We have a Jet 13"x40" bench lathe here at work, and we'd like to outfit it with a 2 axis DRO.

I tried googling and searching here to find a step by step installation guide to judge how difficult it would be to do ourselves, but I had no luck.

Does anyone here have any experience with this? How involved of a process is it? any advice anyone has would be great.

I have installed several DRO's over the years, mainly on Knee Mills but the procedure is the same!

1st you need to get a scale that is just a little longer than your max-travel.
2nd you need to mount it in a place that will not interfere with any other machine accessories!
Then you need to calibrate it, this requires a lot of patience and time, but it is worth every second you spend getting it perfect!
To calibrate the axis, the scale MUST be perfectly parallel to the travel, in all three dimensions! (parallel horizontally, parallel vertically, and perpendicular). Most people just slap them on and try to adjust the DRO console to compensate for the error, that is never a good idea!
I have made little end blocks with two setscrews and one big bolt, the scale would fasten to the blocks, and the setscrews would allow you to move the scale a few thousandths at a time until the dial indicator stopped moving from zero!

I also have a 14x40 gap bed lathe, in order to mount the long scale, it needs to be away from the GAP!
The short scale is mounted to a bar of precision ground tool steel, 1.5x.5x16" it is going to be mounted to the cross slide, and then the scale will mount to it. The stationary reader of the scale is mounted between the ways on the carrage, and will also require an adapter plate with setscrews to level and square it to the cross travel! I'm using a heavy steel bar to ensure it doesn't go out of calibration is I drop a part on it, as it will be directly under the chuck! There is not enough room on the other side of the carrage to mount the scale, or it will cover the table lock, and all of the oil ports!
I have been saving for the long scale, it is not cheap, and plan on swapping the DRO with the mill untill I can afford a 2nd one!

I prefer the Mitutoyo KA Counter, it has a .0002 readout! and on my mill it really is fantastic!

Hope this helps!
Eric

I have installed several DRO's over the years, mainly on Knee Mills but the procedure is the same!

1st you need to get a scale that is just a little longer than your max-travel.
2nd you need to mount it in a place that will not interfere with any other machine accessories!
Then you need to calibrate it, this requires a lot of patience and time, but it is worth every second you spend getting it perfect!
To calibrate the axis, the scale MUST be perfectly parallel to the travel, in all three dimensions! (parallel horizontally, parallel vertically, and perpendicular). Most people just slap them on and try to adjust the DRO console to compensate for the error, that is never a good idea!
I have made little end blocks with two setscrews and one big bolt, the scale would fasten to the blocks, and the setscrews would allow you to move the scale a few thousandths at a time until the dial indicator stopped moving from zero!

I also have a 14x40 gap bed lathe, in order to mount the long scale, it needs to be away from the GAP!
The short scale is mounted to a bar of precision ground tool steel, 1.5x.5x16" it is going to be mounted to the cross slide, and then the scale will mount to it. The stationary reader of the scale is mounted between the ways on the carrage, and will also require an adapter plate with setscrews to level and square it to the cross travel! I'm using a heavy steel bar to ensure it doesn't go out of calibration is I drop a part on it, as it will be directly under the chuck! There is not enough room on the other side of the carrage to mount the scale, or it will cover the table lock, and all of the oil ports!
I have been saving for the long scale, it is not cheap, and plan on swapping the DRO with the mill untill I can afford a 2nd one!

I prefer the Mitutoyo KA Counter, it has a .0002 readout! and on my mill it really is fantastic!

Hope this helps!
Eric


This helps a ton. Thank you for describing your setup.

Would you happen to have any pictures of your setup?

Did you drill the holes in your cross slide while it was mounted to the carriage? Or did you take it off and do them on the mill? It seems like you could easily screw yourself over trying to use a hand drill for your mounting holes.

I'm looking at this (http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMCTLG=00&PMAKA=75867374&partnerURL=http://catalogs.shoplocal.com/mscdirect/index.aspx%6Fpagename=shopmain%50circularid=9086%50pagenumber=1534%50mode=) DRO/scale set from Acu-Rite

Sorry, I'm also in process of adding one to my new lathe!
Yes, I had planned on removing the cross slide so that I could put it in my mill and drill it accurately! When the rail is mounted to the cross slide, I will be able to measure the distances to draw up a plate for the stationary part! Whil in the mill, I plan on dialing in the scale to get it really close!

Glad I could be of help!
Eric

Be carefull when buying a DRO Kit, it may not be exactly what you need!
I bought my DRO from MSC, and they sell the scales one at a time, so I could get the exact one I needed for each axis on each machine!

Eric

Thats really cool Eric, I'm installing a DRO on my retro manual to CNC lathe. Would you post Pictures of the compleated set up when your done ? I'm still about 4-5 weeks from installation of the DRO and your set up sure helps..The long axis is really easy, compared to the short one on my lathe, looks like I'm going to put the X axis reader in front ( towards the chuck ) of the cross slide also, so my limit switch on the X axis will need to include the reader and cover.Keep up the nice work !

Adobe (old as dirt )

I wanted to add one more item to the installation instructions!
Most new DRO's come with plastic alignment clips that are attached to the slide and the scale for safety during shipping & handling!

These little plastic clips should be left in place until the slide and scale are both fastened to the machine, and are a perfect means for checking the alignment of the slide prior to moving the machine!

On the Mitutoyo scales, you should be able to slide the little plastic clip on and off of the Slide unit without feeling any interference from misalignment!
This is very critical on optical etched glass scales, as they can crack or get scratched if the slide unit is too far out of alignment!

There are all types of DRO's:
a. Optical (Common but old technology)
b. Magnetic Stripe (Common new technology)
c. Magnetic Balls (DoAll brand)
To name a few!

I believe the Mitutoyo KA Counter is magnetic, and has a resolution of 50-millionths .00005" accuracy!

Eric

We just finished installing our DRO today. We bought a 2 axis package from Acurite. It was quite a bit easier than we expected. As long as you plan out in advance how you're going to mount and level everything, it's rather simple (but tedious). It probably took two of us maybe 10 total hours of work, with us having to go back and redo what we'd already done due to not fully thinking things through.

We followed widgitmaster's advice of mounting the cross-slide scale to a bar, which worked great and was extremely easy to level to within 0.002 TIR due to doing all the drilling on the mill.

The carriage scale/reader was much easier to mount than previously envisioned as well. Acurite includes a great set of mounting brackets to deal with the offset from the bed of the lathe to the carriage with minimal effort.

We ended up with around +- 0.0008" displayed travel vs actual travel on the cross-slide and +- 0.001" displayed vs actual travel on the carriage, which definitely fits in the tolerances of what we'll be machining.

I'll take some pictures of the setup when I go to work on Monday for anyone who's interested.

Just FYI only, the magnetic ball DRO is Newall Spherosyn stuff.

I have a jet 13 x 40 lathe in which I installed a DRO. I installed a C80 by dewall. This came with all the mounting brackets. Everything needs to be mounted solid and completed level. If you contact theses people if you decide on this type of DRO they will give you complete instructions on how to mount the hardware. http://candomachinery.com/