Cross-slide DRO

[PointFive]

Has anyone used a Mitutoyo digital caliper (or similar) attached to the lathe Crosslide as a DRO?

How has it worked for you?

I noticed in the Richard Rex article (HSM July/August 2017) titled "Say Goodbye to the Compound" that he has a digital caliper attached to his Crosslide.

How do you use it to get an accurate turning, given that these are +/- .001 and only accurate to .002" over 6". Do you just use it for roughing, and then mic the workpiece for the final cuts?

PointFive

[The Artful Bodger]

I have fitted a cheap digital DRO to my crosslide and it does work but really no better than I expected!

Of course I can not chuck a rough bar and turn it precisely down to size using the DRO alone but I assume you cannot do that with any other DRO.

What I can do is take a skim cut, zero the DRO, mic to find what needs to be taken off then turn to final size. If it is a job demanding accuracy I do need to mic for the final cut.

Frankly, I do not know if a more expensive crossslide DRO would be any better.

[RB211]

Has anyone used a Mitutoyo digital caliper (or similar) attached to the lathe Crosslide as a DRO?

How has it worked for you?

I noticed in the Richard Rex article (HSM July/August 2017) titled "Say Goodbye to the Compound" that he has a digital caliper attached to his Crosslide.

How do you use it to get an accurate turning, given that these are +/- .001 and only accurate to .002" over 6". Do you just use it for roughing, and then mic the workpiece for the final cuts?

PointFive

You don't. Cheapest best way is a Chinese glass scale that is .01mm resolution. Even with that, you realistically can expect to turn to .0005"

[lakeside53]

I have a magnetic pickup DRO on my cross-slide (from DROpros). Good to a couple of 10ths (diameter) with great care, usually 3-4 of them. But I still need a mic to get me in the zone; zero the dro and go from there.

Many have fitted a caliper. Works... 0.001-0.002 (diameter) probably as good as you'll get repeatably after close-in zeroing.

[mattthemuppet]

I added an iGaging readout (one of their fancier ones) to the cross slide of my Atlas 618. Works well, though I haven't done enough close tolerance turning to give you any "accurate" feedback The few times that I've checked against a mic the diameter reduced by the amount the DRO said it had. Better than using the teeny tiny dial and a screw driver that's for sure.