Igaging scales on a mini mill

[BMyers]

I am getting around to mounting igaging scales on my mini mill. I am wondering if I should just make a tab from the reader head to the mill or come up with something fancier to tolerate miss alignment. I would like to see how others have mounted digital caliper scales or igaging scales.

 

[Troutsqueezer]

If you search the forum there are a few threads on this topic. Here's one:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=9163.0

 

[BMyers]

Trout, are you still happy with them ?

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Very much so. I use them all the time and haven't even had to change the batteries in them yet. It makes life much easier.

 

[Diy89]

I did mine, and think its a decent investment towards accuracy. Never have to look at the wheels again!

 

[Antman]

A question: What is the resolution? MicroMark give theirs at 0.05mm and .001"

 

[milotrain]

yup. .001" only.

 

[BMyers]

Finished mounting the scales and readers today. I think I will come up with a better place for the displays

I removed the mount for the guard and made a spindle lock. Basically a pin you push into the spindle lock hole

 

[Troutsqueezer]

I made a separate stand for the three DRO's that is situated next to the mill. My table is 1/4" steel so I was able to weld the stand onto the table. I did find that the magnets on the backs of the readouts will attract ferrous swarf to the faceplates of the readouts. I took a zip lock bag and put it over the readouts to keep the swarf from finding its way into and under the buttons.

 

[BMyers]

I made a separate stand for the three DRO's that is situated next to the mill.

I ended up doing the same thing, I am going to hang my spindle tach from the stand also.

 

[TroyO]

I just got done mounting the X axis on my mini mill. I got a Shumatech DRO 550 DRO/Display box to go with it.

Point of possible interest, although the display only shows .001, the actual scale reports 2560 steps per inch... or .0004 inch resolution. (Technically 0.000390625) Using the Shumatech box to read the scale lets you access that extra rez.

I'm not sure yet how useful that will be. Especially with it being a "cyclic" divisor.... 0,4,8,12,16, back to 0 etc. Although I can dispay it, it does seem pretty touchy. More experimentation will be needed.... I just got it in and haven't had much chance to play with it yet.. it may not even be reliable rez anyway.

Heh, by the way... anyone need an extra Igaging display unit?
[edit.. tons of blank lines, no idea why.]

 

[epwrangler]

I sort of followed your lead on the y axis. The Z axis was very easy to mount on the left side using the black angle for the visual scale and the pointer hole. Scale runs up into the air. If I knew how to post picures I would do so.