DRO install on Myford ML7R

[Tecnico]

The Ditron material I received came as a tape of magnetics on stainless PLUS a roll of stainless to cover it. You end up with a sandwich of magnetic material between two layers of stainless.

I suspect the reason for the two part system is they can ship it rolled up where something with stainless on both side would have to be shipped flat.

D

 

[Susquatch]

I've seen the magnetic tape sold alone, and I've seen it come with a separate stainless steel tape. When sold with the stainless tape, is that to be a backer, or to go in front to protect the magnetic tape from crap and wear?

If I didn't have to put the stainless strip over top of the magnetic strip, I would have enough room in there without any milling at all.

But I have seen how metallic dust collects on the stainless protector on my mill so I am not gunna try the tape without the stainless strip. Ya, I know it's highly protected inside the cross-slide...... But nah, not taking that chance.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

The scale is a magnetic tape that is stuck on in two layers.

AIKRON MS50 MAGNETIC TAPE - Sichuan Aikron Precision Tool Co.,Ltd

Magnetic tape are important if you want your magnetic scale system to work out an excellent accuracy,they are the key to contrubute accuracy.

www.aikrondro.com

This is the kit I'm stealing inspiration from:

2-Axis Myford ML7 & Super 7 Lathe Digital Readout Kit for Standard Bed

Enhance your Myford ML7 or Super 7 lathe with a 2-axis DRO kit, featuring high precision magnetic encoders, no modification installation.

www.machine-dro.co.uk

The reason I went with Aikron DRO is it was slightly cheaper and the display has a data output option. The data output option was important to me because I would like to install a constant SFM controller (arduino) when I install a VFD in the next couple months.

I think there are some model engineer forums that discuss various DRO options to be compatible with the taper turning attachment, including mounting a magnetic tape without a shield behind the apron on the operator side.

How fast was shipping? I presume it came from china directly, is this the case?

 

[Xyphota]

Yeah shipping was like $100 I think. Was only a couple of days I think. I initially didnt checkout right away and then they sent me a 5% off coupon code.

EDIT: I paid $340 plus $111 shipping, for 1 glass scale, 1 magnetic scale, and display

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Yeah shipping was like $100 I think. Was only a couple of days I think. I initially didnt checkout right away and then they sent me a 5% off coupon code.

EDIT: I paid $340 plus $111 shipping, for 1 glass scale, 1 magnetic scale, and display

I just checked and I get $434.46 USD plus $82 USD shipping for 3 read heads (1um) and 2m magnetic tape.

I may as well pick up enough for my own chipmaster lathe too... but Ditron is less expensive. Still not cheap though. They have free shipping. Lets see if they have loyalty pricing

 

[Susquatch]

Ditron is less expensive. Still not cheap though. They have free shipping. Lets see if they have loyalty pricing

Also try the Ditron Store on Amazon. They will price match China.

I'm gunna try ordering shortly. It's the end of the quarter....

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Also try the Ditron Store on Amazon. They will price match China.

I'm gunna try ordering shortly. It's the end of the quarter....

I was trying to DM the woman I conversed with the first purchase and sweet talk her into a deal... fivecnc has 3 readers and 2 meters of tape for $452 versus $558 at Ditron. That's too large a span to reward Ditron with a sale based on loyalty alone.

 

[Tecnico]

I just checked and I get $434.46 USD plus $82 USD shipping for 3 read heads (1um) and 2m magnetic tape.

I may as well pick up enough for my own chipmaster lathe too... but Ditron is less expensive. Still not cheap though. They have free shipping. Lets see if they have loyalty pricing

When you start discussion with Ditron and customize your order (lengths, types of scales etc.) they start talking $USD and add shipping cost but they also drop the prices to compensate for the shipping cost. The free shipping offer is just the starting point from their Aliex site.

When I started this, Aikron looked like the best pricing but once I got on chat with Ditron, Aikron was not competitive and I even gave Aikron the opportunity to talk turkey and they stuck to list price. I do like the Aikron tech data presentation much better which made me favor them in the beginning.

The other thing I found was, except where space is a driver, glass scales, even small profile are less costly. I wound up with the mag tape in my Myford cross slide and a mag scale for my mill quill (First LC1-1/2 BP clone maybe using leftover tape). The rest were slim or regular glass which I guess would be more reliable long term than magnetic. I'm basing this on the glass scales being enclosed and the potential for adhesive and mag tape to decay with time or exposure to cutting fluids etc. All my scales are 1u resolution no extra cost.

I'm working on write-ups on my lathe & mill so I hope to cover more of this discussion there.

One last point, have a look at TouchDRO for the display, the scales can come from anywhere. I'm doing a write-up now on my lathe and I go into my selection process but for the mill especially I really like the graphic display of TouchDRO. I think you also mentioned 200 user definable datum points for the Ditron 80, TDRO has unlimited data points with all the other STD DRO functions including tool offset settings. You can segregate sets of user defined points in defined work spaces and save them for later re-use. If you have a lot of defined points in a small area you can effectively "layer" them to unclutter the display.

I've not had more than an afternoon's play with it yet but a) if I wasn't already, I'm SOLD on DRO for a mill especially and also for a lathe and b) I really like the ability to navigate to the user defined data points when milling. The DRO has a "magnetic" function which automatically moves the "focus" to the nearest point and gives you a readout of the distance to the point. You see the point change color on the graphic display also. You can also define things like multiple "guard" lines and receive a warning if you come too close, good for reminders about where you are on the part.

