Dabbler
ersatz engineer
A flux capacitor made with unobtanium.....What’s an optically 3 dimensional planar structure?
Tips/Techniques DRO Glass vs. Magnetic Scale Accuracy Etc.
- Thread starter Tecnico
- Start date
Tips/Techniques
Oh, that’s easy, I thought they had productionized 4+ dimensional structures!A flux capacitor made with unobtanium.....
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I know, eh! And reflective gold layers!!@thestelster I appreciate the detail you dug up there but whaaaa? Who let the Marketing Dept loose with the word processor???
What’s an optically 3 dimensional planar structure?
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Rauce
Ultra Member
Maybe this belongs in a different thread but I have a practical question. I’m going to get a DRO for my Hendey at some point when it’s complete or nearly complete.
Scale wise I already have an idea as to what I’m going to do. The Z can be whatever scale I want, tons of room so probably a standard glass scale. The X I might be able to use a “slim” glass scale, if not I’ll use a “slim” magnetic. Either Ditron or Aikron.
For the DRO unit I could get one from either Ditron or Aikron or do the touch DRO thing. The touch DRO unit and a tablet is around the same price as the top end DRO unit from those two manufacturers. What I’m not sure about is whether the touch DRO system has any significant advantages vs the console units.
Does anyone here have experience with both?
Scale wise I already have an idea as to what I’m going to do. The Z can be whatever scale I want, tons of room so probably a standard glass scale. The X I might be able to use a “slim” glass scale, if not I’ll use a “slim” magnetic. Either Ditron or Aikron.
For the DRO unit I could get one from either Ditron or Aikron or do the touch DRO thing. The touch DRO unit and a tablet is around the same price as the top end DRO unit from those two manufacturers. What I’m not sure about is whether the touch DRO system has any significant advantages vs the console units.
Does anyone here have experience with both?
I have experience with both and the Touch DRO is IMHO superior.
One minor aspect but important to me is that there's no cable from the tablet to the TouchDRO unit so it's a cleaner install.
The interface is much cleaner than even the LCD screen DRO heads which I had previously.
I picked up used Amazon Fire tablets, one for $30 and another for $50 so that cuts the cost significantly.
I’ve made a few comments in post 16 of This Thread and more in This One including posts 28 & 32. Maybe it is time for a dedicated “What DRO Should I Buy?“ thread, we seem to be having more interest in the topic lately.
FWIW, I’m sold on the TDRO for its features and because it doesn’t lock you into proprietary hardware. There’s more detail in my refs.
BTW, when printed two sided, the TDRO manual (web pages) is about half an inch thick in good English so lots of features and well documented. Another good selling point.
One last thought, you can run more than one machine from a single tablet (not at the same time of course) by switching the Bluetooth pairing. I’m running both my lathe and mill from the same tablet.
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Putting a magnetic scale INSIDE the cross slide has VERY SIGNIFICANT advantages.
I have the Ditron system on my mill. I am quite happy with it. I don't have the touch DRO reader. But I did install the app and have played with it. It's very clean and upgradeable. Upgradeability is a HUGE advantage. But beyond that it is more configurable, more flexible, and has features that the Ditron does not have. I wouldn't be surprised to see Yuriy impliment a cyclicity correction algorithm in the near future. I know he is really pissed about this discovery of his and is getting a lot of flack over it.
If I didn't already have a Ditron on my mill, I would be getting a Touch System for my lathe. As it is, I will PROBABLY get a Ditron just so that both my mill and my lathe work the same way. I'm simply to old to learn and be comfy with two different user interfaces. You are prolly young enough to be able to do it in your sleep. But since you don't have one yet, I would highly recommend the Touch System.
In the meantime, download the app and play with it.
One other piece of advice - don't get a Samsung tablet. There are known compatability issues between the Touch system and Samsung Tablets. You can get lots of other brands at good prices. Even the Kindle that @David_R8 has seems to work just fine. But I'd avoid the Samsung if I were you.
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Rauce
Ultra Member
I looked at Facebook marketplace briefly for used tablets and then wandered onto Amazon to see the retail price… it’s prime day today so all the tablets are on sale and that saves me going out to pick up a used one.
Got a 8” fire tablet, “rugged” case and a monitor wall arm for around $150.
I really don’t have very much real estate inside the cross slide to do that. The thought has crossed my mind though.
You can kind of get the idea in these images. The cross slide is very thin. My thought is to mount the read head on the saddle more or less centered and put the scale on the tailstock side of the cross slide. A scale that’s roughly 3/4” wide should fit. I will get better measurements soon.
The orientation of the read head on the glass scales seems better for this arrangement but the slim glass scales are right around the maximum size that will fit.
Got a 8” fire tablet, “rugged” case and a monitor wall arm for around $150.
I really don’t have very much real estate inside the cross slide to do that. The thought has crossed my mind though.
You can kind of get the idea in these images. The cross slide is very thin. My thought is to mount the read head on the saddle more or less centered and put the scale on the tailstock side of the cross slide. A scale that’s roughly 3/4” wide should fit. I will get better measurements soon.
The orientation of the read head on the glass scales seems better for this arrangement but the slim glass scales are right around the maximum size that will fit.
Attachments
Your cross slide is like the one on my Clausing. There's maybe 1/2" between the nut and the side of the dovetail.
See the markup below. You have lots of room. If yours is at all like mine, it looks to me like you have room as is and may not have to do any machining at all.
All you need is enough room on top of the saddle and under the cross-slide above a dovetail for a piece of magnetic tape. The cross-slide itself is the tape holder because the adhesive on the tape sticks to the bottom of the cross-slide. No need for any channel or scale holder etc. In my case, I need to mill a shallow slot in the bottom of the cross-slide there because the fit is fairly tight.
I have a thread someplace on the forum that has the required dimensions.
No lag that I can detect.
None on Ditron either. I routinely tap tap tap the table handles to set the DRO on target. That wouldn't be practical with any lag.
You cannot get rid of all the cables. Even the touch requires a smart box that all the cables attach to. You can only get rid of the cable loops that are normally at the display. But I bet you could make a small cable tray for the existing cables and the Touch Box.
What I like about the cable management options with the TDRO is that there are no bulky cables going up to the display head. On my lathe the cables go down to the TDRO box on the stand, nice and tidy out of the way, not suspended up to the display.
It's a nice system. Did you get the assembled kit or did you make your own box?
A question I can't find an answer to is: can you mix scale types on the same box?
I got the pre-assembled kit because I can't solder for beans.
By mixing scale types I assume you mean using glass and magnetic vs glass/mag and capacitive?
I can't see any reason why the former wouldn't be fine but the latter use different connectors so I think that's not an option.
I’m contemplating going full DIY. Universal Solder sells the STM32 processor board for $14 and I have all of the other components in my elx stash. Looks like it can only handle three linear scales at once, so I’m going to ask Yuri if the fourth angular input could also be linear. If I make a four-input interface I could tie both mill and both lathe scales into one touchscreen and not have to pair and unpair.
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There’s something more to consider in your decision. Yuriy is working on what he calls a “Plus” version with added features, link Here. If you buy one of his various board kits you also get access to the Plus version.
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That's odd. I thought all 4 were linear and you could configure any of them to be anglular..... Maybe I missed something.
Only 3 linear axis would stop me cold in my tracks.
I considered making my own for all of about 42 nanoseconds. Then slammed that door shut and welded it into the frame. At my age, I'd be dead before I finished that project. I used to be able to stay up for nights on end and focus focus focus. Now I fall asleep eating barbequed steak. In a few more years I'll prolly fall asleep having sex......
Yes. And thank you. No interest in capacitive in the foreseeable future.