- Joined
- Jun 29, 2014
- Messages
- 4,058
I've wanted DRO for my Taig micro lathe for a few years now. I decided to roll the dice with iGaging scales and remote digital readouts. I've read mixed reviews, but the price is pretty low risk at about $85 for three 6" scales of eBay.
I snapped a few pics of the build and a final pic of the cross slide.
First, I needed to make a bracket to mount the scale to the carriage and the cross slide:
Where I wanted to mount the bracket is tricky. There are four things to account for: the cross slide gib set screws, the carriage gib set screw locknut, the carriage gib itself and the carriage casting.
The draft angle on the back of casting was tricky, so I just filed that angle in by hand.
Also, watch your depth on the hole depth when you drill into the carriage, you don't want to drill into the carriage gib.
Here is a photo of the tight squeeze:
Once the bracket is on the carriage, you can mount the scale. I cut my scale down a few inches since it wouldn't fit between the lathe and back of my bench. The last thing to do is connect the cross slide to the scale. I used some 3/8 rod that sits in the right t-slot for perfect alignment. A coupled of holes later and the rod is connected to the scale:
Works great! I haven't tested it for accuracy yet, if all goes well, I'll move onto the next axis.
I snapped a few pics of the build and a final pic of the cross slide.
First, I needed to make a bracket to mount the scale to the carriage and the cross slide:
Where I wanted to mount the bracket is tricky. There are four things to account for: the cross slide gib set screws, the carriage gib set screw locknut, the carriage gib itself and the carriage casting.
The draft angle on the back of casting was tricky, so I just filed that angle in by hand.
Also, watch your depth on the hole depth when you drill into the carriage, you don't want to drill into the carriage gib.
Here is a photo of the tight squeeze:
Once the bracket is on the carriage, you can mount the scale. I cut my scale down a few inches since it wouldn't fit between the lathe and back of my bench. The last thing to do is connect the cross slide to the scale. I used some 3/8 rod that sits in the right t-slot for perfect alignment. A coupled of holes later and the rod is connected to the scale:
Works great! I haven't tested it for accuracy yet, if all goes well, I'll move onto the next axis.