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Dro Install (was "its Here!")

Discussion in 'The Tool Shed' started by Howard Eisenhauer, Jun 18, 2020.

  1. Jun 18, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    Bwahahaha!

    DRO_1.jpg

    And thanks to Nate without who's kind financial support this would never have been possible :)
     
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  2. Jun 18, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    sm_DRO_4.jpg

    sm_DRO_2.jpg

    sm_DRO_3.jpg

    Stay tuned :)
     
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  3. Jun 18, 2020
    OzFin

    OzFin Vintage Jeep Guy

    Michigan
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    Nice, makes precise work much easier.
     
  4. Jun 25, 2020
    Mcruff

    Mcruff Earlycj5 Machinist

    Albertville, AL
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    Ok, where did ya get them and how much? I may want another set for another machine in the next year.
     
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  5. Jun 25, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    Ebay of course, that's where I go for all my quality chinese stuff :)

    Only a touch bit over $300 u.s. with 6, 8 & 24" scales and shipping- that's just darn cheap.o_O If I had gone with the older style LED display that would have been ~$30-$40 cheaper.

    The seller I bought from is "vipwindows_168" but there's probably a dozen vendors all selling the same stuff.

    They shipped DHL & it was here in under 2 weeks. :)
     
  6. Jun 26, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    Got the head installed today & started figuring out scale mounting- X is dead simple, Y will be a bit of work, Z is going to be a bit of a puzzler.

    sm_DRO_6.jpg

    sm_DRO_7.jpg

    sm_DRO_8.jpg
     
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  7. Aug 11, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    The y axis was a bit more work, I found there was *just* enough room to mount the scale & head under the end of the cross slide with the head mounted to the base.


    sm_yaxis_1.jpg

    sm_yaxis_2.jpg

    sm_yaxis_5.jpg

    sm_yaxis_6.jpg

    sm_yaxis_7.jpg

    sm_yaxis_8.jpg

    sm_yaxis_9.jpg

    sm_yaxis_11.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

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  8. Aug 12, 2020
    47v6

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  9. Aug 12, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

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    Z Axis-

    I decided to mount the scale inside the head with the head tied to the quill.


    Here's a look up inside the mill head, I'll use one of those conveniently located holes ij the top to secure the upper end of the scale.

    sm_zaxis_4.jpg

    The bottom end will be tied by a bracket to the lower part of the mill head casting.

    The reader head mounts to a bracket that is tied to the quill collar clamp bolt.


    Making the reader bracket-

    sm_zaxis_2.jpg

    sm_zaxis_3.jpg


    The quill collar is a pretty rough casting so I needed to clean up the clamp area so the bracket would go on nice & straight.

    sm_zaxis_5.jpg

    sm_zaxis_6.jpg

    sm_zaxis_7.jpg
     
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  10. Aug 12, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    ZAxis pt. 2

    Test fit-

    sm_zaxis_8.jpg

    Assembled-

    sm_zaxis_9.jpg

    sm_zaxis_10.jpg


    And installed-

    Bottom-
    sm_zaxis_12.jpg

    Top, there's no real stress put on these things if everything is aligned so a simple clamping action is all that's needed to hold the top of the scale in place.
    sm_zaxis_13.jpg

    It doesn't really show in the picture but as the top end of the reader bracket isn't secured to anything I elected to leave the orange plastic shipping dooey/spacer gauge in place to provide some stability to the scale/reader alignment, seems to work perfectly well with it in place.
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2020
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  11. Aug 12, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    Issues-

    One of the scales died, had to wait 3 weeks for a replacement. :(

    The replacement scale seems to have some issues of it's own, plugged into the Y port it work fine for 3" or so of travel then it starts driving the X axis nuts, I suspect it's generating some noise on the 5v power rail; I'll probably end up getting a replacement from a different supplier.

    The Z axis scale could have been a little shorter but I ordered everything at he next stock size up from what I figured I needed just to give me some options & slop for alignment.

    other than the noise issue it works well\, I've found my x lead screw is no wheres near as good as I thought is was, some spots towards the right end are off by 20 thou/" o_O

    The Y axis seems to not too bad but there's still some wear.

    Z axis is perfect, guess that didn't get used much. :rolleyes:

    Now to start using the mill to do stuff with :)
     
  12. Aug 12, 2020
    47v6

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    Im doing a quill Z too... As soon as I get it figured out!
     
  13. Aug 12, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

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    What mill do you have?
     
