DRO Question

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lugnut

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I ask this same question on HSM and will ask it again here.

I've pretty much made up my mind to purchase a DRO system for my Grizzly (G0463) X3 milling machine. I can't afford most of the ones on the market. I find it hard to put $1200 DRO on a $900 mill. I emailed Grizzly and ask which one of the units they sold would be best for the X3 and they replied that they did not make one for the X3 (G0463) and recommended the Shooting Star unit that is sold by Little Machine Shop.

The price is about the same for a 3 axis DRO and the ones sold by Griz and I have done a little reading about the Shooting Star. I appears that it is a rack and pinion type and very different from the Glass Scale units sold by most other suppliers.

Have any of you bought or used the Shooting Star DRO's ? Are they worth the $750 ? That's the high end of my limit for money to spend.

There others out there for less, but I don't like the idea of sending my hard earned money to China. I would seem very hard to get any support from someone as far away as Asia.
Thanks
Mel
 
I am in the same boat. I am looking to DRO a full size Bridgeport with a 3 axis.

When I did my mid-size table top (700Lbs) I went with the elcheapo scales and decoder box. Tho it worked good, it eats batterys and after nearly 2 years, the scales are worn out and i am starting to have troubles.

What i'm going to do is sock the money away for the good stuff. 400 bucks every 2-3 years isn't saving me any money.

If you are going to spend 750, take a peek at the Meister setup. They are glass scale and are from Singapore i think. Deere guy liked his before I crushed it. They are on ebay for $710. See if they can replace the scales for lengths of your liking.
 
I recommend the Mister whole heartedly. I have a Sino on my lathe and like Steve said I had the Meister on the Enco mill. My Jet came with a 2 axis Acu-rite but it is missing some of the features that the 3 axis Meister had.

BTW I also miss having that knee read out for the third axis. Luckily the accuracy of the dial on the knee is within .0005 from what I can tell so far. It's just a pain remembering how many cranks I have gone. I am keeping a pad a pencil handy and hash mark every turn plus I am using Dykema more now.
 
I bought mine from DRO Pros http://www.dropros.com/

When you order you specify the scale lengths.

I bought the 3 Axis EASSON with glass scales. I mounted it on my Bridgport J Head and absolutely love it! It has some very nice built in features. I use the circular hole pattern function a lot as well as the sub datum function. It is very accurate and switches between metric and standard with a button press. I've had it about 2 years now.

Hope this helps!
 
Mel
If its any help, the transaction with the Hong Kong dealer was flawless, other than my bad timing in ordering the kit right at the start of the Chinese new year celebrations. I don't particularly like spending my money in China either, but the price difference was significant and having seen the Shooting Star system while at Cabin Fever, the difference in component quality and offered features made my choice for me.

The guy was "Johnny on the spot" with answers to any questions I had and responded within 12 hours each time he was contacted. You won't get that sort of response during a holiday break here in the states. I received, unrequested, the install and operational instructions before the kit shipped and even got a duplicate set when I accidentally deleted the first, without any hassles.

No connection here to the seller, but for my satisfaction with his product and prices. My comments are based on being fair with a guy who is so obviously trying harder. Not trying to sway your purchase, but do the comparisons, as I did, and you'll see why the purchase simply made economic sense, at least for me.

Steve
 
I acquired a Jenix on my new mill and I'm happy with it. It's from Korea I think and a little under $700 for a basic unit.
 
Mel,
I also have an X3 and have been shopping for a full featured DRO. I am not enthused about dealing directly on product and product support with Asian sources. I have been looking at the Easson ES-10, the Shooting Star, as well as the Acu-Rite Vue. A friend of mine has used a SS for over 5 years without any problems, and highly recommends it. The Acu-Rite is newer technology than the SS, and the current LED display Asian DRO offerings. It uses an LCD display with bolt hole, arc radius, etc graphics, which is nice. The Acu-Rite Vue is the lower end of this technology. I don't like the extra $400 price of the Acu-Rite, but I am strongly considering it. Probably overkill for an X3, but it will likely help me a lot.

Jeff
 
Like Jadecy, I bought a 3 axis Easson DRO unit & glass scales from DROpros (dropros.com) about a year ago. I'm just a noob, but I've been very happy with the unit so far. I haven't spoken with them since the purchase, but they were friendly, and willing answer all my noob-type questions.

 
Shooting Star is a good thing.

I have it on my 9" southbend and my Grizzly mill.
I bought at shows directly from Shooting Star ($50 off). I have since dealt with them via telephone and they are excellent to do business with.

Take your time installing. They are very accurate for the hobby engines I make.

Ray M

 
Thanks guys for all the input. I ordered the 3 axis unit Shooting Star from Little Machine Shop. I liked the 5 year warranty and the fact that parts would be available if needed. I could have ordered direct from the factory in Canada but LMS was the same price and shipping was almost half as from the factory. I'll post some photos when I get it installed. I installed a table drive from Grizzly last week and I sure like that thing.
Mel
 
Hi Lugnut,
I have 2 Shooting Stars. I first put a 2 axis on my mill and modified a 8" digital caliper for the Z. Worked great. When I upgraded my lathe from a HF 8x12 to a Griz 10x22 I wanted to put a DRO on it. A year or so latter I got a 3 axis Shooting Star. Put the 3 axis on the Mill 2 axis on the lathe. Now, I don't know how I lived without them! DRO is one of the best things in machining next to CNC. I haven't zeroed a dial or even looked at one since! Oh, I had a problem with the 2 axis after about 9 months. Just a couple of segments in the display weren't lighting up. I called Shooting Star and they said send it in. They sent me a new one in a day at no charge. I still had the old one getting ready to ship to them. Good bunch of folks over there.
TonyR
 
Hi

I posted a topic on here some time ago DRO on the mill It shows how I fitted them to my small X1 mill. Take a look. I have since bought an X3 mill and have fitted the same to the X and Y axis with no problems.

Cheers

Rich
 
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