Z DRO project for the venerable Rung Foo!

[Your Old Dog]

I suspect there is someone out there who still hasn't mounted a DRO to his basement mill. I did it this way because I tried to mount it differantly but I could only shoot one of the two holes I needed thru the caliper. This techinque needed nothing special done to the caliper. In fact, this is the $15.00 one. If Harbor freight comes out with a deluxe $18.00 one I'll be free to upgrade :D

But this one works just fine.
http://www.raymondswan.com/dp/dro1.jpg

The next project might be to figure out a power supply for it. Those little batterys don't last for beans outside in buffalo's cold weather!

http://www.raymondswan.com/dp/dro2.jpg

So life with the mill just got a lot easier for me with this dro. The next project is a device to temporarily mount on the quill that will indicate exactly the center of the bit. All this while the bit is in place so I don't have to keep putting it in and out. All I have to do is add half the diameter of the bit to know when I'm on my line. I don't (read: can't) work from drawings so when I do a drawing on a plate I'm working in the dark. For the work I do this will have plenty of accuracy for me. Part of that project was depectied in the climb milling thread. Waiting for an Enco shipment to finish it.
http://www.raymondswan.com/dp/dro3.jpg

ray

[m_kilde]

Nice sollution !

I have made similar sollution with a digital caliper, but used the jaws of the caliper, your way seems to be much smarter

Thank you for sharing :)

[Your Old Dog]

Nice sollution !

I have made similar sollution with a digital caliper, but used the jaws of the caliper, your way seems to be much smarter

Thank you for sharing :)

Actually, my way is brilliant in my opinion. BUT my way was actually stolen from someone else here at HSM, it may have been that Sir John once posted it. I think he did this to his Bridgie ! I remember because it was after I tried drilling thru the calipers and botched it up :D What would have really been brilliant would have been to do it out of aluminum as the steel was un-necessary and took longer and with more tool cutter risk -for a rookie- then I had to go thru !! It shoudn't be necessary to pinch/clamp the calipers in there tighter then what aluminum would easily do.

ray................

[John Stevenson]

Ray,
Yes I put one on my Bridgy but it used one of the vertical scales that are made for fitting as DRO's

These don't have the depth spike fitted and I must admit I can't recall seeing one done this way, it's very neat.

I have done some development work on one to fit the Seig X3 mill for our local importer as it's a vert popular mill here.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stevenson.engineers/lsteve/files/x3Z_dro.jpg

This clamps around the spindle and again uses the vertical scale which some some reason are cheap here. The one in the shot has the wrong scale on as it's too long but I didn't have a correct length one for the build up.

.

[Your Old Dog]

John, are you implying I'm breaking new ground here? Should I have run to the local patent office first before putting this out there for the common masses? LOL If that's the one you got than it was someone else's that I took inspiration from because the clamp for the caliper is made easy because the thin piece is thinner then the main part so it's really simple to clamp.

I should have known you'd have to have the longer more manly one. Mine is just the Paltry 8" version but I'm not likely to be plunging down that deep on any thing I'll be making in the backyard !!

[DeereGuy]

Mine has been like this for about 3 years now. However it will hit the dividing head if I am working with a diameter beyond 2.0. So I need to get around to and do somthing simular to what you have before long.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Deere_X475guy/Machine%20Shop/zAxisDro.jpg

[dp]

That's a nice clean solution, YOD.

I'm jealous. On my little mill the quill is stationary with the gearbox and it is the gearbox itself that moves. No convenient attachment places. One side has the handwheel and the other side has a spring lift device to help overcome the weight of the head. It's a Grizzly combo but I think the mill itself is similar to a Seig and other Chinese mini-mills.

[Your Old Dog]

deere_x475guy, if you try doing what I did make sure and leave some room for the indicator that's already on the mill which is about 1/8". I didn't and that assembly was hitting my dro.

Anyone else drilling these chinese mills be carefull with the drilling. I was drilling in safe territory as no chance of oil coming out but the castings themselves are very poor. They drill like they are half sand and half metal so I floodeed the drill bit with oil and kept pulling out the bit. I was also extremely careful with the tap. I actually made a tool to slide the tap thru to guide it straight in. I felt I would only get one chance to get it right. Mine came out fine.

Keep in mind also that doing my setup requires you to cut off the calipers jaws. I used a dremel with the super thin cutting disk they have. They sliced the jaws right off with no fuss. If you don't cut the jaws off the caliper they interfere with the High/Low lever on the left side of the mill.

DP, if you don't have z dro you will love it when you do. It sure makes matching cuts a snap with little chance of error. You need to get busy son !! :D Is that a shell cutter you go on your mill? I could see some advantages for that setup.

[Your Old Dog]

dratted double post.

[Evan]

Nice idea using the tail. I would put an external supply on it but you don't need to go to much trouble. A couple of D cells in a toilet paper tube should outlast the mill (and you :D ).

[Your Old Dog]

Nice idea using the tail. I would put an external supply on it but you don't need to go to much trouble. A couple of D cells in a toilet paper tube should outlast the mill (and you :D ).

Evan, you're right. I'll just put a new battery in at $4.69 plus tax. I'll see how well it does with the buffalo winter in shop that's only heated while I'm in it. I don't expect it to do to well but maybe I'll be surprised!

[DeereGuy]

deere_x475guy, if you try doing what I did make sure and leave some room for the indicator that's already on the mill which is about 1/8". I didn't and that assembly was hitting my dro.

Anyone else drilling these chinese mills be carefull with the drilling. I was drilling in safe territory as no chance of oil coming out but the castings themselves are very poor. They drill like they are half sand and half metal so I floodeed the drill bit with oil and kept pulling out the bit. I was also extremely careful with the tap. I actually made a tool to slide the tap thru to guide it straight in. I felt I would only get one chance to get it right. Mine came out fine.

Keep in mind also that doing my setup requires you to cut off the calipers jaws. I used a dremel with the super thin cutting disk they have. They sliced the jaws right off with no fuss. If you don't cut the jaws off the caliper they interfere with the High/Low lever on the left side of the mill.

DP, if you don't have z dro you will love it when you do. It sure makes matching cuts a snap with little chance of error. You need to get busy son !! :D Is that a shell cutter you go on your mill? I could see some advantages for that setup.


YOD. I actually started to test fit to the new location last night. I noticed the interferance and since I only use that as a positive depth stop I removed the screw and arrow. Also I have mine feeding a DRO that I built a few years back and have to arrange mine so the head is stationary. I don't want the cable that is hard soldered to the caliper to flex to much.

Thanks

Edited to show the old and new DRO install....

OLD:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Deere_X475guy/Machine%20Shop/zAxisDro.jpg

New:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Deere_X475guy/Machine%20Shop/newDROMount.jpg