http://csgbenefits.org/mill1.jpg

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82573

OK, I've pretty much decided on this X2 mill. I want to immediately get a DRO as I just don't want to bother with backlash and measuring headaches.

Any suggestions for a decent 3-axis DRO at a reasonable price?

Thanks

:confused:

Little machineshop has an "economy" DRO for $450.
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2016&category=-1536942993
If you can solder, you can build your own from a shumatech kit for around $125.
http://www.shumatech.com/products/dro-350/index.htm
You can always get one on Ebay.
Later Hoss
http://www.hossmachine.com

Little machineshop has an "economy" DRO for $450.
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2016&category=-1536942993
If you can solder, you can build your own from a shumatech kit for around $125.
http://www.shumatech.com/products/dro-350/index.htm
You can always get one on Ebay.
Later Hoss
http://www.hossmachine.com

yeah if you plan on CNC don't waste too much money on DRO, you can also buy some cheap calipers and attach them to the axises, I did that with my shaper today and it works real well.
chris

http://csgbenefits.org/CDCO-DRO.jpg

This one looks like a good deal to me. Anyone had dealings with CDCO?

The three scales (together) are $157 and the DRO display is $175, so for a grand total of $332, I have a 3-axis DRO, ready to install..........

thanks

Thats what I did but without the monitor screen, but I paid 40 bucks for the each axis at Harbor freight, just chop the point off the caliper and drill a holl for the clamp. I suppose you could get away with a magnets to. It does not say but what is the amount of travel do you have with those?


chris

I don't understand when you say "no monitor screen". What is your display? Or do you simply mean that you bought the items separately..............

Here's a parts list:

http://www.cdcotools.com/
Display Unit - $175.00 PN 30011
Scales,
X- 12" $60.00, PN 39315
Y- 6" $42.00, PN 39303
Z- 8" (Vertical scale, easy read), $55.00, PN 39306
Grand Total - - $332.00

I don't understand when you say "no monitor screen". What is your display? Or do you simply mean that you bought the items separately..............

Here's a parts list:

http://www.cdcotools.com/
Display Unit - $175.00 PN 30011
Scales,
X- 12" $60.00, PN 39315
Y- 6" $42.00, PN 39303
Z- 8" (Vertical scale, easy read), $55.00, PN 39306
Grand Total - - $332.00

I wish I had my camera,

its very simple really and its what you are looking at for the most part. You take this item from harbor freight for instance.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47261

I bought the 12 incher for what I need. Knock of the points or leave them if you like. drill a whole in one end and clamp on the other or mount how ever it suits you. I have a $80 Mahr that has the port hook up so I could acutally run it to a screen so I can see it if I was going to drill a hole through it(not). I mounted mine temporarly as the part i was shaping was very close tolerance, otherwise it will be in my way more then usefull. Normally I don't need to be that precise, I drilled a small hole (#30) and then used a taper pin and a super high power magnet to hold the tail on(i could have just as easily pinned that too or bolted both). I tried to look for something similar on the x2 but I keep finding what you have found. In reallity that system is nice but if your intentions are to do cnc, that would take a large part of your budget towards that. Once you have cnc(if you want it) it will be no longer needed and in the way, or I suppose you could use it for feed back and make it a closed loop system if it intergrates into the control.

Here is were I got the idea from, there are several on this page

http://www.floridaame.org/HowTo2.htm

It just a way to save money, and I find it less confusing, you know which DRO you are looking at. I almost never use more then 1 axis at a time anyway as I clamp any axis not in use(execpt on my shaper were there are no clamps). Its a $40 dollar solution thats all I am offering.

the monitor is your DRO screen, I just look at the DRO scale/caliper itself.

chris

try cme tools they have a three axis display in there catolog for 150$ and there DRO s are cheaper to http://www.cme-tools.com/cgi-bin/store/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&Category=Precision+Tools&SubCategory=Calipers&SubSubCategory=ELECTRONIC+DIGIMATIC+QUILL+KIT&view_records=Go

there is no mention that the cdco display can be hooked up to a computer.
i need a display unit that can, i got 3 chinese import scales same as cdco got and i would like them to get connected with a computer using mach3.
dro350 can but i dont need that fancy stuff, to complicated for me.
is there anything simpler?
i searched the forum but there are so much topics and posts its like searching a for needle in a haystack.

