Yet another DRO Install - King KC-20VS-2

[neer724]

My son and I have been enjoying the new mill and decided to install a 3-axis DRO on our new KC-20VS-2 mill. I decided to take a few pics of the install.

Fortunately there are many videos\forum posts on installing a DRO on the G0704 - this mill is almost exactly the same so I had lots of good ideas for mounting the scales.

The y-axis required the most work. I decided to fix the reader and have the scale move. The thinking being there would be less wear and tear on the cable going to reader.

I used a 12" piece of .75 x .75 square stock to mount the scale:

We had to machine the edge of the piece to clear the base:














Since nothing is square on the base, I had to shim the l-bracket.

The x-axis was much more straight forward. Only had to drill 2 house to hold the scale. I reused the existing holes in the y-axis that holds the way cover to hold a piece of l bracket to hold the reader:



Finally the z-axis was very straight forward. We had to machine out a bracket to mount the reader to the head:





Finally the DRO head unit:



We started playing around with some of the functions - pretty cool little toy! Now we need to find some projects to work on

 

[DavidR8]

Looks good, tidy install!

 

[neer724]

Looks good, tidy install!

Thanks - just need to tidy things up and deal with the many extra feet of cabling....

 

[LenVW]

Looks good !!
I have KC-15VS from King Canada.

Have you blown the fuse on the mill yet ?
Spoke to another owner who replaced the fuse with a circuit breaker in the first week.

 

[neer724]

Looks good !!
I have KC-15VS from King Canada.

Have you blown the fuse on the mill yet ?
Spoke to another owner who replaced the fuse with a circuit breaker in the first week.

Thanks Len,

So far so good - haven't blown the fuse yet. Mind you we really haven't pushed it too hard yet. Milled some mild steel the other day it is worked flawlessly.....

 

[LenVW]

Yeah, I have been flycutting MS and using up to 5/8” endmills without any problem.

I am just getting back into machining after 30 years of mech. design and project mgt.
What brand is you DRO ?

 

[neer724]

Yeah, I have been flycutting MS and using up to 5/8” endmills without any problem.

I am just getting back into machining after 30 years of mech. design and project mgt.
What brand is you DRO ?

It is the ToAuto brand from ebay.ca The ship the non-lcd versions from Markham and the LCD dro's are shipped from China. They ship with DHL so it took less than a week to arrive to Mississauga.

 

[neer724]

I finished my Spindle DRO Upgrade this weekend - it works way better than the stock tiny dro that came with the mill.

I mounted the cut down scale on the side, machined out a piece that replaced the stock plastic piece that was wide enough to extend past the right side and then made another piece to connect to the reader head. Note, I reconnected the stock DRO just incase I need to use the Milling Head Scale on the z-axis.

This is much easier to read that the little lcd dro - plus it is way more accurate.

If I ever need to use the DRO z-axis scale on the head - I just have to unplug the spindle scale and plug that one in.....

 

[LenVW]

Looks good !!
No more watching those dials closely !!
If you need any KING parts, I know a couple guys in their Montreal plant.
or . . . you can E-mail them: Service310@kingcanada.com

 

[Former Member]

Welcome to the rabbit hole...

 

[neer724]

Looks good !!
No more watching those dials closely !!
If you need any KING parts, I know a couple guys in their Montreal plant.
or . . . you can E-mail them: Service310@kingcanada.com

Many Thanks Len!

 

[gerritv]

Thank you for all your notes on dro install, I am waiting for my Kc20, hopefully this week. I will be getting an Aikron similar to what I have on my King lathe.

 

[Former Member]

Or consider CNC ha, ha, ha....the rabbit hole!

Its coming.......

 

[gerritv]

I already have a great cnc machine so can dodge that temptation

 

[rodm1]

Nice install how did you setup your machine light?

 

[CWret]

If i were smarter i would have ordered my mill DRO with a 4th axis so i could monitor movement of both the quill & head in the Z. Most 4 axis DRO’s (i believe) will combine the numbers for you if you wish.
I have on my to-do list the installation of an independent DRO for the quill. The one on my drill press works well, is a fairly easy install, seems pretty consistently accurate, and less than $100 for a good quality unit.
Your design / idea to have similar scales on both Z movements and just switching the plug sounds good. I may have to revise my to-do list a bit.

 

[Susquatch]

i would have ordered my mill DRO with a 4th axis so i could monitor movement of both the quill & head in the Z. Most 4 axis DRO’s (i believe) will combine the numbers for you if you wish.

Yup, that was my plan from the git go. Would not have bought one that couldn't do that.

It isn't a show stopper but the cost of the 4th axis made it a no brainer.

One could always get a 4 axis Readout and just put 3 scales on it till you find the cash for the 4th scale.

Mine will add any two and still display 4. So I get total Z (knee plus quill) plus a separate display for just the quill (or just the knee). Very useful.

 

[neer724]

Nice install how did you setup your machine light?

Oh that was a small project I did last year. I had a few feet of leftover LED strip light from another project. I simply added several rows of it to a piece of acrylic and soldered all the pieces together. I bored a big hole in the center of the plastic and have a press fit on the spindle. It works pretty good - directs all the light down at the vice with little to no shadows.

 

[neer724]

Next project is a power feed on the x-axis!!!!

I got all the parts, now i have to start machining