DRO's for mill...new item

[V 45]

After reading a whole lot here on the cons and pros of DRO scales...what is the real difference between these...stainless steel cost twice as much as the black ones. Do they keep chips out any better? Why the price difference?

http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2012/Main/703

Thanx again

 

[Jadecy]

Can you please provide the model numbers you are looking at. The big price jump appears to be for the longer scale but I'm not sure I'm looking at the same thing you are.

 

[RMO]

From what I can see when looking up the individual part numbers, the cheaper ones are for woodworking machines.

Mike

 

[techonehundred]

I have one of the cheaper scales, and here is what I see as the difference. The cheaper ones have an aluminum bar that the scale rides on and a plastic case on the reader. The more expensive ones have a stainless steel bar that will not flex as much, also a stainless steel case that protects the reader. I don't know if it will keep out swarf better, but I think I will try one as they look a lot tougher.

 

[crab]

Black .002 per 6"
Stainless steel .001 per 6"

 

[lensman57]

After reading a whole lot here on the cons and pros of DRO scales...what is the real difference between these...stainless steel cost twice as much as the black ones. Do they keep chips out any better? Why the price difference?

http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2012/Main/703

Thanx again

Hi,
I dont know if there is a difference in performance between the two but a couple of months ago I bought one of the cheap ones for my Taig lathe and it only lasted a week or so before giving false readings all over the place and in the end it just stopped working. I also noticed that it had very slow response time.
If the electronics are better it maybe worth paying a little more or in my case it may just have been my bad luck.

Regards,

A.G

 

[Mosey]

I just finished mounting the new Grizzly stainless steel DRO's on my small mill. I like them because the sliders appear to be protected, sealed, plastic housings, and come with remote readouts for very little dollars compared to others. We'll see how they hold up. They do take a pair of large lithium button batteries, which has to be better than the AA or silver oxide buttons in most of the others (Shars), which fail often and corrode your units. I have several of the older Shars units, with the large, remotes. They are very poor, failing easily and often, and they aren't the bargain they used to be. I would not recommend buying these again. I also have some of the newer Shars units, the ones with the big yellow buttons on the remotes. They stink also. No warantee, no repair, just throw them away when they fail.
By the way, since these units do not come in all the right lengths, you should know that it is a piece of cake to cut them to length with a Dremel metal cutting disk.

 

[V 45]

Glad to know you can cut them to length !! Thanx again ! Was figuring I need the 12 and 24 in for my mill. Cutting the 12 in down to fit.

 

[camm-1]

I think the response time is a big problem with these cheap readers and suddenly wrong reading.
On my mill a Luna MDM 250 it is a dro at the Z axis and it is slow and I dont relay on it.
I can see with my eyes somtime that it isn´t true.
The same with my caliper or what its called in english, you have to zero it every time almost and check it isn´t totaly wrong :-\

 

[Mosey]

I have never had any of the issues you mention. I only have had problems with the remote readers failing their power supplies (batteries). Otherwise, they have been accurate and responsive. These are the ones from Shars.

 

[Mosey]

By the way, I got curious about the accuracy of these cheapo DRO's, so I went down and put a clock on one of the new stainless Grizzlys....4100" on the clock equals .4100" on the DRO! Good enough for government work. Whew. ;D ;D

 

[Don1966]

I have the Grizzly DRO on my mill and lathe. Grizzly specs are per foot and I believe .001 per foot accuracy. Say a three foot scale has .004 accuracy. I use them to count my turns and still rely on my dials for accuracy.
Quote me if I am wrong. They are still a great aid even if not absolute.

Regards Don

 

[Mosey]

I couldn't live without them, and great for the money.

 

[Don1966]

I have gotten spoiled to them myself. It is a lot easier to keep track of your turns. Great to get yourself back to zero position also.

Don

 

[camm-1]

Well, if they ar so good as you say I could buy one myself
but looked at grizzlys and you must by for over 200 usd from other countrys
+postage and I now so well the customs always put their noses in my parcels.

 

[Mosey]

I have almost finished my Y Axis install of the Grizzly DRO's on my little mill. This was much more complicated, requiring fabrication of 2 brackets and a retaining ring, all to avoid making holes in my machine. You can see the large shaft protruding from the side that interferes with the bracket. So the bracket had to zig zag around it, and needed several slots to clear oil fittings, etc.
I still have to clean off the marking dye and polish the brackets.
It all comes together nicely and now I can get to making parts.

Sorry guys, I am having trouble with my pics and will post them later.