Getting ready to go through the same process - this thread saved me from asking a bunch of questions.
Questions...
General - magnetic scales > glass scales... correct?
Lathe DRO - I have a Craftex CX709"x" - obviously I want a DRO that has x and y axis, likely also want one w/ the hall effect sensor (RPM) - is there any advantage to having a scale on the tool slide? When I was researching websites trying to figure out
how to figure out what I wanted, I thought I came across a diagram explaining that you could stack the tool slide dimensions on top of the x or y dimension kind of like a sum equation in excel. True? Am I misunderstanding?
Mill DRO - I have a Craftex CX611(similar to
@ShawnR's Seig X3 IIRC) - again, obviously I'd want at minimum a three axis DRO (x,y,z) - the quill moves separate from the z-axis; any drawback to buying a package w/ the additional scale (I believe the quill distance can be programmed to stack like the description above)?
I'm very interested in retrofitting this machine to CNC - anyone w/ any experience have lessons that they learned the hard way? Anything that I should avoid?
Mitigating factor: As previously mentioned, near-zero machine experience... when I got the milling machine, the first comment from the one machinist (tool and die maker) friend I have was about retrofitting to CNC (he had owned his own shop w/ 3 or 4 large CNC machines, felt they were more/less the size of an automotive bay each). The appeal of being able to "walk-away" from the machine and let it go through g-code partially unattended is VERY appealing... I enjoy designing parts from ideas and testing the parts (challenging my designs), but if I could afford to out source the work I would.
Research results: I've scoped out some places that I could get retrofit kits from ($700-1000 USD for ball screw based kits + electric components) and I've also came across a supplier that has my machine set up as a turn-key CNC unit for $5250 USD. I have a 1600 sq ft shop, so although I would need to create room for an additional machine I think it would be worth it. From an operations management perspective, I could easily "employ" the CNC machine for one or two months a year - if I were to pay someone a wage (minimum) to make those parts, the value would be $2500 CAD/$2000 USD... meaning the machine (sans tooling) would "pay for itself" in two years.
I bring the financial aspect forward because it's a default factor for most people - I'm not "special" or "wealthy" by any means... I wanted to race cars when I grew up and Dad (having been a racer) taught me to never count on a car coming home with you if it was unloaded off the trailer (that something could happen and the $$$ invested be a pile of junk w/in a blink of an eye) - with that being instilled from a child, I started purchasing houses at 22, worked a minimum of 3 jobs at any one time until I was 35 and don't have any debts (not paying anyone interest). I also haven't raced enough to wreck as many cars as I had planned... ... ...
$5250 USD (which by the time you get it home is really ~$8500 CAD landed) is a pretty decent chunk of change... my mill adventure started at replacing $1000 bench-top drill.
($5250 USD CNC milling machine source:
https://heavymetalcnc.com/product/g0463-x3/)