My mill' verticle DRO....

[Divided he ad]

Ok, before this goes any futher there is a disclaimer and a bit of advice....


Disclaimer.... This is not my best work (by a long shot) but it works well and no one got injured!  please don't barage me with "that's not very good"  messages, I already know this!

Advice.... Don't rush to get things done.... That's when things go wrong!... This time nothing real bad.... Annoying but not bad!


Right... Now on with it!


I purchased a new verticle DRO from Harrogate last weekend so decided it needed to be fitted.... This is how I did it (relax, not many pic's some didn't turn out?)

First, what do you do with a new DRO....
My mill' verticle DRO....
Well I wanted to get the holes right!

Missing is the brass mounting plate pic's... Don't know where they went!?
Ended up like this....
My mill' verticle DRO....
Oh... And I cut it's head off..... It was too big for my machine (wasn't sure and this was only bout a quid dearer than the short one)

Next, cut off a slither of aluminium 100mm bar 9mm thick. Face off leaving 7mm plate. 4 jaw ofset and centre drill.
My mill' verticle DRO....

Bore out the centre to allow plenty of room for my spindle (Note the classy saddle stop!!)
My mill' verticle DRO....

next adjust the saddle stop and remove a 72mm area 5mm deep from the disk like so...
My mill' verticle DRO....

set up in the mill centre drill and drill through for the thread (this is where the issues started)
My mill' verticle DRO....

Couter sunk for the bolt and drilled a clearance for the bolt thread to pass through upto the centre.
My mill' verticle DRO....

Then snap a tap in it as you do!!!           

So... After I'd returned to my state of inner peace I did this....
My mill' verticle DRO....
milled with a 3mm endmill down both sides of the broken tap and used a thin pair of pliers to unscrew it from it's position!
It needed a slit here anyway.... This was just a bit wider than planned!

I ran a slitting saw through the remaining material and then test fitted it to the machine
My mill' verticle DRO....

The reason for the broken tap is obvious... The long series drill bit I used deflected on its way through.... tap was stressed as I sent it through.... It looked ok from the front!!

Still.... All dramas over with..... It does work 

My mill' verticle DRO....





I could have re-made it..... But it's perfectly functional and will not be removed anytime soon 




Ralph.

[bogstandard]

Ralph,

Two questions

Does it do the job?

Are you happy with it?

If the answer is yes to both, it's right.

That'll do

Bogs

[Darren]

Seconded...



ps,  can tell you a little story or two about "snap" 

Looks good from here Ralph....

[Bernd]

Ralph,

Still trying to figure out how you milled out the material around the tap.    Ingenious 

Nice save by the way. You are becoming a true machinist.

Bernd

[sbwhart]

Nice Job Ralph

 

You'll find that little mod a big help 

Sorry the long series drill causing you grief, you get the best out of them by using a jobber first then when you run out of length swap over to the long.

Stew

[Divided he ad]

John... Erm, yes and yes     Only a bit less than happy at my method! .... It's all a learning curve eh?!  But it will indeed "do" 


Darren, I know about your games of "snap"... You told us   thing is I haven't done it for a while so I think it gets you more annoyed than it should?


Bernd.... Carefully and using little plunge cuts with just the very edge of the mill, down each side of the tap. Just enough to get the pliers in 

Nice save by the way. You are becoming a true machinist.

Glad I saved it, gutted I did it in the first place, happy that it worked! .... Not so sure about the second part of that quote  I have much to learn!!


Stew, I'm looking forward to using it.... Was too late last night to run through much work, Not your fault about the drill... I used it! didn't appreciate the flex at that length.... It still got through like it should 


Generally I am happy that it works, was very happy with the lathe work, that worked out exactly as planned
Just a bit more time on the mill required I think.... I thought it all good till the snap!




Thank you all.


Got to get to work!!! 




Ralph.

[John-Som]

Hi Ralph (peeping out of the closet)

A truly neat installation of your Z axis reader Ralph. Has me wondering about your method of installing X and Y axes vernier and reading heads. I am about to give the DRO installation on my Chester Conquest a good seeing to with two objectives

1) To get a more rigid installation - (think I'll give cut up beer cans for brackets a miss this time) and

2) Provision to guard against the infiltration of swarf, chips and other detreous - more than once I have had critical measurements on my DROs corrupted by muck in the read heads.

I have sent off for these plans http://www.fignoggle.com/plans/droplans.htm which could be interesting.

I was tempted to buy a set of linear encoders and one of those multi function display panels from a manufcturer in Taiwan for 'special offer' of around £240 plus shipping and import duty. http://www.carmar-tech.com/en/products/ I don't think there would have been much saving at TEOTD against our UK supplier.

I would be grateful for any sugestions for keeping the read heads clean.

JohnS

[CrewCab]

Well done that man, fitted pretty much as anticipated then    nice one,

just a thought, if you had milled a flat first of all it could have made the drilling easier and doubles up as a face for the bolt head to clamp on to ............... 20/20 hindsight ........ wonderful eh, don't ask how I came up with the idea though 

Good result 

CC

[Stilldrillin]

Nowt much wrong with that finished job Ralph, very nicely done!

The snap gave you a much better story to tell......   

David D

[sbwhart]

Hi Ralph

You've got me thinking  of fitting my redundant DRO off my 3 in 1 to my pillar drill I reckon it'll be a handy addition.
 

Stew

[Divided he ad]

Hi John    Long time no posts    Glad you like my efforts 

My X and Y DRO's were fitted to the mill when I got it second hand... Still haven't done a power supply for them!! 

They are fitted in what appears to be a conventional method, flat to the rear and left hand sides. The only thing with that is that you lose some y axis travel as the read head hits the column when you send the bed to the back! (it has a cracked screen on the actual head, doesn't affect the display though) They just have a strip of flexible rubber matting glued to the mill body above the scales.... Does the job!

It will be interesting seeing what the instructions help you do?  The other one would probably sting you heavily when HM customs got hold of it!!



CC,
The flat was not needed, the hole you see the long series drill going into was centre drilled.... The long very flexible 2.5mm drill deflected like a good un! it had a perfect centre point to start from and loads of duck oil!
But yes, it all fitted acording to plan.....and the result was indeed good    Slightly different from the collar seen on the Arc stand, didn't fancy all that extra shaping for nothing!



David,
Thank you. A much better story indeed.... Me thinks you might have similar stories to tell? 




Stew.... Good idea, couldn't hurt       sorry.... 




Ralph.