NEW mill need help with DRO

dodoknives225

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Hi guys so I just got a new grizzly knee style mill (link below) So I also have a small taig mini mill that I mounted a dro on wich was prity easy as the whole head moves up and down on that one. So I would like to mount a DRO on the new grizzly for the up and down motion of the quill...I have been told mounting it on the knee and using the knee for up and down is easier but I really want it on the quill. So I have a dro but its way to big its like 17 inches so I looked around and saw there are some smaller ones ......I have never mounted one like this and I want to make sure I get it right on the first shot I am assuming I would have to drill and tap holes in the mill to attach it and I don't want a half dozen holes in my new mill cause I drilled in the wrong spot....So any help wuld be appreciate from what dro would work good in this situation to where and how to mount it like I said ANY help would be appreciated thanks guys!....oh here is the link to the mill I got
http://www.grizzly.com/products/8-x-30-Vertical-Mill/G0730
 
I have the equivalent mill Grizzly G1008. I would mount the long scale on the knee. The knee has finer adjustment than the quill.

For the quill I would get a caliper style scale like the one I mounted on my mill. Not expensive. Available from many places.

I have the equivalent mill Grizzly G1008. I would mount the long scale on the knee. The knee has finer adjustment than the quill.

Mill_new_quill_DRO_7945.jpg
 
Thanks! yeh the pic looks great how you set it up on the quill....Any chance you have a shot from the right side (or either side) so I could see how the sliding piece attaches?
 
My mill had a quill DRO installed by the previous owner, but it stopped working a long time before I purchased the mill back in January.

The DRO I purchased to replace the earlier scale had some hardware I could have used, but easier to make the earlier installation work.

A block was screwed a flat area to the left of the quill scale with two holes/screws which are hidden behind the bracket. Too much hassle to remove the bracket, but you should get the idea.

Fine quill feed handle removed for the picture. You can see the 4 screws holding the bracket to the block. The bracket has slots to adjust the scale to be parallel to the quill.

A piece of square stock was welded to top and bottom parts of the bracket, likely for strength, but feels like not required.

Mill_quill_DRO_bracket_8288.jpg

The quill stop block was drilled for two holes on the side to mount a small plate which is attached to the back of the scale. The original plate did not fit, and it was easier to cut a piece of plywood to fit the bracket which came with the new scale.

The front two holes in the quill stop block were in the original factory design.

Mill_quill_scale_block_8285.jpg

The plywood screwed to the block so now everything in place. The bracket on the back of the scale allows for getting the scale parallel to the quill front-to-back.

Mill_new_quill_DRO_right_side_8281.jpg

It should not be difficult to mount a scale like this to your mill.
 
I have a Jet JVM830 equivalent mill with a 4-axis drop from tpactools. I can send you photos of my quill and knee installs if you like. Not to difficult of a job.

Bruce
 
If you have a conventional DRO with a display unit and glass or magnetic scales you can get a unit which integrates the input from two scales, one for the knee and one for the quill, and feeds the result to the DRO.
 
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