833TV Received

I'd seen a few set up like that and considered it at first. The reason I went with the rod was because it's a smaller form factor. I didn't want the larger beam part of the DRO obstructing my view. It would be nice to have the reader in the same spot, though.

I don't see any particular reason you couldn't do as you said. I have the Mitutoyo DRO on my PM1340 tailstock mounted as you describe. The challenge you will run into is alignment of the beam. If both the beam and display are anchored, the the beam has to be aligned to the dispaly at both ends of travel prior to locking the beam in position. My RF45 did not have a cavity in the head casting to accept the display unit, otherwise I would have attempted that version. Also, make sure you mount the display so that battery changes are easy.

Thank you both!

I will go for it. The battery will not be an issue with the DRO that I have (Shars, see pictures). The alignment is something I think I can do. I will post pictures when I am done.

Ariel

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Thank you both!

I will go for it. The battery will not be an issue with the DRO that I have (Shars, see pictures). The alignment is something I think I can do. I will post pictures when I am done.

Ariel

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For the record, I absolutely detest the Shars or any other Chinese-made digital scale like this. They all eat batteries like crazy. Watch this video, and this video. I own one of those Shars scales, and can confirm AvE's commentary. :) Mitutoyo RULES !!!
 
Did anyone measure the actual quill travel of the PM833? The spec is 5", I measure only 4"+ of travel. Not sure if something was assembled wrong in my mill or the spec was just "stretched" to look better or maybe the absence of a quill DRO allowed some "creativity"
 
For the record, I absolutely detest the Shars or any other Chinese-made digital scale like this. They all eat batteries like crazy. Watch this video, and this video. I own one of those Shars scales, and can confirm AvE's commentary. :) Mitutoyo RULES !!!
David,

I agree that the Mitutoyo calipers are better but some of the others (like iGaging) are not that bad. I got curious and probably with the extra time from the "stay home" situation I decided to actually measure my digital calipers. My Mitutoyo is really old (1985) but it still works. I really like my iGaging caliper and the current consumption is fair also the absolute encoder is really nice.

Anyway if anyone is interested in the real numbers here they are.

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Did anyone measure the actual quill travel of the PM833? The spec is 5", I measure only 4"+ of travel. Not sure if something was assembled wrong in my mill or the spec was just "stretched" to look better or maybe the absence of a quill DRO allowed some "creativity"
Your quill moves?
 
Did anyone measure the actual quill travel of the PM833? The spec is 5", I measure only 4"+ of travel. Not sure if something was assembled wrong in my mill or the spec was just "stretched" to look better or maybe the absence of a quill DRO allowed some "creativity"
Mystery solved... It's probably better to wait till the morning to look again at problems...

So it turns out that the 21mm hex head of the drawbar if "not positioned right" will limit the travel. See pictures below:

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This is the "right position" to get full travel:

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The "missing" 0.2" travel to make the spec of 5" is the O-ring that acts a spacer.

This is not a critical issue and it seems that a smaller hex head for the drawbar will guarantee full travel regardless of rotational position. I think that the standard size is 3/4" or 19 mm. Am I the only/first person discovering this?

Ariel
 
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I would expect this kind of thing from mainland China, but not from Taiwan. Seems like the Taiwanese machines are getting pretty sloppy in some areas. The original J-head on my PM935 was flawed and had to be replaced.
 
There’s a recess for the o-ring at the top of the quill. It’s still not large/deep enough to fully seat the ring. When I replaced the collar I almost took the o-ring off but then realized it’s there to cushion the quill when it retracts.

My o-ring has paint overspray. In my garage it’ll be cracked within the year and I don’t know how/if I’ll replace it.
 
The O ring on the quill is pretty standard, on my BF30 it had a fairly strong return spring and the O ring would soften the full return. Lasted for many years, but if needed to be replaced the lower mount of the ram was easily removed with one clamping bolts in the back. One of the nice features of the drawbar was it was a smaller hex and there were flats on at the top of the spindle for a standard wrench to lock it. It was still a bit of a pain to switch tooling so I mostly used an ER32 collet system for end mills. The spindle travel on the BF30 was 4".

The spindle DRO was integrated into the head and also the depth stop. They had two proximity stops in the head triggered off of the depth stop position for auto reverse with the tapping function.
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