350 (on an ml7 with glass scales from Allendale, who are great) and a DRO 550 with hacked caliper scales on a mill.
I wouldn't just use the caliper scales 'as-is' because they would constantly be whinging about swarf and coolant. They need to be wrapped up nice and comfy just like the glass scale heads are, so the heads need to be removed from the case and LCD, then supported in a carrier (I used Delrin) which holds it at the right separation from the scale and protects it from swarf etc. Finally the scale needs to be protected against swarf and coolant.
To keep costs down I used the replacement caliper heads from china (virtual village, < a fiver each) and Wixey tablesaw DRO tape for the caliper track, mounted on ally extrusion. The DRO 550 is an excellent bit of kit. Scott developed it as a labour of love and there was so much interest on the Yahoo group that he ended up getting a load of 4-layer SMD boards made and organised a group buy. It's not a commercial product. The deal is you get your DRO board and kit for about £150 including post and customs robbery, Scott makes nothing on it (unless you choose to leave him a donation, which I think nearly everybody did) but if the boat sinks or you fry the board or it's lost in transit, then it's your problem, not his. Some children failed to understand this.
I see on the Shumatech Yahoo group that the microprocessor that he uses is likely to be available again soon, so probably he will be ordering another group buy. If I wanted another DRO I'd be getting my name down on the group buy list.
HTH
Regards,
John
j45on:
I have had a quick add up and a DRO-350 with cables and scales ect comes to around £315.
A machine-dro read out with glass scales to fit my mini mill comes to £542 which is £100 more than my mill cost new I cant justify that for my use.
I have had an email from ShumaTech informing me that the DRO-550 is available for pre order with an estimated mid-March ship date.
raynerd:
Jason, I have the Shumatech 350 (Kwacks old one) and although I mucked up one readout with swarf, I`ve not had any problems since covering them up. I planned a lovely plastic moulded cover but ended up with a piece of thin ally which has done the job no issues.
Just curious, if you put the X-axis readout at the back of the table, will you not lose some Y travel? Just a thought. I`m actually interested because it does get in the way a little with the axis locking nut.
Chris
kwackers:
I don't think there's a whole lot of difference in the prices of the consoles, iirc the 550 runs to around £130 if you get a pre cut box and made up cables. The basic unit without box and cables is about £80 so there's some money to be saved there if you make the cables yourself and find a suitable box.
The main advantage of the 550 is you can start with Chinese scales and upgrade to glass at any point (if ever). I also think the functionality of the 550 is somewhat better than the commercial units and currently only around 10% of the ROM is used so there's a lot of scope for extras.
I must admit to being a huge fan of DRO's. They make things so much easier...
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