  14. Aug 12, 2020
    47v6

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    My lead screws are pretty well worn out and that's my real reason for the DRO. The dials are almost useless. I also ordered next size up and I think they are a bit long. Probably will cover my coolant holes. Apparently you can cut the glass scales without too much issue. Honestly these are pretty cheap so if it doesn't work out its not a huge expense.
    I have a bridgeport clone made in Taiwan circa 1979. It has worn quill bearings and worn out x/y axis. Non variable speed head and 3 phase motor. The power quill feed works sometimes. Its just really worn out. I got it for 700 bucks though and its paid for itself many times over.
     
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  15. Aug 12, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    Apparently a dremal with a diamond disk works well to cut the glass. A bit late now but there are bridgeport specific kits available for these things. I could have gone 15mm shorter on the Z but it would have made fitment for full range travel a lot pickier.

    Variable speed 3 phase inverters are dirt cheap these days; I'm considering replacing my motor with a DC treadmill unitr, changing the belts isn't a big chore for setting speed but a twist knob control would a lot faster. :D

    Please post up your solutions :)
     
  16. Aug 12, 2020
    47v6

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    The chinese aliexpress was, well.. chinese and not as easy to navigate. There are also a couple different table lengths for bridgeport and bridgeport clones. The confusion comes where they are 4" longer for the wiring and what not... But 232 bucks delivered?!?

    If you have a variable phase drive you can also program in soft start and braking too. That dynamic braking would be very useful for my old lathe and mill, neither of which have this option. I made my own 3 phase converter out of a static phase converter and a 7.5 hp 3 phase motor. It works very well, but if I didnt have this, I would absolutely go with a drive.

    I actually made my first craftsman lathe variable speed. I got it for free but it didnt have a motor and the jack shaft was all messed up. I got a free treadmill, took it apart and it had a DC motor in it. To adjust speed I used the original treadmill display. It worked fine. I gave it to Dave a couple years ago..That jack shaft was part of my accelerator pedal..

    The elevation control for the treadmill now powers my variable speed drill press table up and down with a long acme screw. I put limit switches so it doesn't crash into the quill.

    Im super stoked to see you are installing a DRO system. its making me want to do mine sooner than later... So many projects!
     
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  17. Aug 12, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

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    Ain't that the truth :(
     
  18. Aug 13, 2020
    Mcruff

    Mcruff Earlycj5 Machinist

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    You know the nuts on most mills, X and Y axis are adjustable to take up slack to a point, you can also adjust the quill to account for wear. You can also adjust the gibs to take slop out of the table.

    I took about 1/2 turn worth of backlash out of the screws.
     
  19. Aug 13, 2020
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

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    Thanks Mike, I've actually had the table & cross slide off & tweaked the nuts, as you said they are, or at least the ones on my Taiwanese example, are adjustable to a certain point, basically a big thick captive nut with a slot cut in it & a screw to pull the two sides together, works good in some spot on the screw, kind tight in others. Impossible to find an exact replacement as every contract these guys filled for Enco/Grizzly/HF/BB or even Fundy Machining seems to have come with a different design. The chinese copies are really cut rate- usually no adjustment options at all. :(

    The gibs are tapered- I can tighten them up just by cranking on a captive screw that moves them in or out.

    I did have the X down to about 5 thou backlash or so but it's back to about 20 now & again on the right end of the X screw there's about 20 thou of disagreement between the dial & the DRO for each inch of travel, mid to left side it's pretty close, within a few thou.

    For the Y about 10 backlash & linearity seems pretty good, I can live with that. These are what mine look like from Rck Sparber's "Reducing X and Y Axis Backlash on a RF-30 Mill/Drill, version 1.1"
    upload_2020-8-14_0-37-56.png


    upload_2020-8-14_0-39-3.png


    Various other examples-

    BB CX604-, #15 & 24- no apparent adjustment

    upload_2020-8-14_0-18-31.png


    Jet,15 & 23 - some slack adjustment-

    upload_2020-8-14_0-30-26.png

    Grizzly 423 & 415, they seem serious about getting rid of slack....

    upload_2020-8-14_0-34-3.png
     
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  20. Sep 28, 2020
    47v6

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    Installed the x axis today. I bought the glass scale too long and cut the housing and snapped off the glass inside about 1/2 back. I drilled and tapped the end for the cap and screwed it together. It works fine. It’s also significantly more precise than I can get stuff with my experience and measuring tools, not to mention about 100 times faster. Glass scales from China are so cheap, if you wreck one, it’s not really a big deal. My entire 3 axis set with LCD display was 250 bucks or so shipped to my house on alliexpress.

    5FDA4794-3B50-409E-A854-BD61D1C863AB.jpeg
     
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