Thanks for the description of the plastic fab. I am right behind you - I just started making DRO covers out of aluminum, and I plan on making a feed drive.
The feed drive - you using a drill or a windshield washer motor for that? I've been eyeing this cheap HF 12v drill I have - it has plenty of torque and includes a reversible power controller for variable speed already there.
I agree about accuracy - being told emphatically that I need to spend $1K or more on some DROs for a used Chinese mill whose basic accuracy is in question anyway is just snobbish. I used to work in a physics lab who had guys who who would laugh (to themselves) at some of the tighter tolerances being described in this thread, but I think they would not be so crass about how they said it. Its just about what is needed to accomplish a particular job. For many jobs, these things work fine.
From: Rick Grimm <grimmrlg@yahoo.com>
To: GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, December 4, 2011 9:07 AM
Subject: [GrizHFMinimill] Re: My $106 HF Mini-mill 3 axis DRO
The 1/8" plexiglass was heated with a hot air gun and formed over a piece of 3/4" thick wood and pressed into a channel form made up with 2x4s clamped to a piece of plywood spaced 1" apart, then sawed to final width on a table saw.
I'm currently finishing up an X-axis variable speed drive that I'll be posting shortly, total cost $50.
As for the accuracy of these DROs, I've already made several projects relying soley on these for laying out circular bolt patterns with +-.001" toleances and fitup has been perfect. I guess for a HF quality mill with its own limitations of accuracy, these devices are a perfect match. If I wanted to maintain .0001" tolerance I'd choose a more expensive machine.
--- In GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com, Gary Liming <g_liming@...> wrote:
>
> Very nice job, Rick. I like the bent clear (acrylic?) covers. What technique did you use to do that?
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Rick Grimm <grimmrlg@...>
> To: GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2011 9:13 AM
> Subject: [GrizHFMinimill] My $106 HF Mini-mill 3 axis DRO
>
>
>
> I recently purchased a HF mini-mill and my first series of changes were to add 3 axis DRO, pulley drive, and gas spring. I purchased 2 12" and 1 6" iGaging DRO remote readout scales from Grizzly, with shipping it came to $106. I followed some of the previous posters installs with some changes to fit the HF mill, for example the X axis hangs out on the left side of the table instead of the right.
>
> Rick Grimm
>
I'm currently finishing up an X-axis variable speed drive that I'll be posting shortly, total cost $50.
As for the accuracy of these DROs, I've already made several projects relying soley on these for laying out circular bolt patterns with +-.001" toleances and fitup has been perfect. I guess for a HF quality mill with its own limitations of accuracy, these devices are a perfect match. If I wanted to maintain .0001" tolerance I'd choose a more expensive machine.
--- In GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com, Gary Liming <g_liming@...> wrote:
>
> Very nice job, Rick. I like the bent clear (acrylic?) covers. What technique did you use to do that?
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Rick Grimm <grimmrlg@...>
> To: GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2011 9:13 AM
> Subject: [GrizHFMinimill] My $106 HF Mini-mill 3 axis DRO
>
>
>
> I recently purchased a HF mini-mill and my first series of changes were to add 3 axis DRO, pulley drive, and gas spring. I purchased 2 12" and 1 6" iGaging DRO remote readout scales from Grizzly, with shipping it came to $106. I followed some of the previous posters installs with some changes to fit the HF mill, for example the X axis hangs out on the left side of the table instead of the right.
>
> Rick Grimm
>
__._,_.___