DRO install on LC-30A (RF-30 clone)

I see you also chose the Profane Chinese Cowboy DRO. At least that's what I would say if I were a Chinese Cowboy. Yihao GD!! Of course that would also make my mother Chinese, who would quickly take me by the ear for taking the Lords name in vain. I'm enjoying mine with one exception. I got 1um scales and the proper setting for them displays .00000 I am accustomed to the last digit on my mill dro being .0000 I can't seem to change that setting as you can on a Ditron. The company is doing a great job at avoiding my question. Such is the price of cheap. I need a bit of help and I'm getting the old yuck fou American, of course very politely. I might be able to get the 2um scales and read .0000 and still count in .0001 increments in diameter mode, but I'm cheap. I'll learn to live with it I guess. What do you think of the display? I'm loving it. To me it's tons better than the black and green display I'm used to.
 
LEEQ said:
I see you also chose the Profane Chinese Cowboy DRO. At least that's what I would say if I were a Chinese Cowboy. Yihao GD!! Of course that would also make my mother Chinese, who would quickly take me by the ear for taking the Lords name in vain. I'm enjoying mine with one exception. I got 1um scales and the proper setting for them displays .00000 I am accustomed to the last digit on my mill dro being .0000 I can't seem to change that setting as you can on a Ditron. The company is doing a great job at avoiding my question. Such is the price of cheap. I need a bit of help and I'm getting the old yuck fou American, of course very politely. I might be able to get the 2um scales and read .0000 and still count in .0001 increments in diameter mode, but I'm cheap. I'll learn to live with it I guess. What do you think of the display? I'm loving it. To me it's tons better than the black and green display I'm used to.
Click to expand...
I'm getting a consistent .0004 added to all the measurements on the X and Y axis. I'll try the linear compensation function and se what happens.
I do like the large display.
(ps. I'm Chinese :) )
 
Perhaps you could get an answer easier than I. Like most Americans I speak only 'merican where so much of the world speaks English as well as there native tongue. My manual went pretty deep into methods of compensation. Once I set the proper resolution for my scales and did some measuring and math I decided I would not benefit from going through the procedures. It sounds like you are seeing more error though. Good luck with the error compensation. I'm interested to see your results. Is that .0004" per 1"? Or? I'm assuming if you are working on a mill to 4 digits you are in " not mm.
 
Yes, it’s inches. It’s consistently .0004 which is better than it being .0004 at one end and .0006 at the other or some other crazy combination.
Overall I’m happy


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I'd say for the money it's hard to beat. I only spent $28 to upgrade a step too far in resolution (by accident) and get the x axis scale in the slim version. The price was better than good in my book. The manual is decent, and I love the display. The first diameter I turned came out well within a tenth according to my good micrometer. I hope you have the same good luck as well as enjoying the cool screen set up for things like bolt circles.
 
What lathe do you have it mounted on?
I’m thinking about one for my South Bend 10K but the cross slide is so sloped and curved that it’s challenging to mount one.


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Mine is a Grizzly g4003. I had flat surfaces to choose from, but no great place to put it. I weighed my options and went with the front of the carriage. Next time I'll go with the magnetic ones Jim Dawson is fond of. I wanted to this time, but couldn't find anything reasonable. Then of course while waiting for this set I found several references here to Jim's very reasonably priced picks from Ditron. My mill wears the 4 axis el400 magnetic set up from Dro pro's, but I Didn't want to part with that kind of money on this lathe. I hope to find and refurbish a much nicer lathe to which I will add a nice magnetic set to. That way I can sell the Grizzly with the less expensive dro's still on it when I'm done.
 
The Knee on the mill was a bit curvy if memory serves. I made up mounting hardware that had 4 leveling feet ( alan set screws) around one screw that went into a tapped hole in the mill. So that's a 4 bolt pattern for the feet with only the fifth one in the middle screwing into the machine. The feet allowed me to align the mounting block to the axis and then mount the end of the scale to the block. It took a bit to dial in, but worked great to turn curved iron into flat mounting pads. I tried a similar approach with three legs. It seemed to take much longer for me to dial in than with four. Maybe your curvy old iron would benefit from a similar approach.
 
Took the day to complete the DRO install.
Had the Z-axis scale left to do.
Drilled and tapped the yoke to hold the mounting block. Tapped the block to hold the scale.
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The scale fit fine until I put reader head and the end cap back on. The additional length on the scale interfered with the casting at the top of the head.
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I contemplated taking the top off but decided to add another block.
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Worked out the brackets for the reader head. One of the holes for the sheet metal cover that covers the opening was well positioned for the bracket.
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All done now!
Well I have to sort out the cable routing still but it’s fully functional :)


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