Z axis DRO on RF-30...

As impressive as your restoration of your mill is, even more impressive is that you have done it in just over a week!

Here is the video that I based my DRO installation on.

 
As impressive as your restoration of your mill is, even more impressive is that you have done it in just over a week!

Here is the video that I based my DRO installation on.


Thanks Ben! I'm that guy. Once I get started, I can't stop. Some days a blessing. Some days a curse. My wife can testify to both. lol... I work in the auto collision industry and have all my adult life so bodywork and painting come pretty naturally to me.

That's the best video I found as well. I'm attempting to mount the DRO on the inside as he referenced at the end. I have all the materials in hand so we will soon see how that works.
 
Here are some pics of how I modified my machine. I replaced the plastic cover with two lengths of 1 1/2x 1 1/2 x1/16" aluminum angle, held together by the scale plate from the plastic cover. I used a 6" length to hold the readout displays, supported by 2 lengths of 1/2" crs rod.
I didn't want to give up the depth stop, so I made a bracket to mount under the quill to support the bottom of the gas spring, and the readout. The top of the gas spring is mounted with a 1" x 3/4" bracket fastened to the front of the mill.
The threaded ends of the gas spring fit into 1/4" holes. the pressure of the spring holds them in place.

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Wow Ben! That's a great setup! Thanks for posting it!
 
Very helpful to see what other people did to make this deal happen. I very much appreciate you guys that posted here. I dove into mounting my iGauging DRO tonight. One of the video's I saw earlier (Tom linked above), the guy mentioned at the very end that there might have been enough room to mount the DRO on the inside. This intrigued me and I wanted to give it a try. I mocked it up yesterday just to see if it was feasible and I felt like it was so I picked up some 2" x .125 aluminum angle and an assortment of stainless fasteners today.

First order of business was to replace the factory depth stop rod with a length of 5/16" stainless all thread. I turned a piece of 6061 to .700 and cut it to 1.5" with a 5/16" thru hole. I milled a flat on it and drilled and tapped a couple of 10-24 holes to mount the bracket for the encoder.



The DRO is longer than the quill travel so I cut 3/4" off at the band saw to give me a little more clearance on the inside of the cover.



Next I cut the 2 pieces of angle to 10.5" and shaped a radius on the outside of each to eliminate the square corner. I drilled and countersunk mounting holes for the 10-24 machine screws to mount the DRO and fabbed up a bracket to attach the encoder. One thing that I really like about the DRO being inside the covers is that I can run the wire inside the head.









I have some ATP left over from a past project so I drilled and tapped some 10-24 holes to attach it. I very much like that the entire DRO is protected inside the cover.









Plenty of clearance for the handwheel.



Still a few things to tidy up but overall I'm super happy with how far it came in one evening and I really like the DRO being completely hidden inside the cover.

 
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I like function
Thanks for asking. It's a power downfeed. Did this several years ago using some spare timing belt pulleys and a DC gear reduction motor purchased from Surplus Center. The controller is from a treadmill I scrapped out (120vac in and 90vdc out). Up or down feed is selected with a DPDT switch and a potentionmeter controls the speed. The belt cover is kind of cheesy but is functional.


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Finished up the install so documenting the last of it here. Since I don't quite have the full range of travel on the quill I wanted a hard stop so the DRO was not the limiting factor. Couple of nuts and washers serve that purpose well. Upon further review and a little grinding I could have left the DRO longer as I have clearance now but not too concerned with the little loss of travel. Quill travel is 5.300.





With the wiring running inside the head I wanted to insure that it would stay clear of everything so I drilled a couple of holes for button head screws to mount 2 more cable retainers.









I also moved the Grizzly mini lathe from the gun room to the shop so they would be in the same space.

 
Terry, your machine looks awesome! Thanks for sharing. We must have the same vintage, as mine has a "For Ward" switch too.
 
We must have the same vintage, as mine has a "For Ward" switch too.

Wow, usually I pick up on "Engrish" text, but until you pointed it out, I had not noticed my switch says "For Ward" as well. I guess they were built before auto correct.
 
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