Installing a Mill DRO - Y Axis Read Head
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ต.ค. 2024
- Making a bracket and mounting the read head for the Y axis. Z axis will be almost the same, so in the next video, I intend to skip over the similar stuff, but keep any important bits, and I'll also show any fine tuning I do like scale covers and cable management.
/ craigsworkshop
craigsworkshop.net
PS: Kevin at MachineNZ made a couple of great videos about DRO usage recently. Now I have the basic 2 axes working, I know I'll be re-watching those videos.
Arcs: th-cam.com/video/2a78qOTzXYU/w-d-xo.html
Bolt hole patterns: th-cam.com/video/1SQwTBeViK0/w-d-xo.html
Watched all 6 parts, super. I picked you a RF 30 column mill that had the X&Z, but Y not finished. Your videos really helped me under stand the mount plate to carriage, thx, have a great and safe year, Bear in TX
Thats great. Glad it was useful! Cheers Bear. Craig
that thing defenitely looks like a handy addition to the mill, lol. Thanks for the series and keep up the good work.
WTF man, you and I hang out at all the down and dirty dive spots. :-)
lol, yea, but you usually take off with the trashy ones and I am just stuck there with my beer, lol.
Hey Chirp. Glad to see you back here. Thanks for the kind comments as always :) Cheers, Craig
Comment of the week here, Chirpy :)
Gday Craig, nice finish with the endmill, I’ve really enjoyed this series on the dro fit up, might invite you over for a bbq when I get a dro for my mill, just a thought 🤔😂, thanks for taking the time to make these videos especially during the times we are having now, much appreciated, Matty
No worries Matty. Keeps me busy. Hopefully helpful to others too. BBQ sounds good :-)
Nice job, that's a really substantial bracket you've made for the DRO. Enjoyed the process. Tony
Yes - it's a little heavier than the ones that come in the kit - I didn't want it flexing on me. Thanks for the kind comments Tony! Cheers, Craig
I missed that niffty trick using a small chuck to hold a counter sink bit in,,,,great solution to old hands with arthritis (@@) Thxs, Oh an thx for sharing the Y scale installation,,lot better than the bracket the previous owner made up. Now will refab to your idea,,,Bear in TX
I am ashamed to admit that I still (a year later) have not done the Z axis. But I will get around to it soon!
Good stuff as always. As much as I enjoy shaper projects, and lathe work. Its working on the mill I enjoy the most. Love mill projects
That's really convenient because I don't have a shaper :-) Thanks for tuning in Craig - cheers, Craig
Looks great Craig, thanks for sharing. I second one of the other comments .... A fly cutter series would be fun to watch.
Cheers
Yeah - I'll have to add that to the list. I have some really small factory made ones, but a decent one suited to the size of this mill would be a great addition (and maybe some good video!). Cheers, Craig
Thanks Craig it was worth the wait
I'm glad you think so - thanks Joseph!
Looking great Craig . i will be re watching this when i come to do mine . Cheers Ade.
Cheers Ade. Glad it's of some use. Looking forward to seeing your installation! And the other part of the tooling plate! :-) cheers, Craig
Well done Craig
Thanks Randy!
Congratulations Craig. One of the best features is the bolt circle. I use it alot in making steam engines.
Quinn at blondihacks just did a video showing how to use that feature. Nice and easy to understand. Highly recommend it. I'll save someone some time >>>> th-cam.com/video/zHF8QLmMokU/w-d-xo.html
Yes - I think am going to love that feature. Also having instant metric to imperial is going to be a good feature. No more counting dials! Cheers, Craig
Cheers worldtraveler. I'll have a look at that. Craig
All good. That's a real mill. Cheers Rob
Cheers Rob. Yeah it felt real when I had to move it! :-)
Nice job, very clean install.
Thanks Steven - I was trying to redeem myself after that broken tap :)
Well designed read head bracket, great photography.
Stay safe all and thanks for sharing.
Thanks John - I've been trying to up my videography game and get some more light and shade into each scene. And trying to cut out any uninteresting stuff. I appreciate the feedback! Stay safe.
Nice brackets . Top job . Cheers .
Thanks Max, they seem nice and rigid. I think they'll do the job. Cheers! Craig
@@CraigsWorkshop I had a spare sticker of yours & Matty's that are going with my one to a you tube sticker collector in California .
Bit out of order, I am, lol.
Very pretty, with the endmill multiple passes.
When you get set with the fly cutter, at least in ally, less wasted time.
Good solid set up. That'll do Pig!
Nearly there with the set up for multiple precision stone grinding,
sigh,
everything has a potential rabbit hole to go down eh.!
