CDCO DRO 2 Scale for a Lathe-Anyone?

[Janderso]

I've been pondering a DRO for my lathe.
Has anyone bought or used these digital read outs?
The price is $469 for glass scales.
I'm just hoping to get some input.
I have a DRO Pros on my mill and I am happy. They appear to be priced about the same.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Winegrower]

I prefer the LCD display readability as in the Ditron 80 and others. It also has a graphic display capability that looks interesting, apparently download some drawings...telling more than I know, now.

I have had excellent support from DROPros...and they're not too far away if something bad happens.

 

[davidpbest]

Precision Matthews sells the same units as DROPro's at better pricing. I have the DROPro version of this unit on my 1340 and like it. It has the necessary 1um resolution on the compound (many do not). DROPro wants $935 for the same config.

 

[Janderso]

I have had excellent support from DROPros

Yeah, me too. I must admit, I haven't spent the time I need to fully understand the operation of many of the EL400 series functions.
The manual is very difficult.
I don't know why I am considering anyone else.
There are plenty to choose from. Most are very expensive however.

 

[Janderso]

DROPro wants $935 for the same config.

Choke, cough, sputter
David,
That's an 8X40. Realistically I'm not sure what I need yet. I have a 15X50 lathe but I won't use all of it, right?
I need to measure movement.

 

[davidpbest]

Choke, cough, sputter
David,
That's an 8X40. Realistically I'm not sure what I need yet. I have a 15X50 lathe but I won't use all of it, right?
I need to measure movement.

Sorry, I didn't know your lathe size - just illustrating a price comparison. I would still recommend you check in with Matt at PM. He lists a 10x60, but my guess is he can get whatever you need. Glass scales sure make fitting it to your machine more complicated than maginetic you can cut to length.

 

[DavidR8]

Hey Jeff, I've thought about a DRO on my SB but came to the conclusion that I'm likely better served by a couple of indicators. Maybe a 2" travel digital on magback or mounted on a v-way holder for the Z and one on the cross slide.
My rationale is that I'm really only concerned about sneaking up on a measurement once I'm close to dimension. So if I'm going from 1" diameter to .875 rouging down to .9 is easy but the last bit is where I need help.
Same on the Z. Most recently I needed to cut a bunch of nylon spacers for the CNC plasma cutter. They needed to be .25" thick. I parted them off from a 2" long nylon tube but making them all .25" was a pain.

 

[darkzero]

If CDCO is still selling SINO DROs, thay are reliable units but outdated IMO. I had a SINO & hated the display (I didn't get my kit from them CDCO though, got it cheaper from a different supplier). The UI & labeling is horrible, tool offset library access sucks, & being universal displays there are much better options available today. I'm still using their scales which have never gave me a problem but I replaced the display for a lathe specific DRO display without all the useless mill functions for my lathe pretty much right away.