Anyhow I had better get on with my DRO writeup!

D

 

[Susquatch]

When I started this, Aikron looked like the best pricing but once I got on chat with Ditron, Aikron was not competitive and I even gave Aikron the opportunity to talk turkey and they stuck to list price. I do like the Aikron tech data presentation much better which made me favor them in the beginning.

This is exactly what I have found too. Ditron will negotiate. But only if they know you will walk if they don't. You have to be nice and play a good game. They are used to a good haggle. It's the Chinese way.

 

[Darren]

I paid full retail for my first D80. Then I bought the second one for 300 less by haggling on Ali.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

This is exactly what I have found too. Ditron will negotiate. But only if they know you will walk if they don't. You have to be nice and play a good game. They are used to a good haggle. It's the Chinese way.

They came down $58 bucks to $500.

Their sensor has a better chip sourced in Germany. I may as well order, or should I get a D80 to go with this, and be consistent across all our machines, or do touch DRO


EDIT: something seemed wrong, and when I checked again I saw that the price should have been $430 CAD and when I contacted them again Ditron corrected the price... plus I had a small aliexpress coupon. Awesome.

 

[Tecnico]

They came down $58 bucks to $500.

Their sensor has a better chip sourced in Germany. I may as well order, or should I get a D80 to go with this, and be consistent across all our machines, or do touch DRO

I can't give you a definitive answer because I have only read about the Ditron and I have limited experience so far with the TDRO but I suggest you read the TDRO manual (web site) and compare it to the DITRON to decide what you get from both options.

Also I'm offering my opinions in my write-up that'll be up shortly but I think separating the DRO from limited quantity, proprietary hardware and going with a hardware that has to stand up in a competitive (consumer electronics) market has it's merits. There is one other feature that I'm taking advantage of, the TDRO tablet can move from machine to machine by switching Bluetooth connection so I will use one tablet for both my mill and lathe, there's a hardware $aving. The TDRO can also be taken to your computer and you can read the coordinates of the user defined datum points from your CAD and enter them in the DRO on the spot, or in your easy chair. It'd be nice if it could read from an Excel sheet or DXF and maybe Yuriy will add that at some point.

I don't know yet if I've made the right choice but I've made it and if it's wrong then I can unplug the TDRO and plug in a Ditron or Aikron or whatever to the installed scales too.

D

 

[Susquatch]

I paid full retail for my first D80. Then I bought the second one for 300 less by haggling on Ali.

If I remember correctly, I rode on your coat-tails and negotiated a better price first time around.

But I can't really say what I saved by doing that. Instead of haggling over the price, I kept asking for more features. I went from 2 Axis to 3 to 4, and standard magnetic scales to slim scales, and added in RPM all for the same price as the advertised 2 scale unit.

I don't know yet if I've made the right choice but I've made it and if it's wrong then I can unplug the TDRO and plug in a Ditron or Aikron or whatever to the installed scales too.

The Ditron e-box can be had very reasonably priced in my mind. Especially if you watch for a sale.

I may take a look at using an Arduino to read scales. Some of the latest ones have on board quadrature read capabities...

It's a bright new world out there!

 

[Darren]

If I remember correctly, I rode on your coat-tails and negotiated a better price first time around.

But I can't really say what I saved by doing that. Instead of haggling over the price, I kept asking for more features. I went from 2 Axis to 3 to 4, and standard magnetic scales to slim scales, and added in RPM all for the same price as the advertised 2 scale unit.

I contacted them on Ali, told them i'm willing to pay 600 CAD total for a 3 axis D80, with rpm, with slim magnetic scales. After a bit of back and forth, they agreed. I had to pay 742.17 initially, and they refunded the 142.17 after. I don't know why they did it that way, but that's how it went. I talked to @CWret and I believe he got a similar deal. Fedex clipped me 28 bucks on delivery though.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Nice install Xyphota. Great job.

A DRO for my Myford has been a big want for a long time. Maybe one day I'll get one.

 

[CWret]

Similar to @Darren’s Ali deal - i paid 740 C$ including shipping for my D80 with 3 thin magnet scales + rpm.
It’s great - i highly recommend this DRO.
Negotiations took several days of back & forth to get to that ‘bottom line’. He threw in nice 6”digital calipers as a last carrot.
It arrived in a couple of weeks as promised and all was in good condition. (I was hit by Canada Customs for $50.) I too was told I’d get a rebate as a credit on my VISA after it arrived. In my case it was a $80 rebate. (Note - all the $s I’ve quoted above are by memory so accuracy not that reliable)
The credit/rebate thing seemed absurd and a stupid way to do business.
I was satisfied with the $740 price, so the silly f-n rebate was not important. Good thing, because i never got the rebate. I spent several hours trying to get it - but the frustration wasn’t worth it - so i shut down the computer, went to the garage and i kissed my D80 display. This was my way to kiss the 80 bucks goodbye.
This transaction made me a bit smarter, and as Moose would say -
“I don’t know how smart i can afford to get”


One of the negatives to this idiotic rebate BS is that Canada Customs charged on the $740 not 740-80.
Sure - maybe i could have gone after VISA or kept pursuing Ali for the 80 bucks but i didn’t! Done! The end!

 

[animal12]

Xyphota , how you liking your Aikron DRO after some time with it ?
thanks
animal12

 

[Xyphota]

Xyphota , how you liking your Aikron DRO after some time with it ?
thanks
animal12

I've been enjoying it! I think I would purchase it again if I were to do it over, no real complaints so far.