The rabbit holes are half the fun! (Just don't expect to get anything finished by the time you first expected..) :)
great video thanks Craig but I can't find the next video on adding the cover on the scale?
That's because the cover is not yet added ! It has not proved to be a problem in practise, but - I need to revisit this whole project, install the Z axis, install some proper cable management, and install those guards. Thanks for the heads up.
Nicely done Craig. 2:00 time for a flycutter ?
You know - I do have a small flycutter (actually a set of three: miniscule, tiny and small) :) I really should have used that. I think I weighed up the time difference between 8 or so passes of the 12mm end mill, and a tool-change and probably 3 passes of the small flycutter, and the end mill won out ;-)
I had forgotten (and you have reminded me) that Ted gave me a large adjustable fly cutter which could skim the average car engine block, but it might have been overkill.
I also have a facemill - and I have no good reason for not using it. I think I was just focussed on the video and not the project at that point!
There's definitely scope for building up a mid-sized general purpose flycutter though. I think flycutting is the best most accurate finish I have ever been able to get with my previous mill - and this one could do with a suitably sized flycutter too.
Thanks for watching and commenting Kevin!
Cheers,
Craig
Backlash be dammed! You are going to love using a dro. You stick one on that lathe yet?
That's right - I love it already :) Good question about the lathe. Not yet, but I am certain I want one. You can get smaller cross-section scales and heads, which is good for minimising lost space between the carriage and tailstock, and you can also get finer resolution ones (down to 1 micron) which is good because if you want to adjust a diameter, you need to double your radial resolution. So - not yet, but plans are being made ;-) Just a question of saving some dollars to get it done. Thanks for watching! Cheers, Craig
@@CraigsWorkshop I've got a 13x38 lathe and I'm installing a 250mm and 1000mm scale this weekend. The cross slide is a major pain in the ass.
@@jagboy69 I bet. But it's gotta be very worthwhile. Persevere with it! :) Will you be filming it?
@@CraigsWorkshop nahh.. I try to stick with the artsy fartsy casting stuff. I'm a little side tracked at the moment getting this machinery up and useful. Doubleboost has a good series on a lathe DRO. Look around SNC 65ish.
@@jagboy69 Ok no worries. I'll check out John's video again. I watched it back then when it first aired, but it's always good to go back and get a refresher. Cheers, Craig
well done!
Thanks Emma. :)
Consider dowels as well
Good thinking Paul, I had not thought of that. That could be a very good way to pin it in place after it's aligned. Thanks for the idea.
Good stuff
It's a bit of fiddling, but awesome to have
Agreed - but fiddling is 90% of what we do :) Thanks Tom!
@@CraigsWorkshop True that. I still need to get around to my vertical scale. But I need to finish the riser block first
@@TomMakeHere A riser block has been on my mind too. Not because I've run out of Z yet, but because everyone else has one. Also being 1.87m I'm always hunched over at the machine. Making up a 150mm tall cylinder around 380mm in diameter would not be easy. I'm wondering if I could weld up an octagonal one from some 25mm steel plate I have, and face both sides flat.
@@CraigsWorkshop yeah mine is driven by need. I can barely use an indicator to tram my vice, and I can't use anything longer than a typical 8 mm drill without resorting to collets
@@TomMakeHere Ah that would be painful. So a riser really is essential. Are you going to find some cast iron or similar, or are you fabricating it?
Silly question. Do you take the little red plastic packets out from between the scale and read head?
Hi Mike, Not a silly question at all, it's a good question. Yes, you do take the red spacer out. It's function is two-fold. It protects the delicate internals, during shipping, and it also provides you with a reference spacing which shows you where the read-head needs to sit, relative to the scale. Once the two components are mounted at that spacing (and parallel, and trammed to the axis), you just slip the spacer out and it will work as advertised. Thanks for asking. Let me know if you have any more Qs. Cheers, Craig
@@CraigsWorkshop many thanks
your up early craig
Nah - mid afternoon in my part of the world! (Tasmania, Australia) :-)
@@CraigsWorkshop i stupidly thought you were uk based ... ha! ...anyway keep them coming. i miss my chinese lathe
The accent would make you think that - easy mistake to make. I will do what I can to keep the vids coming. Do you think there would be some interest in a parallel chuck arbor for holding a keyless drill chuck in my mill collet?
@@CraigsWorkshop sure why not. keyless chucks are always handy (pun intended)
Agreed. It'll save me a bunch of time at the mill. Currently using a collet for everything including spot drilling, edge finding, driling pilot holes, and all sorts of stuff.