@David:
@Xyphota's original post is here:
I purchased a DRO from Aikron as it was mentioned in another thread and am working on installing it. I am about halfway through installing the longitudinal scale. I have the scale and shield mounted and am milling up a few brackets to fix the reader head to the backside of the carriage.
Before the milling the next part on the bracket, I wanted to drill and tap a few holes on the carriage and then match those features. There is not a lot of material on the Myford carriage so I decided to drill the holes in the mill to keep the drill bit from wondering and blowing out the side...
Before the milling the next part on the bracket, I wanted to drill and tap a few holes on the carriage and then match those features. There is not a lot of material on the Myford carriage so I decided to drill the holes in the mill to keep the drill bit from wondering and blowing out the side...
@Tecnico already linked to his install above.
These two guys were my inspiration.
I have not even installed my own yet. If you knock this one off, you are going to embarrass me AGAIN!
I don't think it's been mentioned yet, (perhaps it's a given) but there are three reasons for putting the scale inside.
1. Putting it on the front gets it in the way of swinging parts. Waaaay too easily damaged.
2. Putting it on the back robs tailstock travel.
3. Putting it on back means you can't bump your tailstock anymore. Bumping the tailstock is a great indexing method. Losing that feature would be a total bummer for me.
I don't have a Myford. By my reckoning, I will only require the length of the read head for the scale extension. The strip does not need to longer than the head itself. In fact, if the sensor could be put inside, the extension would not be needed at all. I think your lathe is similar in that respect.
Another thing to be aware of is the impact of a taper attachment. My taper has a fairly large shoe that attaches to the back of the cross-slide. So I plan to make this shoe my extension. It does mean that the taper shoe becomes permanent. But I don't think that is a big deal. I'll machine the tape groove in both to make sure things line up. I may also use alignment pins.
If you are planning a taper attachment, you might want to put the cross-slide scale on the backburner until you can do both projects.
Of course the real purpose for this whole post is to try and restructure and normalize your efficiency processes. The amount you get done is criminal. Since I'm too far away to sneak in and sabotage your shop like @140mower and @jcdammeyer want to do (and I fully support), about all I can do is try to add more complexity to your thinking and work processes. I wouldn't fight it if I were you. You will be much happier once you understand that happiness is inversely proportional to the rate of project completion......
