Quote:
Originally Posted by postino
Thanks for the links & pics!!! 
It says the strips can be cut to suit...So I would want to order the next size longer than my travel and cut it to fit???
I have both x & y axis on my 3in1 Chinese machine...So I would need two kits??? Or three if I wanted to get z axis [quill] readout as well???
I spray a lot of chips...Does the strip & reader need to be covered from chips/lubricant???
My 3in1 [pic below] has a 40" bed but only 33" of it is really usable...And the cross feed is 18" but only 7" is usable...
I'm thinking one 35" and one 12" and I'll cut them to fit...
I'm wondering if the display is quick-changeable...can you use it for x axis first, then change leads and use it for y axis??? That would cut down the number of heads/displays...Or will the display show all three axes at once???
Edit: Oh, I see what you did...You have three displays on a 'gang' mount...Clever... 
Thanks for any help you can give!!!  |
Yep, the rails can be cut so you just order them long enough and trim them. And yes, you will need one kit for each axis. I wouldn't use coolant with cheapo DROs like this, but I haven't had any problems with chips or occasional spills of cutting fluid. The only issue I have had was when I had the readouts mounted on the side of the motor, seems like they didn't like the magnetic field and they freaked out now and then. I mounted them on a swing/swivel/extendable arm, and they have been trouble free ever since. I have had them on for about a year now (probably around 100-150 hours of run time), not sure how long they will last, but if they crap out I'll just buy new ones.
The only difficult part about installing them is to figure out where to put them, and I'm not sure where that would be on the 3-in-1. I have yet to figure out where to put them on the lathe, it's a fairly good size mini lathe (an 8x14 Emco Compact 8), but it will still be a tight fit. I would definitely try and put it on x, y and z, and one on the tailstock would also be good. I'm going to try modified digital calipers on my tailstock though, I think it will make for a cleaner and more compact installation.
One good thing about these DROs is that they have separate displays. I believe Shars and others sells a similar setup but with 3 displays in one unit, but that probably means that you have to buy a whole new setup if something breaks. There's also DROs with the readouts directly on the readers (like on digital calipers), but the remote displays are much better as they can be put in a place where you can read them easily. The cross slide might be another story though, on that you may want to go with a direct readout so you don't get the cable tangled up in something. The cables may look like they would be in the way on the mill, but they're really not. And knock on wood, I havent damaged them yet, just make sure they are out of the way so they don't get pinched when you're cranking the table.
Other than that it's pretty self-explanatory, once you get them out of the box you'll see how simple they really are. You'll get some universal brackets, screws etc but you'll still have to fabricate brackets, spacers etc to fit on your machine. Just make sure that they are mounted straight and square so the readers slide smoothly without rubbing or binding, and they should work just fine. I can usually cut well within 1/1000" and the repeatability is within the same range, so I'm more than happy with them. If you shoot me a PM with your e-mail, I can send you more pictures to give you some ideas.