Help with glass DRO scales

[hacklordsniper]

As my lathe arrived from Weiss in bad shape due to poor QC and a a faceplate thrown freely inside i had to remove DRO scales to repair damages and clean it. Also i did not like to much their "professional" installation because they used loose nuts and washers as scale spacers, and also managed to drill mounting screw all way trough gib and crosfeed, blocking the crosfeed.

I never worked with glass scales before. I understand they need to be mounted parallel to the machine and equal height. However i dont know to what distance should i adjust reading head from scale. See my picture (example picture taken from Internet). Scales are Sino

 

[canadianhorsepower]

I dont Under stand your question

 

[hacklordsniper]

I dont Under stand your question

It hard for me to explain in English. Im not sure how to do it, maybe this picture helps. Imagine if you want to pull reading head from rubber lips of glass scale, or pushing the reader in scale. I dont know how to determine this distance.

 

[canadianhorsepower]

Ok I did put some marks on your drawing
be EXTREMELY CARREFULL with glass scale
they brake easily

 

[hacklordsniper]

Thank you very much, that is exactly what i need. I will check tomorrow about this spacers, lathe is at my work. Im not sure will they work anymore, 160 mm cast iron face plate was bouncing on the machine, bending and breaking. However they were fastened, maybe they will work.

 

[canadianhorsepower]

I broke one of mine and cant even explain why.
that ,003 thou also goes on the top

how parallel it is from the top of your compound

this might help
http://www.dro.com.tw/pdf/Scale%20manual.pdf

good luck

 

[Sshire]

Every scale I've installed had a plastic spacer/shipping lock between the read head and the scale. The install is usually done with this in place and then it's removed. If yours didn't have one, I can measure the thickness of mine to see how it compares to CHP's numbers.

 

[canadianhorsepower]

If yours didn't have one, I can measure the thickness of mine to see how it compares to CHP's numbers

the only number I gave was the tilting angle limits
and parallel limits and not the clearance

My plastic piece is .039 thick. this goes were the yellow arrow is

 

[Maxx]

I put glass scales on my mill about 6 months ago.
The plastic piece that secures the read head to the scale was about the same thickness you listed.
The install specs for mine called for a .004 gap between the read head and the scale body.
I actually went a bit wider .010 and it reads just fine.