Both the cheap Chinese digital calipers and the scales use the same heads. The same board is in all of them though they may use different cases. If you snap off the cover opposite the battery cover, you will see four exposed traces meant to output to the DRO head unit. You can get cables with DIN plugs at the other end to fit these, or just solder onto the board yourself I'd guess.
From left to right, the pinouts are as follows;
GND, DAT, CLK, Vpos

You can perhaps build your own display, or find a way to feed this into the computer for Mach. That would be a cool trick but I am clueless at electronics design.

Two points; First, the cables suck and don't firmly connect all the time so leave the batteries in so they don't reset if the cable jiggles. Use a strain relief on the cable so it can't work loose. Second, these don't handle contamination well so mount them up under a piece of channel or something to protect them.

If anybody figures out how to rip the signal from the external outputs or from the LCD into a form we could feed into Mach or an on-screen DRO it would be a neat hack.

Just found Shumatech had a link to a document with way more data on the Chinese Scales.
This should be more than enough to design an interface!

http://www.shumatech.com/support/chinese_scales.htm

well the problem is how to communicate with mach3.
i dont mind spending 200 euro on a ready made communication system because i have not much time realy to work on this.
but i can program a small chip that transmits all date to the computer to the rs232 port and i could also write a windows program that can show the
positions of the scales on screen but that doesnt get me anywhere.
i want to work with mach3 with these scales.
so for a long time now i dont know what protocol is used with mach3 to displays and buying something seems a better option.
but nothing good available as it seems.
i guess i have to go the long way around, make something myself...

Hi Bertmiller,

There is an encoder board made specifically for Mach, made by a company called Sound Logic. This allows standard quadrature encoders to be used with Mach, and its not expensive - about US$125 I think.

I noticed that Shumatech did also have Chinese-to-standard quadrature signal cables, I don't know anything about them, thier use, or cost however.
That combination at least looks like maybe a plug and play solution to using the Chinese encoders, but personally I'd just try to score some standard used linear encoders off Ebay and forgewt adapting the signals.

im only interested in absolute values. i work alot with quadrature encoders they miss a step now and then.
converting chinese values to rs232 isnt so difficult so im going to investigate in that and see if i can make it work with mach3 and its rs232 modbus protocol.

StepperMonkey,

Actually the Shumatech adapter is quadrature to Chinese signal converter, so that quadrature encoders can be used with the DRO-350 box which expects the Chinese signal. The DRO-350 also supports things like incremental or absolute, hole pattern calculation, tool offset, touch-off option or tachometer option, and choice of mill or lathe configurations.

Alan

Hi Bertmiller,

There is an encoder board made specifically for Mach, made by a company called Sound Logic. This allows standard quadrature encoders to be used with Mach, and its not expensive - about US$125 I think.

I noticed that Shumatech did also have Chinese-to-standard quadrature signal cables, I don't know anything about them, thier use, or cost however.
That combination at least looks like maybe a plug and play solution to using the Chinese encoders, but personally I'd just try to score some standard used linear encoders off Ebay and forgewt adapting the signals.

im only interested in absolute values. i work alot with quadrature encoders they miss a step now and then.
converting chinese values to rs232 isnt so difficult so im going to investigate in that and see if i can make it work with mach3 and its rs232 modbus protocol.

Hello,

There is already a chinese scale to RS232 converter, it's Yadro (http://yadro.de). It allows four scales to be connected to a computer running display.
It is really simple and cheap to build.
Then you have to adapt yadro output to what Mach3 is waiting for.