I am getting ready to set up a DRO on my mill and was wondering how people have gone about mounting the scales. I have all the scales i need i was wondering if anybody can let me know. Pictures would be greatly appreciated. thanks a lot

If you peek at this ebay auction, a fellow actually has some photos of a DRO mounted on one of those:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130222486492&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=003

Cool. I think that I can come up with something from there...... the main problem that i have is the quill. It doesn't have a standard open quill and i don't know how to mount my scale on it..... anybody have any ideas? Thanks

Can't help you there. I got a G0619, so I've got a quill built in.

Pics from my X3 with a Shumatech DRO.

Chafik,
very nice setup. I like the cover over the scale. is that lexan or plexi? i am thinking of doing something similar. i think that i am going to put a scale on the column like you did but would also like to have one on the "quill" so that i can make accurate drill depths. the only way i can think of doing it is making a bracket to hold the bottom part of the scale to the non rotating part of the spindle and making a bracket to keep the digital counter stationary and leaving the top part of the scale free floating, but i was hoping someone might have a cleaner set up.... anybody? thanks a lot for you help.

Not sure if it's Plexiglass or Lexan, I had a small sheet from home depot (the ones with the blue plastic backing), held it in one of those Black and Decker Workmates, went back and forth with a heat gun to soften it, then
bent it.

Once I built the Shumatech DRO, and got my Ebay scales, the whole thing was a one day job, using mostly scrap parts I had (including a lot of hex standoffs and corner aluminum).

I was installing the DRO while keeping in mind that this X3 would ultimately be converted to CNC.

Chafik

You could make a quill clamp ( God knows Seig left way to much hanging out ) and mount a scale unit to it.

Here is a shot of how IH does there quill unit.

http://industrialhobbies.com/P1010340fix.jpg

There are simular scales with outputs to your display if you are not reading the head position.

I was just looking at the Arc Euro Trade X3 page, and as I scrolled down, there it was a bolt on kit for the quill DRO scale...

Check it out - Arc Euro Trade X3 page (http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Machines-Accessories/Milling-Machines/Model-X3-Small-Mill).

Thanks guys. that was exactly what i was thinking of doing just wanted to make sure that i wasn't crazy in my design. thanks again

When you mount the scales, make sure to mount them parallel & plumb - so that scales are not stressed as you move the table in X or Y.

Sometimes you can let one of the end of the scales float - this way the scales can "self-adjust" .

If I were to add a DRO to my mill _these days_, I'd seriously consider going with an Ebay 2 or 3-axis glass scale DRO kit. I had my share of issues with flaky 18" chinese scales. Loosing positioning during a job and having to re-establish 0 can be very annoying :)

i mounted 2 chinese scales on my x3 in acryl casings. which i milled myself.
to prevent chips onto the scales and to have electrical isolation between the mill and the scales.
the scales have there positive battery voltage connected to ground. so if you connect the scales to a computer you will get ground problems.
i use them for a long time now and in the beginning i also lost position but later i solved this by making better electrical ground for the scales. no problems since.

I really like the idea of the acrylic casings.... as far as the ground i am electronically retarded...... how do you set that up? Thanks

Very nice Bert, I like the acrylic mounting idea. I have had my DRO setup for over 6 months now and never experienced position loss, but I did have some display jitter problems, ONLY when the X3 motor is running though, which was not too much of a surprise coming from a DC brush motor. I solved this problem by putting a large filter on the power line to the X3.

I certainly don't want to hijack this thread, but from your pics, I see that the original X3 spindle motor is not there, was this a modification you made? and is it discussed in a thread here?

Thanks,

Chafik

i made my own 1.5 volt powersupply for the scales. when you turn off the scales, you actualy dont turn it off, but you turn off the display.
even the communication port keeps on working.
thats why the batteries only last so short.
with shielded cabled and the shield connected to ground, you will get very far with surpressing disturbance.
nice that you noticed my motor was gone :p
the gears made to much noise for me and the mounting of the motor done by sieg on this old type of x3 was clearly wrong. you could see the vibration of the motor end up in millingwork. later they solved this on newer types.
also the metal casing on the backside was one of the first things i removed.
all to reduce vibration.
you can see a step by step conversion on my homepage:
http://members.chello.nl/b.modderman/beltconversion.html
its very dirty because i work here with all sorts of stuff.

edit: i replied in this thread (post 6) about the scales and cnc.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55153
edit2: i corrected 3volt to 1.5 volt